Navy Says Candidate Was No SEAL

Friday, March 3, 2000

By LOUISE POPPLEWELL
The Victoria Advocate

PORT LAVACA - Political candidate R.J. Sanders lied when he claimed he served in the elite Navy SEALs, military officials said this week.

Sanders "is not and was not a Navy SEAL," according to an e-mail statement by Chief Petty Officer Todd Willebrand, a spokesman in the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego.

SEAL (Sea, Air and Land) teams undergo highly advanced and difficult combat training, and have been romanticized in movies and television shows.

"Our database contains everyone who was ever a Navy SEAL, and Sanders is not on it," the Navy statement said.

Sanders is running for the Precinct 3 seat on the Calhoun County Commissioners Court, facing incumbent H. Floyd in the March 14 Democratic primary.

The controversy began when Sanders stated in a campaign brochure: "R.J. Sanders will bring to the Commissioners Court his 40 years of diversified experience in leadership and management gained from the U.S. Navy Special Warfare Unit, SEAL Team One (Vietnam veteran); law enforcement as deputy sheriff and police chief, EMS and fire services; the ownership and operation of successful businesses in avionics, aerospace, nuclear facility security, construction, heavy equipment operation and maintenance."

Then, in a telephone interview with The Advocate this week, Sanders said that he was in SEAL Class One and trained in 1961 at Coronado, Calif., near San Diego. He said his immediate commanding officer was Chief Chunko and his swim buddy was Jimmy Trant.

After hearing of Sanders' claims, Ken Morris of Port Alto, who is backing Floyd in the race, contacted Navy personnel to have them check the records.

"Sanders' claim that he was in SEAL Team One during Vietnam is made even more bogus by the fact that our command historian, Don Crawford, was in SEAL Team One and would certainly know Mr. Sanders," the Navy's Willebrand stated. "If the name Richard Jay Sanders is correct in spelling, then he is a fraud."

But Sanders said the controversy is a misunderstanding. "I have never made a public claim of being a Navy SEAL," he stated in an e-mail message this week.

His campaign manager, Terry Cox, said of the statement, "It was poor wording on our part. We should have made it clearer. He was never a SEAL. He worked with the SEALs. It was a mistake. If people misunderstood, we apologize."

Cox provided a copy of Sanders' military discharge document, but would not allow a copy to be made.

He warned that by giving out too much information on Sanders' military service, "a lot of people's lives would be put on the line."

Willebrand said by telephone that the West Coast's Class One SEAL team graduated in 1950, and, "Chief Chunko - that's a lie. No Chunko has ever been a SEAL. Trant? There's no such animal. Every single thing is a lie."

Sanders said he would need clearance from his superior officers before discussing the role he played with the SEALs. "I'm not putting my life on the line," he said.

Cox wrote off the effort to discredit Sanders as dirty politics. "I've known him eight years. People who know him, people who know him well, say everything he says is true. He has never, to my knowledge, lied to me. I would trust him with my life."

Democratic Party Chairman David Roberts said he accepts candidates' filings, but beyond that he is not involved in campaigns. "I don't have any authority as party chairman to regulate their campaigns. I very purposely stay out of those," he said. "I am not the remedy."

In an e-mail statement this week, Sanders criticized Floyd supporter Morris. "This is only one of Mr. Ken Morris' causes, of late, in which he misstates and misrepresents facts to the public."

Floyd said Thursday, "I don't know what to say about it. I haven't been involved in any of it, so I don't know. I'm just trying to run my business and my campaign."

Contact Louise Popplewell at (361) 552-2803
or by e-mail at lpopple@txcr.net