Sen. Wendy Rogers comes to defense of a pretend combat pilot

It’s refreshing to see that not all Republicans are standing by the pretend Vietnam combat pilot who is running for the Arizona Legislature.

Well, not all except state Sen. Wendy Rogers, who still enthusiastically supporting Steve Slaton, owner of the Trumped store in Show Low and a candidate for the Arizona House.

Kari Lake campaigned with the guy a few weeks ago under a Confederate flag in Slaton’s store and now curiously seems to have nothing to say.

But the Navajo County Republican Party has shown that some things really are more important than being the Trumpiest of them all.

On Saturday, the Navajo County Republican Committee called on Slaton to withdraw from the House race in Legislative District 7, citing his penchant for claiming to be a Vietnam combat veteran when official military records say he is not.

“You have provided an altered DD-214 claiming combat veteran status and showing qualifications and awards which you have not earned,” the county GOP wrote in a letter to Slaton. “That, unfortunately, has cast a shadow of dishonesty on your campaign and, by extension, on the Republican Party organizations in LD-7. ”

Rogers, a retired military pilot, is fine with Slaton's fib

Like, for example, the shade being thrown by state Sen. Wendy Rogers, who faces her own primary challenge from Rep. David Cook in this rural Arizona district?

You’d think, as a retired Air Force pilot, Rogers would take offense at Slaton for claiming for himself what others earned, sometimes with their blood. Sometimes with their lives.

You'd think, she'd make tracks to distance herself from the guy or call for him to withdraw, even though he's paid more than $27,000 to one of her relatives to serve as a campaign consultant.

But this is a woman who embraces white nationalists and antisemites and such.

In fact, she's doubling down on the lie

So, it's no surprise that she is standing by her man even as she spits in the face of an actual combat veteran, former Rep. Walt Blackman, who also is running for a spot in the House.

“Please vote for Vietnam combat veteran Steve Slaton for state representative in #LD7,” Rogers wrote on social media on Saturday, in response to the Navajo County GOP’s call for his withdrawal. “DO NOT vote for ranked choice voting and DEI allies Walt Blackman or David Marshall. Both are phonies and liberals who will help Joe Biden and Katie Hobbs.”

Phonies and liberals?

Rep. David Marshall is an Air Force veteran who in April was endorsed by Trump to be an at-large delegate at the upcoming Republican National Convention.

Blackman is a staunch conservative who earned the Bronze Star for combat operations in Iraq along with the Meritorious Service Medal.

Slaton's nose grew long with claims of service, awards

Slaton, meanwhile, claims to have co-piloted an attack helicopter in combat during the Vietnam War and to have earned several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal, which was discontinued three months before he even enlisted, and the Army Commendation Medal, awarded for heroism, outstanding achievement or meritorious service.

According to official military records, however, he was a helicopter repairman and crew chief stationed in Korea in 1974. He didn’t even join the Army until June 29, 1973 — fully three months after the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam .

Slaton insists he saw combat in Vietnam, telling me earlier this month that he and his AH-1 Cobra crew were pulled from Korea to Vietnam to provide support for our allies after the U.S. pullout.

“I am a Vietnam combat pilot — no left wing smear will ever deny that fact,” Slaton wrote on Sunday in response to the Navajo County GOP’s call for him to withdraw. “These people doing this are doing to me what the liberals did to my fellow Vietnam veterans decades ago when they returned — spitting on them and mocking them.

“These are the same people who opposed patriots like Kari Lake, President Trump, Eli Crane and Wendy Rogers. They are a bunch of establishment Chamber of Commerce RINO hacks who support Democrats more than Republicans. It is about 10 losers with no real power to do anything. They get everything wrong and are about as irrelevant as the paper their phony letter is printed on.”

Is there more blowback on Slaton's claims to come?

Guardian of Valor , which guards against imposters, has vetted Slaton’s claims and found him to be a phony.

Yet there is Rogers, promoting Slaton’s impassioned defense along with the emoji, “100” — meaning she agrees with him 100%.

Color Ari Daniel Bradshaw, another conservative Republican running for the Legislature in north Phoenix’s Legislative District 2, not at all surprised.

Bradshaw announced on social media that Rogers texted him in December and threatened that he and his campaign “would go down in flames” if he exposed Slaton.

“I then recorded the phone call we had as well where Wendy defended Steve Slaton's use of the N word,” he said, on X, claiming to have the tape.

Stay tuned …

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com . Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sen. Wendy Rogers comes to defense of a pretend combat pilot