One of our ONE SUNRISE supporters – Lt. Colonel Thaddeus Hamilton, Retired (pictured here) – is at risk of being removed from the Veterans Advisory Board because he is supporting our ONE SUNRISE campaign.
A Sunrise Commissioner has put on the Agenda for Tomorrow, Tuesday at 5:30 PM an agenda item seeking to remove Lt. Colonel Thaddeus Hamilton, Retired, from the Sunrise Veterans Advisory Board. The Commissioner claims “overt political activities” justifies the Lt. Colonel’s removal from service to our Community. Those activities I believe are his being a vocal and strong supporter of the ONE SUNRISE campaign (and not his campaign).
To give you a sense of Lt. Colonel’s background, he retired from the U.S Army having served in the 3220th US Army Garrison Airborne, 1st Cavalry Division. He was HHB Commander 1/9 Field Artillery and an Instructor Commander General Staff College.
Lt. Colonel Thaddeus Hamilton, Retired, has served our country and our community with dignity and honor – and his service to the City of Sunrise on the Veterans Advisory Board as a member and chosen Chair is and has been exemplary. He has spoken at every Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day Ceremony I can remember as a keynote speaker. He has passionately spoken about liberties and freedoms and sacrifices of generations. He has emphasized our need to show unity of purpose as a country in matters that serve our freedoms and liberties. I am personally grateful for his service to our country and to our community.
Lt. Colonel and the entire Sunrise Veterans Advisory Board have been dedicated to the veterans, those who are actively serving, the fallen and all of their families. Dedicated to making sure we as a community work towards paying down the debt we owe our veterans and the fallen. Dedicated to never forgetting the ultimate sacrifice of the fallen for the liberties and freedoms we enjoy.
Veterans are our police officers, firefighters, teachers, co-workers, friends, family members and neighbors. Veterans served and so many gave the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation to protect our liberties and freedoms. Those liberties and freedoms include the First Amendment right to have and express political opinions, as well as the right to vote for candidates, of one’s choice. There are countries where having opinions about candidates, even quietly and secretly, can result in oppressive retribution. The service of veterans and the ultimate sacrifice of the fallen was, among other reasons, intended to guarantee that repression or retribution for having and expressing protected political opinions never happens anywhere in our Country.
Whether you are an Advisory Board Member, an employee of the City, a resident, a business or someone who comes before the Commission, you should not fear retribution or consequences from anyone on the Commission purely because you support a candidate against a sitting Commissioner or for any reason related to protected political speech.
I oppose any effort to remove the Lt. Colonel from his service to our community based upon his protected political speech and support of any candidate, and I would never seek to remove any of advisory board member or employee for protected political support of a candidate (even if I did not support the chosen candidate).