King says Buckingham owes veterans an apology; Should release info on income from for-profit college

Originally published on The Quorum Report.

After last weeks’ news about Texas Senate candidate Dawn Buckingham's ties to a for-profit college that's been accused in the past of "predatory" practices in targeting veterans, her GOP opponent called on Buckingham to apologize to veterans in the district that includes Fort Hood.

After surviving the first round of voting a crowded Republican field, King and Buckingham are in a heated runoff to succeed retiring Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay.

Dr. Buckingham, an Austin-area physician, has served on the Board of Governors of National American University and has received significant compensation from the school. It was named in a 2012 US Senate committee staff report as one of the for-profit universities where there was “exorbitant tuition, aggressive recruiting practices, abysmal student outcomes, taxpayer dollars spent on marketing and pocketed as profit, and regulatory evasion and manipulation.”

Buckingham’s campaign has dismissed the revelation as “a distraction,” despite the candidate’s promise to a veteran’s advocate to look into the issue and address his concerns.

Jim Brennan, longtime Legislative Director for the Texas Coalition of Veterans Organizations, said Buckingham's ties to a “predatory higher education institution” are deeply troubling. He spoke briefly with Buckingham about this at a Texas Tribune event last week where the candidate promised she would look into the situation.

“It is shocking and very sad that my runoff opponent Dawn Buckingham and her family have benefitted tremendously from running a South Dakota based for-profit entity, National American University (NAU), that uses predatory marketing and phony websites like “GIBill.com” to exploit veterans and their GI Bill funding," Rep. King said.

That website, used by National American University and others, was seized by the government after 20 attorneys general filed suit.

Rep. King said Buckingham should immediately “make public her W-2, 1099 and 4797 (schedules C and D) IRS forms for the past ten years to show how much money and stock she and her husband have received from National American University."

Buckingham should also publicly apologize to veterans, King said.

King’s complete statement can be downloaded here.

Matt Langston, spokesman for Buckingham, said King is trying to mislead conservative voters.

"Susan King continues to lie and distract voters in this election,” Langston said. “This story is an attempt by the King campaign to distract voters from her liberal voting record.”

Copyright April 27, 2016, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved.

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