2012 Candidates

AIVC 2012 US Senate Candidates 

Brian K. Hill - Connecticut, US Senate - US Army

Brian K. Hill was a US military JAG attorney stateside and in Kuwait, Egypt, and Qatar.  He holds a Masters of Law in Military Law with a specialty in Federal Contract Law.  Hill is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University and Howard University School of Law.  Since leaving the military after twelve years of honorable active duty service, Hill founded BKH & Associates, LLC, a private practice law firm in downtown Hartford.

Richard Douglas  - Maryland, US Senate - US Navy - Iraq Vet 

Richard Douglas enlisted in the Navy and served on a submarine in the 1970s.  After the attacks of 9/11 he rejoined the Navy and served in Iraq where he helped the Iraqi Defense Ministry establish a Special Operations headquarters cell.   Douglas holds a bachelor’s degree, a law degree, and master’s degree.  In his diverse career he worked as a Foreign Service officer, with the Criminal Division of the US Justice Department, Chief Counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.

Josh Mandel – Ohio, US Senate – US Marine Corps  - Iraq Vet 

Josh Mandel enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves in 2000, where he graduated first in his class from Marine Corps Boot Camp and first in his class from Marine Corps Intelligence School. His Marine Corps career spanned eight years, including two tours in Anbar Province, Iraq as an Intelligence Specialist.  Mandel served as a State Representative and was elected the 48th Treasurer of the State of Ohio, having been elected as the top vote-getter of all statewide executive candidates, winning 80 of Ohio's 88 counties. Mandel holds a Bachelor Degree from The Ohio State University and a Law Degree from Case Western Reserve University.


Duane Sand – North Dakota, US Senate – US Navy – Iraq Vet

Duane Sand attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Upon his graduation in 1990, he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science, a Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering, and a certification of Nuclear Engineer from the U.S. Department of Energy.  He went on to serve on three different nuclear submarines.  After the attacks of September 11, 2001 Sand he was recalled to serve as navigation and operations officer aboard the USS Florida.  Sand also served at the Pentagon and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition to his many years of military service, Duane Sand has been a passionate advocate for limited government, economic liberty.  Sand served as the state director of the influential pro-growth organization Americans for Prosperity.  He also served as president of the board of the North Dakota Taxpayers Association. 


AIVC 2012 US House Candidates

Justin Bernier - Connecticut's 5th District - US Navy - Afghanistan Vet 

Justin Bernier is running in the second most Republican district in New England.  Bernier is a Navy reserve intelligence officer and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.  He has also served in Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell’s cabinet and on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee staff.  Bernier also has private sector business experience and holds master’s degrees in International Relations from Georgetown Univ. and International Security & Economic Policy from University of Maryland. 

Chris Coutu - Connecticut's 2nd District - US Air Force 

Chris Coutu has served 17 years in the Air Force, Army National Guard and Connecticut Air National Guard, working on avionics systems for C-130 and A-10 aircraft. He also worked in his family’s small businesses coordinating transcontinental truck routes, and manning the pin machines at the tool and die shop.  In 2005, Chris established the non-profit American Warrior organization which paid for all expenses to send 730 Connecticut veterans of World War II and Korea to visit their memorials in Washington.  As a State Representative, Chris has fought against big spending and was the lone “no” vote against the $1.1 billion spending package of 2011.

Stephen Labate - New York's 2nd District - US Army - Iraq Vet

As a member of the Army Reserve, Stephen Labate has been called to active duty three times since the attacks of 9-11.  His most recent service was twelve months at the Pentagon as a member of the Army's Crisis Action Team.  Labate also served as a Force Protection Officer in one of the most heavily attacked installations in Northern Iraq.  In support of Operation Noble Eagle II, Stephen had the distinct honor to command the soldiers of the 306th Military Police Battalion for a year-long mission.  He is a graduate of St. John’s University and works in finance in his civilian career.

Patrick Murray - Virginia's 8th District - US Army - Iraq Vet 

Patrick Murray is a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 24-years of active service.  He spent over a decade in numerous positions abroad including tours in Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia and Russia.  After commanding tank units for seven years, Patrick went on to become a Foreign Area Officer in the Defense Intelligence Agency. He has extensive operational, analytical and policy experience. A Russian speaker, Patrick has worked in various bilateral and multilateral international relations venues, foreign policy, political military affairs, arms control and military-to-military relations.  His final tour of duty was at the United Nations in New York as a member of the U.S. Military Staff Committee.

Ilario Pantano - North Carolina's 7th District - US Marine Corps - Iraq Vet & Desert Storm Vet 

Ilario Pantano, a combat veteran, businessman, author, documentarian, law enforcement officer, veterans advocate - has served his country as a Marine Corps veteran of two wars, and in civilian life as a special Deputy Sheriff.  He experienced the high corporate culture at Goldman Sachs, but was deeply dissatisfied and chose instead to become an entrepreneur.  He authored a bestselling book about his experiences in Iraq and has remained involved in advocating national security issues. He also produced a film documentary about modern-day warriors to raise money for wounded veterans.

Wes Riddle - Texas' 25th District - US Army -Desert Storm Vet 

Wes Riddle,  a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, spent twenty years in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his retirement, Lieutenant Colonel Riddle served at Fort Hood on III Corps Staff as the Chief of the Air Defense Element (ADE). During the Gulf War, he commanded a Patriot Missile battery that shot incoming SCUD missiles in northern Saudi Arabia. Wes obtained his Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.) degree in Modern History from Oxford University after which he joined the Faculty at West Point.  He later joined Vinnell Arabia, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, and went to work in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a defense contractor.  Riddle  founded the Central Texas Tea Party.

Charlie Schaupp - California's 3rd District - US Marine Corps - Iraq Vet & Desert Storm Vet  

Charlie Schaupp holds degrees in agriculture from Yuba College and California State University, Chico. He served for 28 years in the US Marines, including combat operations in Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Charlie has been involved with Boy Scouts of America and veterans group activities, including serving as a two-term commander of the Western Yolo VFW. While a two-term member of the local school board, Charlie’s leadership saw new schools built in the district with the support of local farmers as well as the Yolo County Taxpayers’Association.

Dakota Wood - Oklahoma's 2nd District - US Marine Corps - Iraq Vet 

A graduate of the U.S Naval, Dakota Wood completed a 20-year career with the Marines in 2005. During his career, he served with a variety of operational units and in various assignments at Service Headquarters, Regional Combatant Command, and Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) levels. Since retiring, Dakota served nearly five years as a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) in Washington DC, arguably the Nation's premier not-for-profit "think tank" focused on national security and defense matters.  There he specialized in studying the evolving operational challenges of land warfare, irregular warfare, complex contingencies under high-technology conditions, and proliferated nuclear environments.