First, let me show you this advert via the (left-leaning) Sunlight Foundation: Bruce Braley, sucking up to public sector unions and the rest of Big Labor.

Now, you may be going So what? Everybody knows that all Democratic politicians suck up to Big Labor.  This isn’t news.  …Well, that’s a cynical way of looking at it, but never mind that right now.  The question is, what should Bruce Braley have been doing on that day?

Well, Bruce Braley should have been attending a Veterans’ Affairs meeting with then-head Eric Shinseki about possible sequester funding issues.

But Bruce Braley didn’t.

Because Bruce Braley knows that veterans don’t have the deep pockets that public sector unions do? …Horrible thought, that.  Well, perhaps this isn’t a patte…

At 10:19 a.m. on Sept. 20, 2012, the [Veterans’ Affairs] committee held a hearing on a backlog of disability claims and reports of problems with mental health care and stewardship of VA funding, congressional records show. The roll call shows Braley didn’t attend.

[snip]

On the same day, Braley had three fundraisers on his schedule for his re-election to the U.S. House, records from the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation show. He attended all three, campaign aides confirmed to The Des Moines Register.

…Well, then.  What gets me here? This isn’t even from the Senate race. This is from 2012, when Braley went on to win with 57% of the vote. You’d think that Bruce Braley could have done his duty at least a little.  If only to show some basic respect for those folks who did theirs.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Come now, I will conceal nothing from you: the Iowa Republican party sent out a fairly blistering press release on this topic, and the folks over there were thoughtful enough to let me know about it*.  They have even more tasty details over there, so check it out.  And check out Joni Ernst, while you’re there.

*Because I’m always up for taking a virtuous slap at a Democrat.  And this one is pretty danged virtuous.