To the Editor:
As a third-generation career politician, Representative Riley Moore certainly knows how to play the game—and play it he does, with all the slick double-speak of a seasoned Washington operator. In last week’s press release—printed in this paper—Mr. Moore boasted that he voted “Yes” on the First Appropriations Bill, which he claims “significantly increases funding to the VA.” To that, I respond: Hogwash.
In his own newsletter, Mr. Moore proudly supports making the DOGE cuts permanent—cuts that have already devastated West Virginia, eliminating good-paying jobs, including at our VA hospitals and clinics. These cuts have harmed not only facilities but the very people they serve: our veterans. The damage to the Veterans Suicide Hotline, the VA Medical Centers, and the PACT Act—designed to help those exposed to toxic burn pits—has been significant and shameful.
Let’s be honest: No one misses Alex Mooney’s indifference. But Moore’s behavior toward the working people and veterans of West Virginia is disingenuous at best, and contemptible at worst.
So which is it, Mr. Moore? Are you truly going to fight for the people of West Virginia, or will you continue parroting talking points from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and rubber-stamping more damage through DOGE?
The people deserve better than political theater—we deserve the truth.
—Commander Steven M. Wendelin, USN (Ret.)
