A television ad from Democratic congressional candidate Roger Polack makes it seem as though he is a combat veteran who "deployed to Afghanistan to take on the Taliban." While he did do work for the federal government in Kabul, Polack actually worked as a financial analyst with the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The 30-second commercial, entitled service, shows pictures of Polack in military-style clothing while a narrator says that "he knows about real service. He served in the Bush and Obama Administrations" and "deployed to Afghanistan to take on the Taliban."
According to Polack's LinkedIn page, he worked as the Treasury Department's Deputy Director, Afghanistan Threat Finance Cell and as an analyst in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis and "managed forty civilian and military analysts throughout Afghanistan and Qatar conducting counter threat finance while deployed to Afghanistan from June 2011 - September 2012."
Polack is running against Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil in the state's First Congressional District. His campaign has not yet responded to "The Dan O'Donnell Show's" request for comment about the ad, which is clearly designed to give viewers the impression that Polack served in the military.
"This ad straddles the line of Stolen Valor, the legal term where individuals who exaggerate their service or, as in the case of Polack, never served a day in the military their entire life," said Marine veteran Devin Gatton, the citizen journalist who broke the story for RightWisconsin.com. "His ad uses his time working for the federal government, working as a financial analyst, to dupe the veterans of southern Wisconsin into voting for an individual who did not raise his right and swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, but tries to gives the image that he has."
Polack last month came under fire for listing an expensive home in Washington, D.C. as his primary residence and merely renting a home in the First Congressional District. He denied allegations of carpetbagging.