OLYMPIA, Wash. — Semi Bird admits he made a mistake when applying for a military position as a member of the U.S. Army.
But he said that, and findings in an investigation by the state’s Republican party into allegations of misconduct, should not harm his chances to become Washington’s next governor.
“It's despicable, to say the least, that we've gone so far down, that you would attack a decorated combat veteran,” said Bird.
In April, the Washington State Republican Party endorsed Bird as the party’s candidate for governor.
Last week the party released findings of an investigation into a reprimand letter Bird received in 2009 while he was in the Army.
In reports first published by The Jason Rantz Show, veterans who served with Bird released a document, a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand, regarding alleged false official statements made by Bird when he was in the Army, and applied for a position in the Warrant Officer Corps.
The reprimand letter, from December 2009, was written by Brigadier General Hector Pagan.
The letter alleges Bird wore awards and badges he had not earned, noted those awards in military records, and signed three non-commissioned officer evaluation reports “for rating periods in which you were not assigned to the unit.”
The Washington State Republican Party investigated the claims and party chair Jim Walsh said the document “raises troubling issues.”
Walsh said the investigation found Bird had earned his Bronze Star with valor, and other medals, but questioned some of his other accolades, based on that 2009 document.
In the response to the Brigadier General’s letter, Bird wrote, “My actions constitute nothing less than a fraud against the United States Army.”
Walsh said he was “deeply troubled” to read those words. He said there were calls from the public for the party to rescind the nomination, but Walsh said that will not happen, adding voters will have a chance to be heard on the issue.
Bird said he has only worn medals he earned.
He said the fraud comment was in response to the allegations surrounding documents he submitted in an attempt to become a member of the Army’s Warrant Officer Corps.
Bird said he signed off on including falsified documents written by superior officers, non-commissioned officer evaluation reports (NCOERs), to qualify for the position.
“I submitted false and inaccurate information in my Warrant Officer packed to include false NCOER’s in order to compensate for unrated time and meet the requirements for the WO program,” Bird wrote in his response to the 2009 memo.
In an interview with KING 5 News, Bird said he regrets including those documents “100 percent."
Bird said he was not punished for the incident, and served in the Army for another seven years before retiring.
He said the Brigadier General noted the memo was an administrative letter, and ordered it held in a restricted file to ensure it would not adversely affect Bird’s career. Bird said the memo was supposed to teach Bird a lesson.
"I want you to take responsibility to say you should have told those senior officers, ‘No.’ But you didn't. And that's where that's where he said I went wrong," said Bird.
He has filed a complaint with the Department of Defense about the release of the 2009 document.
Bird is one of 28 candidates who has filed for the governor’s race. That field will be narrowed down to two finalists following the Aug. 6 primary election.