Ad pushes Rep. Bruce Braley’s working across party lines

CEDAR RAPIDS - A father's story about U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley's efforts to protect soldiers from sexual assault is being used in a new ad from the Democratic Senate candidate to highlight his ability to get things done by working across party lines.

In a 60-second television ad that began airing today, Dubuque area veteran Jesse James talks about the four-term Democrat's efforts to honor his daughter by naming legislation to strengthen protections against sexual assault and domestic violence in the military after his daughter.

'When Holley was murdered, what I was more afraid of than anything is that the world would go on and it would be as though Holley never existed,” James said about his daughter, Holley Lynn James, a nurse at a Fort Bragg Army hospital.

The Braley-sponsored legislation 'helped keep that memory alive and adds more permanence to Holley,” he said about his daughter, who was a 2nd lieutenant.

The Holley Lynn James Act - co-sponsored by seven Democrats and two Republicans - was one of several examples of 'consequential legislation that makes a real difference” for Iowans, according to a memo distributed by his congressional office.

'By bringing Republicans and Democrats together - finding areas of compromise and common agreement - Braley has amassed an impressive list of accomplishments over the past year,” according to the memo released after the 112th Congress.

However, his opponent's campaign said Braley's record of bipartisanship, like his attacks on Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst - a battalion commander in the Iowa National Guard, are misleading at best.

'Bruce Braley's been in Washington for eight years, spending over 95 percent of the time walking in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi,” a campaign spokesman said. 'His campaign and its liberal allies demonize Republicans every single day on the campaign trail, spreading false information. And now, as his campaign flounders, he pretends to discover bipartisanship.

'His eight-year record of voting with Pelosi and Obama doesn't lie,” the Ernst campaign said.

In 2011 Braley, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced the Holley Lynn James Act to strengthen the legal process for addressing claims of domestic violence and sexual assault in the military. It was inspired by the 2008 murder of James by her husband, Marine Corporal John Wimunc, 23. She had made several appeals to the Marine Corps to restrain Wimunc's abusive behavior.

He was supposed to be restricted to his barracks the night Holley James was killed.

Although the bill was not passed as a single piece of legislation, several pieces of it were included in other legislation and implemented by the Pentagon, Braley campaign spokesman Jeff Giertz said.

For example, in 2012, the Pentagon began requiring that sexual assault allegations be immediately reported to senior commanders to consider if the case should proceed to a court martial.

Republicans, speaking on background, suggested Braley is using the ad to counter reports that he missed 75 percent of the Veterans Affairs Committee's hearings.

They also point to Library of Congress data that only two of the 78 bills Braley introduced in his first three terms have been passed by the House and Senate.