Appeals Board Corruption Still Unchecked
Former “political prisoner” and disabled veteran Keith Roberts is still waiting for reinstatement of his veterans benefits by an appeals board following a “trumped up” prosecution for wire fraud that has since been disproved.
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Think it is possible that a bogus benefits denial at the VA Board of Veterans Appeals can result in imprisonment?
Roberts attorney, Robert Walsh, sent me a note about Roberts’ case and I took the opportunity to review given current concerns by many in the veteran advocacy community over corruption within the Board of Veterans Appeals. Attorney Walsh’s current fight for his client focuses on the current delay to fully adjudicate his client’s benefits claim 5 years after a favorable reversal by the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Roberts v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 416 (2010)) and after Roberts’ release from prison. The Court’s reversal confirmed evidentiary errors and procedural failures that call into question the evidence that resulted in Roberts’ being imprisoned for wire fraud.
The case involves facts and events that I find shocking and deplorable, and a linkage between the current delay and reported corruption within the VA Board of Veterans Appeals that seems likely given that the Board created the benefits reversal in an unlawful decision that resulted in Roberts’ imprisonment.
RELATED: Whistleblower claims records manipulation by VA appeals board
How can it take the VA Board of Veterans Appeals to rule on a remand order that essentially cleared a veteran of allegations of fraud erroneously leveled by the Board one decade ago? What you are about to read will venture into the realm of the bizarre, and I am fearful that many other cases like that of Roberts exist.
After learning more about Roberts, I thought it was high time to memorialize the current status of crimes perpetrated against this disabled veteran. He is a veteran with confirmed mental disorders likely linked to military service. He is a veteran VA employees did not like a lot. He is a veteran who was wrongly targeted in an agency witch-hunt after he made a VA OIG complaint about VA employees altering his files.
Let’s hope he gets justice this time around more than a decade after the witch-hunt locked in on poor Roberts.
Political Scheming Against PTSD Veterans
Roberts was considered a political prisoner of a scheme hatched under the Republican Party in 2005 to disprove PTSD claims en mass while showing the world veterans are liars. While the Department of Justice pursued allegations against Roberts, it refused to prosecute government contractors defrauding taxpayers of billions in fraudulent claims.
To keep things level, this scheme against veterans and Roberts in particular has stemmed two political administrations, Republican and Democrat, and more than one decade. So clearly the scheme at play is beyond political party and purely and anti-veteran, anti-constitutional criminal conspiracy.
In 2005, the late Larry Scott, editor of VAWatchdog.org, discussed his views of the growing conspiracy with the Washington Post. Scott believed certain conservative groups were working to undermine existing PTSD rules awarding compensation for the condition. The obvious benefit to such scheme would be to reduce the long-term cost of the longest war in American history by eliminating disability benefits for this expensive condition.
According to Washington Post following Scott’s interview:
Compensating people for disabilities is a cost of war, [Scott] said: “Veterans benefits are like workmen’s comp. You went to war. You were injured. Either your body or your mind was injured, and that prevents you from doing certain duties and you are compensated for that.”
Scott said Veterans Affairs’ objectives were made clear in the department’s request to the Institute of Medicine for a $1.3 million study to review how PTSD is diagnosed and treated. Among other things, the department asked the institute — a branch of the National Academies chartered by Congress to advise the government on science policy — to review the American Psychiatric Association’s criteria for diagnosing PTSD. Effectively, Scott said, Veterans Affairs was trying to get one scientific organization to second-guess another.
RELATED: Associated Press spreading RUMORs about PTSD fakers
As I will discuss, the witch-hunt that resulted was largely a failure, but the fall-out from the stigma that resulted is still present and affecting many veterans seeking PTSD benefits. Still, VA psychologist hold secret website forums instructing these professionals on how to game the system.
RELATED: Clandestined C&P Examiner Website Exposed
The Keith Roberts Story
The Roberts story is the strangest I have ever come across. And, the despicable lengths to which VA went to support a case against him after he embarrassed the agency is a blemish on the credibility of our country.
RELATED: Jailed Wisconsin Veteran Case Gets More Bizarre
In 1999, Roberts was diagnosed with PTSD because of his involvement in traumatic event. While in the Navy, Roberts was involved in a failed attempt to save a fellow Navy Airman who was crushed to death by a C-54. One witness corroborated the event.
In 2002, Roberts following the instruction of his veteran service officer to file for PTSD with a better retroactive date. By 2003, Roberts became convinced VA was engaged in fraudulent manipulation of his claims file. He further became knowing as a “belligerent ass” by VA employees while pushing them to follow the law.
As previously mentioned, in 2005, VA began a witch-hunt scheme that was little more than a failed attempt to accuse PTSD veterans of defrauding the government with malingering PTSD symptoms. Only 12 veterans out of the more than 2,000 investigated actually supported the criteria for malingering.
But that did not stop VA from pushing prosecution of some PTSD veterans by either wrongfully labeling them as frauds, withholding benefits, or putting some veterans in prison while the VA Board of Veterans Appeals wrongly supported poorly supported benefits denials.
For Roberts, the prosecution for wire fraud was based on thin evidence primarily supported by an incorrect denial of a better PTSD retroactive date. The agency claimed Roberts inflated his involvement in saving the Navy Airman and went on to erroneously claim Roberts received back benefits to which he was not entitled.
Making matters really squirrely, the Department of Justice proceeded to use the denial of benefits from the Board as support for its claim that Roberts committed wire fraud.
Think this through for a second. Veterans Affairs was engaged in a witch hunt to show veterans commit fraud on a regular basis when seeking PTSD claims. Roberts blows the whistle on VA for manipulating evidence – an act that would result in a veteran’s benefits being fraudulently withheld.
Instead of going after the agency in the many instances of evidence destruction, the Department of Justice went after the lowly veteran because he pissed off the wrong people.
How is that for justice?
In 2010, the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) reversed the Board’s decision. In so doing, it corrected the enormous evidentiary error perpetrated by the Board that was erroneously relied on in Wisconsin for Roberts conviction of wire fraud.
How can you commit wire fraud if you were actually entitled to the benefits you received based on a correct decision based on the evidence on hand?
You simply cannot.
And how does our great country reply to the grievance Roberts has against it for wrongfully imprisoning him?
On remand, the Board of Veterans Appeals has withheld its decision. The decision was rendered in 2010 and Roberts was exonerated.
So how is it that the Board can refuse to reverse its decision? How long can we expect Roberts to wait for justice?
His attorney Robert Walsh believes internal VA Board of Veterans Appeals corruption exposed by another whistleblower last year is at the core of the unlawful behavior.
Corruption at Board of Veterans Appeals
According to whistleblower Kelli Kordich, high ranking attorneys at the board created its own wait list scandal by changing tracking dates to make it appear Board attorneys had better performance numbers than otherwise. Those numbers supported bonuses and promotion for heads at the Board who were engaged in or actively supported the fraud.
The following excerpt is from Stars & Strips:
Mirroring a scandal that engulfed its health care system, VA managers handling disability benefit appeals also manipulated records to hide overly long delays in deciding cases, an agency whistleblower testified Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
The chairman and head office staff of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals shifted cases in a tracking system in 2012 to wipe evidence it had held some for months, and over a year in at least one case, Kelli Kordich, an attorney with the board, told a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee.
The sworn testimony sparked concerns among lawmakers that the systematic practice of doctoring electronic records at hundreds of VA hospitals and clinics to disguise long wait times may have spread to other areas of the sprawling federal agency.
The Board of Veterans’ Appeals, which now has 280,000 pending appeals cases, said the incidents happened two years ago and were quickly fixed.
Kordich said a VA union sent a letter to former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki in June 2012 notifying him that board staff were unnecessarily delaying appeals. Veteran cases ranged from 120 to 415 days old, including five cases held personally by the board’s principal deputy vice chairman.
“Most of the cases involved decisions on appeals of waiting veterans that already had been prepared by board attorneys and were simply awaiting the signature” of the head office staff, she said.
When the board became aware of the complaint to Shinseki, top staff members entered the electronic case tracking system and reassigned the old cases to new attorneys, Kordich said.
“This had the effect of resetting the calculation of how many days the appeal had languished in one location,” Kordich said.
She also outlined what she called a “toxic” office atmosphere characterized by “unchecked mismanagement, corruption and blatant disregard for out nation’s veterans.” Kordich said all the managers involved in delaying the appeals received employee bonuses and were later promoted.
With this level of corruption, how can the American taxpayer standby while active fraud is benefiting those who wrongfully accuse others of the same despicable behavior?
Laure Eskenazi, the current executive in charge at the Board allegedly engaged in fraudulently delaying veterans claims by falsifying federal records. After exposure by the whistleblower, Eskenazi was appointed to being the “executive in charge” at the Board despite being only the vice chairman.
Justice, justice, justice… when will we see justice? Why is the Republican lead Congress and Senate sitting on its hands while this behavior is clearly being rewarded? As the supposed party of the American Taxpayer, why is this kind of fraud being allowed while veterans are being harmed?
More Backstory on Political Scheme
As I wrote this article, I began to check the hyperlinks used by some reputable forums to highlight the rather well documented witch-hunt inspired by the American Enterprise Institute. These forums highlighted articles penned by a psychiatrist named Sally Satel, who some believe is closer to the center of the scandalous scheming against PTSD veterans. Most of the articles have been scrubbed.
I did find an excerpt from Satel indicating she believes veterans are conspiring in underground networks to unlawfully get benefits to which they are not entitled:
Psychiatrist Sally Satel, who is affiliated with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said an underground network advises veterans where to go for the best chance of being declared disabled. The institute organized a recent meeting to discuss PTSD among veterans.
Once veterans are declared disabled, they retain that status indefinitely, Frueh and Satel said. The system creates an adversarial relationship between doctors and patients, in which veterans sometimes take legal action if doctors decline to diagnose PTSD, Frueh said. The clinician added that some patients who really need help never get it because they are unwilling to undergo the lengthy process of qualifying for disability benefits, which often requires them to repeatedly revisit the painful episodes they experienced.
The concern by Frueh and Satel about overdiagnosis and fraud — what researchers call “false positives” — has drawn the ire of veterans groups and many other mental health experts.
I consider their claims to be generally unsupported nonsense purported by medical doctors who should know better than to stigmatize veterans. However, in this instance Washington Post got it right regarding stigmas about PTSD keeping veterans from accessing the benefits:
A far bigger problem is the many veterans who seek help but do not get it or who never seek help, a number of experts said. Studies have shown that large numbers of veterans with PTSD never seek treatment, possibly because of the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Sadly, this argument is still ongoing in the press. I periodically see biased and clearly one-sided reporting by some well known journalists who repeatedly interview VA doctors discussing this malingering issue. These doctors also show reporters confidential records of veterans with PTSD examinations. I have confronted VA Health Administration about this, but they refuse to provide any information including investigations into the doctors who leaked the documents.
RELATED: Wall Street Journal Says VA Disability Calculator Too Veteran Friendly
How are these VA employees able to go to the press in this way? How can they show journalists privileged medical records of VA examinations?
Conclusion
In my mind, the argument here is silly. Our government is paying $2 to save a $1.95. The notion that veterans are liars when it comes to PTSD was disproven. Veterans were harmed during the witch-hunt, but our government refuses to make it right.
For Roberts, our government targeted a veteran who blew the whistle who was considered a loud mouth. This could be any of our nation’s founding fathers who were also veterans of the Revolutionary War and quite outspoken when it comes to rights and morality.
So how is it that our country’s leaders, under both Democrat and Republican regimes, are unable or unwilling to root out evil people?
Nothing will happen indeed. The VA itself is a criminal organization that may do as it likes and does so. It is allowed as part of normal SOP to commit fraud and other crimes, nonfeasance and malfeasance with impunity. I am 12 years in a benefits fight, 4.5 years into an appeal, and 1.5 years into a remand in which the VBA processors simply removed the Army Medical records for my claim and then sent it to the judge. When, one points this out VA counsel doesn’t care, the OIG does nothing for they are all in it together. I can prove by provenance and I maintained those records as well as reordered from the NARA myself and all are there. The VA simply took out the diagnosis in the Army and other files and then sent to judge to review. The BVA doesn’t care and there is no mechanism to get the judge to review this. Additionally even through a DRO they just didn’t bother to read at all after 12 years they keep telling me that I didn’t have a kind of surgery or injury that I did— the surgical diagnosis and narrative are there. They just read the preoperative diagnosis. Now, if things were on the up and up and they really reviewed the records after 12 years one would think that they could have gotten the diagnosis and surgery correct. Additionally, finally in July I had a C&P for the remanded condition. The C&P examiner was the first nice one that treated me like a human and a veteran. She said that I was SC for the condition but they won’t give me the report though they used in another condition denial inappropriately. Now, they send me another appointment with a C&P examiner for the 22nd of this month for the same conditions – why? In an effort now to deny again….Now bear in mind too that they are supposed to handle older cases expeditiously and without an endless pursuit of more and more data, but no. I am going to be f#cked in the ass and harassed again. These people are criminals.
i have been fighting since 1981,i was denied for service connection in early staged 2000 in 2004 was ordered to get pension exams in 2009 i complained to the white house and president ordered the va to expedite my cases, they did alright. they ordered me to seek specialiasts in hong kong where i live and forced me to pay forthose exams myself and after doing so refused to reemburse me 2000 dollrs and the cost or a flight to thephilpines where exams wereset up until one george byrd of appeals management changed my address. and i didnt know he changed it to Macau not to hong kong where i resided with family. the exams were thrown out by the judge as inadmissable. i was again remanded , in 2009, i am still waiting on pension exams. i was told theyre up to 2011 remands on foreign cases. they skipped right over me. the pittsburg office manager claimed that my records had to be translated into chinese a lawyer got this from the woman.and she said my exams would take lace inthe american embassy. the state department wrote a letter tothe VA calling her a liar. i havea copy. now i have been waiting 7 years for the pension exams and the 2009 remands are passed . i want to know when i will get my exams done.
There is more, i sued in tort claims for malpractice in 1998 3 cases which should have been many more, in 1999 i was denied all , i appealed , my complete file disa[peared when i asked what in hell was going on because i didnt get a hearing on my appeal
in 2006 the va claimed i never filed claims in west virginia . in 2009 the va claimed i never filed an appeal. state department people sent my appeals 450,000 in tort claims disapeared, i need a lawyer for the is,
Now there is more,, in 1998 the va created a debt for 54,000 dollars claiming i recieved a check for that amount, it was a lie and the company wrote and told them so, still they called me a liar and set out and recovered the money from benefits,. during the recovery period other debts were created for 52,000, claiming they paid me. 34,000 claiming i was paid , 47,000 claiming i was paid 54000 in 2005 claiming they were paying me and in 2006 claimed i was married toa woman who divorced me in 1994 saying i was still married to her wheni married a philipine woman in 2001
now i didnt know this until a couple months ago, an american legion rep told me this. so i took a copy of the divorce out of my c file and sent it to her . on the c file copy reads recieved by the huntington regional office west virginia dated march 2 , 2002.
the va stripped allthe past auditsand debt records from curret copies of my c file along with my bank records which proved i didnt recieve the money and other docments that proved i didnt owe money like federal court decisions in 2001 that said that the insurance company recovered 59,000 in benefits and closed me case, the va climed i was still getting money 3 years later and put me 47,000 in debt, i didnt ge t the money
26 copies of records disapeared sent to them vial ups fedex registered mail and overnight mail 2 day mail and fax . I am still 35,000 dollrs in debt to the va for money i never recieved. my case number is 234417358 for anyone who cares to read about it and my email is bassmaster0513 @yahoo.com if anyone wishes to band together and do battle against these criminals finding their homes knocking on their doors and taking thelaw into our own hands . justice is needed here.
The FBI refused to investigte the theft of my compensation checks or moneys and pension money benefits. the DC local office was ordered to investigate by the justice department and the local office refused to assign oit to an officer.that was in 2013 and today there still insnt an officer assigned to look into it.
Also, both the DAV and american legion reps in the foreign office called me a liar until i provided copies to them. they appeared to be working for the VA as employees.
the VA should for all intents and purposes remove the debt and reemburse me for my losses of benefits as well as compensate me for the losses incurred when they created the fake debts, they should also pay me the tort claim money they owe . they made the files disapear. the va nearly killed me many times botched surgeries and damaged my left arm in the recovery room after abdominal surgery, the surgeon said its likely permanant damage, and it is, hell they gave me meds that the FDA ordered removed from shelves , it gave me two heart attacks, and the VA is responsible. i fell hurting my back in the va center, they are responsible i was given meds i am alergic to 3 times and the meds were listed under other names in my files. another time a doctor gave me a med and half hour lateri passed out crossing the road in front of the v out cold, no blood sugar , i had an interaction with other meds they had meon at one point they had me in 21 different meds. i nearly died a nurse told me when i passed out.
I am a VA victim. how many of you are VA victims?
Benjamin you need to read this and get a hold of it and put it in check before other great Veterans are misled.
I think some of you are giving false information to our fellow Veteran, and Ben if you don’t put a stop to it quickly it is going to hurt our Veterans in the long run. So many people on this site are so caught up in the conspiracy theory frame of thought, encompassing all VA employees in one horrible bunch of anti-American basket, preaching that if you do this or that the VA will do the following negative thing to your claim …… Let’s be real here, not all VA employees are the same and you get different outcomes from different people, which in itself isn’t good because there is no set standard, but still must be followed through with because until its fixed, that is the system. But to state on here not to do certain things because your outcome will be ________. Is the wrong way of going about this unless you are a qualified lawyer specializing in this type of case law, not just because you feel you or others where wronged. As I sit here reading this VA bashing offering advise on what someone who was in the Military should do when you have no clue about what is going on with their claims is completely ludicrous and idiotic at the least. (NO I DO NOT WORK FOR THE VA) I can see people who know no better taking the bad advice of some disgruntled Veterans losing not only their claim, but possibly a file date because they thought what someone was saying here made some sense. Listen, I have been frustrated by some VA employees, but are they all non-caring, spiteful, and disengenuous. Not by far. Did I have to file an appeal on my claim and learn how I went on. Absolutely Did I refille for a higher rating decision after having a 100% service connection rating. YES. WHY? Because my case warranted it due to qualifying for a higher rating as an R-2 rated Veteran with Aid and Attendance Needs. Did I get it yes. Furthermore my wife is just finishing up her almost 9 year in March claim, which had been denied more than a few times and had her BVA hearing last August, which approximately 4 months ago at the BVA was sent out to a doctor of their chiding for that doctors medical opinion. Had we been frustrated at times?absolutely!!! Until we recently had received a letter from the doctor they sent it to with her medical opinion, to which she had agreed with everything we had been saying for 9 years. Then we received another letter from the BVA stating that they found in our favor but her claim is going back to our local VA for a rating on that decision. If we don’t get what we feel she is entitled to, will we give up because it’s been 9 years. NNOOO!!! Even though she currently has 70% for PTSD? Still nooo. We will continue to fight and praise God that we came home with our kids. In a chair or not. If you are a Veteran and you are going through issues I beg you, please don’t listen to the outrageous comments on here, especially when it comes to issues regarding your claim. Find a good representative to take it to. The others playing lawyers on here should be ashamed of yourselves giving advice you know nothing about…..
That’s horrific what Keith Roberts went through and is still going through, and indeed sad that our President does not take these issues as important social and humanitarian issues…your own back yard, the people that served and do serve.
It makes me wonder if the VA has *always been* a political back-rubbing of agencies and campaign promises, again, all on the foundation of those that they should be treating better than just as the ‘pork barrel of vets’, and this is ever so much evident and clear with our VA Secretary holding hostage the very healthcare for cash before Congress…the VA absolutely needs a contract and ONLY ONE contract, with an independent accounting firm. The rest can come from stern justice.
I say this again, perhaps vainly, “We should MANDATE all Politicians use the VAMC’s only for their healthcare for starts?
Term limits. No more career politicians. As it stands, a member of Congress that serves a few years has LIFE TIME benefits.
Does any of this seem real since we are supposedly in a budgetary sequester of some variety, right?
Oh, it burns me up with this deal with Iran while we are in a crazy assed war with barbarians.
I wonder if Iran is also getting some of that Veteran Choice Card program Cash? How many Billion did Kerry say we were going to give the enemy?
Did we not learn ANYTHING from our former trading game when Pres. Reagan was in office, and good ol’ Ollie North being the fall guy for our very same type of thing, except it was direct hands-on weaponry we were giving them…anyway, just thought to blurp out my thoughts on not learning from history…again.
Keith Roberts needs to write or sell the rights to someone making a movie of his life because not even Stephen King can make this crap up!
I think now that Keith Roberts has been exonerated of any wrong doing and the V.A. persists in its intent to deprive this poor veteran of his Constitutional rights there is no doubt as to who is the culprit and upper echelon of the V.A. should be tried under the RICO Act because this is definitely a Conspiracy to deprive this soldier of his Constitutional rights.
Why are they (the V.A. is allowed to get away with this? if the government who can do something about this doesn’t instead it becomes part of this compiracy.
Pres Obama knew back in 2008 that there was a VA wait time problem and that VA officials were falsifying VA records to keep receiving their performance bonuses – while Veterans died! Debra Draper at the GAO has publicly confirmed this fact. FBI Director Comey on 06/11/14 was asked by a reporter why the FBI wasn’t investigating the VA crimes. He said no one had asked him. That afternoon, the USAG asked the FBI to investigate. Let’s face it, if Obama wanted to stop the corruption, he has the power to stop it. Obama appointed Rob Nabors to work on addressing the VA corruption. Now, Nabors is the new VA chief of staff. McDonald has been told of the problems and he refuses to act.
Something interesting to note about the VA’s claim about this “Miracle Hepatitis C Drug”, and the $500 Million they a demanding for it:
I just saw my civilian Infectious Disease Specialist recently. I should note that she is one smart doctor in whom I have literally placed my life in her hands. She worked for the CDC until start of 1980’s and has since worked in partnership with major pharmaceutical companies in developing better drugs for HIV specifically, but also works on the other big infectious diseases and their potential cures or just better meds as well.
When asked about this new “Miracle Hep C CURE” and why exactly there’s absolutely no literature about it in any of their wait areas or all the CURRENT LITERATURE on said drugs in their patient rooms and she told me this (off the record): “If the Veteran Admin. is saying they have this NEW Hep C CURE and are claiming it costs 90% more for each tablet than my VERY expensive HIV 3-drug cocktail,($80. a tablet, once a day, every day until I die), then someone is not telling the truth here”, and she went on to state, “…it makes no sense because IF it’s a NON-FDA-APPROVED medicine, THEN it SHOULD be CALLED a CLINICAL TRIAL…but the VA is claiming otherwise”!
She is same Dr. that told me if I had stayed with the VAMC I surely would have met my demise years ago…why? Because the VA would not recognize the Phenotype and Genotype that she performed with my-then-private insurance, to determine just how rare and resistant of a strain of Hep B and HIV that I ended-up acquiring after a botched Active Duty operation where I either received tainted or non-tested blood transfusions and/or seriously non-sterile surgical environment.
The VA does not even have the most current and effective HIV drugs on their pharmacy “formulary”. I know because the VA wanted to just put me on various meds without recognizing THE SCIENCE that showed I indeed have a very RARE STRAIN, and reason those expensive tests were done was to ensure we were not making an already resistant virus even stronger, and reason the three meds in one large tablet was and is the only thing shown to work for my “special strain”.
With that said, how is it the VA is claiming this “magic pill” somehow costs MORE than all the very expensive HIV and Cancer Drugs? Oh, and for a drug that’s YET to even be APPROVED FOR USE? It has not even been properly vetted through Clinical Trials for the FDA to give it approval.
Seems to me the VA simply wants that Choice Ca$h and will fabricate the most insane lies to get it.
Tell me…has anyone in Congress or otherwise been given indisputable proof, as in accounting numbers, that the VA is actually in a “deficit”?
Something tells me that there would NOT be any deficit if the VA had not the taste for that Choice Program Cash…even the Hep C miracle drug seemed to have been pulled from same dark place where the sun does not shine.
Rant over from a 100% Svc. Connected P&T Veteran.
DVA BVA criminals give us PTS! (See: Deasy v. US). My case at the 4th Cir. is precisely about what happens when we file IG and lawsuits and how they [VBA clerks (practicing medicine and law without licenses)] get away with murder, literally due to the unconstitutional 38USC511 scheme and violations the Cushman-precedent (2009) (my activist buddy) where VBA policy is controlling over the constitution and case law due to 511.
Where are the GAO acutaries for govt spending/fraud investigation within our government? Especially by those in congress, who do rob one dept( Peter), to pay another department(Paul). Congress appears to be unfettered in it’s spending or not accountable for it’s spending of U.S.taxpayer dollars. Clearly, there are financial abuses like the thefts of our tax dollars, that most Americans are unaware of. As it has been stated .before, this is a RICO, of epic proportions put upon the American taxpayers including our disabled vets..But, we’ve all been paying.. The GAO is supposed to be our accountants. Isn’t it time for them to make a report on the American people’s behalf to how Congress spends VA money? The same goes for the Senate who approves of the money being spent?.
Irene, I’m not sure if your a veteran. Only it doesn’t mater. If you know how to Twitter, contact Congress. Mr. John Boehner and others in Washington by Twitter. My wife started doing this about a week and a half ago. She started out with about a dozen friends. She now has over a hundred. Everyone tells Congress to NOT give away any more of the taxpayers money. Basically, telling them they ain’t getting back in office next time.
Hope this helps…,
How did the VA get ownership of this hotel and prime real estate, how much money does the lease generate and where does it go??????????
I was caught up in the PTSD “fraud review” just like Keith Roberts. I was still going through the residuals of A/O cancer treatment at the time, and it was a vicious attack against me and my family. The VA lied to me and about me every step of the process. They claimed that neither me or my entire unit had ever been in Vietnam. I proved they were lying. They said that the horrific atrocity that I used as the “stressor” in my PTSD claim never happened. I proved they were lying. They denied writing me official letters accusing me of fraud and threatening me with loss of ALL VA benefits within 60 days. I proved they were lying. They claimed that no records existed in the National Archives of any of the terrible events I listed on my PTSD claim. I proved they were lying.
The VA is a hateful, malicious, money grubbing whore that will kill veterans at the mere mention of bonus money. And , NOBODY can prove, that I am lying about that, because I am telling the cold hard truth.
VA tried to do the same to me. Said I couldn’t have been in Nam, cause I was never in the Army. That was in 2005-6!
When I went to VA records and had my ARMY DD214 AND MY Army Medical Records brought forward. They, at that time, realized they had just “you know what”! Talk about a VA employee scrambling to correct their FUBAR. I loved every minute of it. It was corrected at the VARO, St. Petersburg, Florida in, I think, late 2006. Because thats when I went to Peoria, Illinois to visit my brother from when we were together in Nam.
Now comes the funnier part. You know how VARO’s and VAMC’s don’t communicate. Well i went until just last year, mid 2014, (that’s ten more years) of the VAMC in both Orange City and Lake Baldwin (Orlando) Florida saying I was not there, AGAIN a complete FUBAR…
Again I made fools outta the VA. And this time my wife raised the hell. I didn’t have to say a word!!!! I loved it.
I am one of the Combat Vets that has been waiting on a claim from AUG 2012.
I was in theater in 2005-2007 came home with No sense of smell, stitches in my head, busted up shoulder, back and knee.
In 2010 after 3 yrs dealing with the VA and being told the x-ray’s and MRI’s don’t show Any Injury!!!
I went OUTSIDE of the VA and went to an Active duty AFB hospital SEP 2010, in OCT 2010 I was having my Shoulder rebuilt and my Bicep re-attached, BUT the VA said NOTHING is WRONG!!!
After I reached Max Med Improvement, I filed for this disability in AUG 2012,
DENIED because I was told I had ELECTIVE SURGERY!!! WTF!!! Appeal was started in JUN 2013, STILL Waiting!!!
I have been DENIED for the service connection’s!!!
I STILL have NO sense of smell, Bad back, knee and I have Migraines related to the blow to the head.
After I was Repaired and able to return to work as a Butcher after 8 months of Rehab, I was No longer able to do the job, and in FEB 2014 I was Terminated for having a PERCEIVED PTSD!!!
THIS is How BIG BUSINESS TREATS US VET’S!!!
PLEASE Read Petition to Help with a Combat VET’s $HITTY TREATMENT by THE HYPOCRITICAL KRoger
https://causes.com/posts/952750
Thanks
A little off topic here: While all this is going on, I have asked the VA, DAV, PVA, VFW, Rally Point ect for a ONE TIME help to get me in my apartment. NADDA!!!
What city do you live in Eric?
we all can empathize with Mr Roberts. most of us know from direct VA experience the consequences we get, although unbeknownst to us back then, the red flags put in our records when we were angry towards someone at VA for doing their dirty tricks. such as medical records manipulation, lying about diagnosis, adversarial mental gymnastics, etc., those kinds of things. one rightful gets upset about it when one finds out. but boy did we all experience similar repercussions that come from being your own patient advocate when dealing with the VA.
we all know being respectful to others is the good way to be. the veteran shows it and shows it, and then the veteran views their records and sees the manipulation, starts putting two-and-two together and realizes you have to take up for yourself, like Mr Roberts did. look what happens when you do when dealing with the VA. they put the guy in prison for cryin’ out loud!
sure, you go to the VA and they are overly nice now on the surface, but that isn’t near as important as what is being added/omitted in the veteran’s medical records.
i think many of us have some residual “psych stressors” just from dealing with the VA. that is, those of us veterans with the negative psych fallout that comes from being on the receiving end of the VA’s dirty tricks. there must be millions of us, not just a few thousand. how many veterans have brought this fact up at a VA psych appt only to have it diverted to the conversational ether equivalent? how convenient.
i didn’t realize the VA had these special agents flying around the country doing their little deeds. gee, and i thought their (ill)legal teams for claims adjudication were worrisome. guess you never know who you’re talking too these days if you’re a disabled veteran.
great article though and a very sad and troubling reality for veterans. i wish someone in power would answer your pleas Ben. the system has only gotten worse. a Congress(dem or rep) that can’t/won’t do anything about it, a corrupt VA system that gets even more powerful and rich from taxpayers dollars, seems little hope for veterans in this realm.
The VA meets the very definition of a failed institution.
Yes it does, Bruce! I am speaking for myself about the things the Veterans Administration (VA) has done for me and to me (and just about each and every Veteran I know and have met in the last 47 year’s! The VA has helped me as it should with my education, no problem when I needed and extra year to finish college they found a way using on of the benefits like Vocational Rehab. I was a Combat Medic in Vietnam and had a couple wounds one being a penetrating head wound that left a 2 square inch hole in my skull. (I was retired from the military for that wound in 1968) On that note the VARO IN Oakland, California last year 2014, denied that I had a TBI!!! Stupid fuck’s! Excuse my language, anyway they went over board to help me but as you can see that did not entail any MEDICAL…Through reviewing a lot of my “Medical Record’s from the Martinez, California VA Hospital and VA Health Clinic and other Northern California VA Facilities I find that I have wasted my LIFE, TIME and all TRUST in the failed last in their class people that call themselves doctors or other medical titles in which I am sure was bought by two box top’s of Co Co Puff’s and a dollar. BIGOTRY, PREJUDICE, LAST IN THEIR CLASS LOW LIFE LIAR’S and even today things are hardly changing, I go when they call me just to stay in the VA system (it is a bitch to start all over again so don’t let your name be erased from their “system!”) What I have learned from the Senate Hearings with the VA is that the Veteran is the least of the concern and to say, as one under secretary said, “Veteran’s Organization’s are in partnership with the VA!” That means to me FUBAR in why our claims are being mishandled, lost or sent to other facilities around the world to be adjudicated! They have destroyed some of my very important medical record’s and letter’s by people I served with in Vietnam as their medic supporting what I have claimed…One person was even a Police Lt. and had his police department letter head on the letter he wrote for me. The person that destroyed these Jeff Jewel was then a lowly VSO for Solano County in California (he destroyed hundred’s of Veteran’s records) is now a team leader of the Concord, California Vet Center! What a pay increase…he replaced Denver Mill’s who did the same but he threw Vietnam Veteran’s under the bus and when Congressman George Miller was notified of Mill’s sordid action’s…nothing was done even though there was over whelming evidence of what Mill’s did and was doing to Vietnam Veteran’s! So, no matter how right we as Veterans are, most of us either get the short end of the stick (with no KY) or the toe tag, which we all know is ramped within the Veterans Administration Medical System! I don’t really like to even go to the VA because I know it will be pointless and when whom ever the doctor I see the same bull ship will be spewing from their mouth! I got a fortune cookie recently that said: “Don’t fight the government!” The VA is a joke then again so is our ‘dent…FTVA!
At one time Extortion was a felony, In MOST States In the U.S. The V.A.`s threat to close the doors on hospitals UNLESS the Congress hands over more Billions, Or Saying the New “Choice Program” will have to pay the dues. Sounds a LOT like What I believe to be Extortion. Blackmail? I know, Rape. Is to be taken by force. At least Strong Armed Robbery Sense McD ain`t holding them at gunpoint exactly. He`s got Veterans to use as leverage.
This article makes me even more afraid. (Please, This is Not a Boast) But my claim was overturned on Appeal, after only 3 years. They paid me back pay. I`m so afraid of them I took the money out of the bank and Got it Buried. I “heard” You go on a Domestic Terrorist watch list if you withdraw over 3K in cash at once. I`m so Paranoid by the whole mess, I may get on another list for being Paranoid by the whole MESS. Fearful of “MY” GOVERNMENT? Go figure. I`ll soon find out, I just applied to renew my handgun License. I`ve only been out of my house 4 times in four years, to go to the V.A. Don`t Drink, Do drugs or anything for that matter but sit in a wheelchair Praying someone out of MS-13 don`t come in here & hack me to death with a Machete for the very little I have. I got the license 40 yrs ago. But the rules have changed sense our govt spends all their time & Money Listening to “our” phone calls, And Messages like these. Gathering data on us Patriotic, Politically incorrect Somewhat simi Americans. At least the “Questions” on the test have changed sense 2011 QUITE A BIT. to put it mildly. PTSD, Never happen, If you`re on the books with PTSD You wont get a Handgun Lic. At least in Texas.Just like Dianne Feinstein Mentioned. That ALL Vets are Rabid baby killers in her view. or at the very least have the “Iraq War Phenomenon” of PTSD. You`d think someone would bring her up to speed. I`d be willing to bet it`s been around sense Cain Slew Able, in one form or the other, By one name or the other, And that was some time back. You would also think, A Sitting Senator sense the late 1800`s would know that.
Well, McD pulled it off again like we all knew he would. He got rid of the $2 billion dollar hospital incomplete construction disaster by creating a $3 billion extortion demand to pay up or he will force the VA to shut down. As a still sitting board member to a major pharmaceutical company we can only guess how much he makes off the bogus $1,000 per Hepatitis C miracle cure pill scam. The ultimate scam on that aspect is the VA caused thousands of cases of Hepatitis C by using dirty needles as reported previously. Something drastic will have to be done soon through appropriate legal and civil channels or there will be nothing left of the VA. The entire agency is on the verge of complete collapse thanks to many years of worsening unchecked scandals. Receiving your hard-earned benefits has become harder to win than the lottery. There is a limit to how much shit McD, Gibson and the rest can get by with. The VA does not see the handwriting on the wall, but they are going to fall, from the top down, and sooner than anyone would think. It is a certainty that several more major scandals are lurking at the VA right now, ones no one ever heard of, and they will hit the major media soon. It is more than obvious that neither McD nor Gibson, nor any of the VA executive leadership, will survive the coming purge that will be the worst scandal in any US agency history.
Mr. Wallace, the “miracle pill” you speak of now costs $1200 each. I was informed of this by a vet who just went through the treatment.
On Friday’s blog I gave a website that tells all about that “experimental” pill, (which has not yet been approved by the government), being put out by Vertex Pharmaceutical Inc. There are an additional two or three pharmaceutical companies vying for the contract.
Again, I hope Congress and all committees don’t fall for McD’s, Gibson’s and any other VA managements false statements and false statistics. Where they have been trying to pay Paul for the SCREWUPS they have caused Peter.
I feel, like you, their time is at an end. They need to learn a serious lesson.
Let them do a partial shutdown. Force anyone who has received a bonus in 2014 & 2015 to repay it now. Make McD and Gibson to work for free. During the shutdown, physicians, nurses etc., (who graduated top of their class in America) will be on 24 hr. duty call. They only get a paycheck when they are working. Bring in clerks that are necessary. Military clerks can do the jobs of incompetent VA employees.
Put a plan in place where upper management is not needed. They don’t do much now, so why are they needed? Except taking money.
Can anyone add more suggestion? Or, if anyone has a better idea, I sure would love to hear it!
There’s a report on Channel 9, right now #9investigates. Christopher Heath investigated the story. Seems VA changed the rules of the Choice Program Again.
Go to
WFTV.com
and go to the story. This was the same as what I had commented on the other day. Only they added more. Especially the amount of veterans being effected. They said MILLIONS. Kind of blows McD’s facts and figures…..
I know this has nothing to do with today’s topic. Only I think it’s worth mentioning, due to the despicable act of ‘someone’ in government.
It seems someone tried to “…slip [Kerry’s] deal with Iran into a transportation bill.” late last week. It was reported, Congress “…caught it…” and took it out!
I saw this on Channel 9 news on Saturday. It was at the bottom of the screen. Where the news is written for all to see and read. Since then, many have “tweeted” their disgust, to law makers, over this issue.
We know why someone tried this. It’s because no one is, or has, turned over all the details of Kerry’s Deal with Iran to Congress.
It seems Kerry made some “side deals” no one has seen. That includes Congress and the American Public! Congress has, since this has come to light, been demanding to see ALL THE DOCUMENTS. But, to date, it’s not been complied with.
I believe every American should be aware of the complete “Deal”. Not just a portion.
Also, Obama has stated, If Israel does anything to Iran. Even if Iran starts anything. He will retaliate against Israel! (paraphrasing). Basically, he has stated he would declare war against Israel.
For this reason, I feel he not only needs to be impeached, he needs to have criminal charges brought against him! Israel is our “Ally”, not Iran.
Why are we making deals with a country which supports terrorism? That’s been proven. We are giving Iran $150 billion. One of the “conditions” is, Iran can no longer supply terrorists with weapons. Wooptedo, this doesn’t mean they can’t give terrorists money to purchase weapons. There are MANY concerns over this “Deal”, I wonder if Kerry has an onset of dementia!
As far as the DAV, (Disabled American Veterans), is concerned. Go to DAVREFORM.ORG. Once you read it you’ll understand more about what they are really about.
I know the owner of that website. We touched base after I exposed DAV salaries here. https://www.disabledveterans.org/2013/04/24/vets-outraged-over-veteran-organization-exec-pay/
Ben did you get and read the email sent to you from “[email protected] on Saturday? It concerns a “DAV treasurer being arrested (22 July, 2015) last week on charges of embezzlement.” The funny thing about the article, out of Roanoke, Va., was, they had to put a “correction” out. It seems instead of Disabled AMERICAN Veterans treasurer being arrested. They put Disabled Veterans treasurer being arrested, in the article…..
Hope you have, or had, a good laugh.
Did you ask DAV to comment on the salaries?
You single out DAV but slaries for AL and VFW are also 6 figures. Why not excoriate them? DAV provides wider range of representation than other VSO’s. Did you compare DAV salaries with other non profits of similar size and income? You did not do your homework as you would have to do if preparing an indictment for court. Maybe some commenters will want to destroy DAV as they want to do to the VA. And you are fanning the flames.
I appreciate the information in your articles, but claiming you personally exposed DAV salaries when such are always a matter of public record is nothing but grandstanding. DAV executive salaries are in line with other non profits similarly sized and providing equivalent services for free. Disagree with salaries for an entire group of businesses, but don’t attempt to bring down the one with the highest salaries without knowing why it is so.
DAV salaries for National Service Officers were, probably still are, higher than all other VSO representatives. Training much longer and in depth, types of representation provided that other VSOs do NOT provide: discharge review board, correction of military record, social security disability appeals, civilian counsel for active duty troops in Physical Evaluation Board hearings, disaster relief grants, donating the vans stationed at VAMCs providing free transportation for vets to and from the VA, DAV mobile service units that tour all states helping vets and survivors with claims. DAV personnel at all levels of its professional staff assume a greater responsibilty than reps from other VSOS. So why should DAV execs not also be compensated more than other VSO execs?
Conducting a witch hunt when nothing illegal is evident or even alleged is doing nothing but attempting to harm an organization and make you look like a hero, something you are not. I am surprised that you, an attorney, took the low road.
@ericman1949-
Do you realize how DEFENSIVE your diatribe reads and comes across as? A similar reaction as when Wall Street and Big Banks were exposed for laughing all the way to the bank after screwing all Americans. Not pretty, not pretty at all.
Do you work for the DAV or in any capacity with the VA? Sure sounds like it.
As Veterans and American tax Payers, we can politely suggest where you can shove those “six figures”. *HINT*…the sun does not shine there…
Ben, it’s not just the salaries members and non-members are concerned (p!$$€d) about. Here’s a fyi, do you why Gary Sinese no longer backs DAV? My wife an I do. He only sponsors Camp Corral! Matter of Golden Corral also donates now to Camp Corral. Wonder why that is Ben.
Harley Davidson, the VA and States Counties purchased many vans and has contributed $$$$ to buy the vans. One problem, Ben, here in Florida, as was reported, “DAV was not maintaining them!” One van sat at the Orange City, Fl. vamc for over a year. All it needed was a battery!!! How’s that for incompetence.
Here’s how a vet gets a ride to a vamc, Ben. First the Veteran MUST get a ride to the DAV. Then the vet can ride to a vamc. No, and I mean NO, door to door pickup and return policy?!
According to DAV’s own website “volunteer van drivers” in Dover, Delaware, complained about long hour behind the wheel. No door to door service. The vet must go to a “dedicated area to be picked up!” Only those who are “legally blind” will be picked up and dropped off at home. Other than “blind vets”, can anyone explain how this helps veterans. If they can’t get to the designated area before 8:30 am and have a one week advanced notice (they don’t work on Fridays also) hows that help, Ben? There’s other fubar’s with that too, Ben.
Hey, Ben, ISN’T it true the definition of “volunteer” means doing something for nothing, you know, NO MONETARY GAIN WHATSOEVER! like you, Ben, doing something “Pro Bono” for a veteran!!!
Ben, did you read many of the “comments” on DAVREFORM? You know, the “true stories” of what DAV State and National “PAID EMPLOYEES” have done to their members?
In my opinion, it’s atrocious!!!!
Hey Ben, did you know “Charity Watch” has rated DAV, and a bunch of other ones, consistently at a D- for years. Last year the DAV’s 990 was questioned over dubious entries. Ben, check it out!
Oh, I forgot, Ben, Harley Davidson paid for that “Mobil Van” that tours the country. H-D even pays for the gas, servicing and they even pay for the driver, Ben.
Oh and another thing I forgot to mention about DAV, Ben, is how it’s been reported in MANY states how chapters have had their buildings and treasuries taken. And then guess what Ben, all the members are put at large….
I could go on and on Ben. Only I think everyone on here gets the picture.
namnibor, that was great. You made me and my wife just laugh our ass off. I needed that too. Thanks Brother….
namnibor, here’s another fact about DAV. A couple years ago every volunteer who sat at a Golden Corral to help raise money. Had to turn over 50% of the take to the State Departments. Even though the “By Laws” state, 10%! When a reporter from Gainesville, Georgia at “The Gainsville Times” contacted DAV National. National confirmed it. Stating Chapters in all States were required to comply or lose their Charter. How that for a wonderful Nonprofit Veterans Organization????
@crazyelf-
I have not been feeling very well as late, and since “my normal” is barely on fumes, I am just running on a cylinder and half and the gross humidity of region lately is not helping matters.
However, while even feeling literally like crap, and reading the comments and then come across someone defending one of the most useless VSO’s, while he listed all the things they SHOULD be doing, while I have had three good Veteran friends DIE in last -5- years; two from suicide, but ALL three were screwed by the inaction of the DAV and one other VSO.
I had to say *something* because I simply know better. The DAV are lamprey of the VA and bedfellows in same brand of ignorance…akin to inbreeding, but on an agency level.
What is incredibly interesting is these VSO’s all LOVE to tout that they are NON-PROFIT, well, why is it they lobby louder and the most extravagantly in D.C. AGAINST privatizing the VA and Veteran Health Care?
Easy…textbook example of codependence…no VA, no cash, and they know they can only depend on “so much” from so-called “membership fees”, which from mine and a few other Veteran’s experience just gives a ticket to operate a bar in every city…nothing more, nothing less. Somebody or something HAS to be paying those “6 figure salaries”…it’s very much like what Corporate America does for “United Way”, where they pressure ALL employees to GIVE a % of their wage and if you DO NOT…well, it definitely will be felt in the foot to ass impact when you are kicked to the pavement without option to collect unemployment…truth!
United Way is mentioned because just like those fat cats making 5 and 6 figures at a NON-PROFIT, the VSO’s are exactly the same flavor of scam with a definite flavor of your local sewer but in a better neighborhood.
It is absolutely a LIE that DAV operates the vehicles/BUS that goes around to all the States…”crazyelf” said it correctly…Harley Davidson PAYS FOR and MAINTAINS all of it…THAT’s what REAL “boots on the ground assistance” is…not sitting in a chair collecting 6 figures and oh, by the way, that chair probably cost a Veteran his or her life…a “bonus”, if you will.
Ignorance makes my blood boil. The military should simply take over the VA’s medical end of things and use existing installations and structures…no need to building new money pits like what’s going on in Colorado and many other States.
Lastly, why has NOT the DAV and other VSO’s shown their outrage of VA Building Contracts going as much as 5 TIMES over-budget?
Easy…
Because they are in a sick symbiotic and codependent relationship with the VA…it’s that simple.
namnibor, first, My wife and I say Get Well. The humidity here is bad also.
I understand, I’ve lost many friends and “brothers” over the years. And a few to suicide also.
When you got on that DAV or VA puke. It just made our day. I won’t even say his name. He doesn’t deserve the sweat off my balls. If he really thinks he can get away with B/S-ing people with what he thinks is a truth. Well, it won’t work. Because, and I’m going to use a OLD western apology. It’s about “gun fighters”.
“There’s always someone out there faster than you!.
I hope he realizes, when one comes on a site like THIS. They know what the fugk their talking about. Don’t try bull shitting people, cause it ain’t gonna work!
And again, thanks for the laugh!
Now take it easy for tonight. You deserve it…..
Writing this is hard. VA has “broken the spirits” of many veterans, myself included.
For many years, I was unaware of the false data VA had in my “files”! Twenty three years to be exact. It wasn’t until a VSO explained the “disabilities” which I had been collecting compensation for WERE INCORRECT! It was at that time, 2005-6, a “claim was submitted” to correct the error. VA had no choice but to change it and raise my entitlements to reflect a true evaluation with proper compensation…..
After reading this “blog”, I can honestly inform all here and anyone else, VA still believes many veterans are receiving compensation for PTSD under false pretence.
Their psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers ALL clearly do not understand, or are unwilling to understand, what it’s like to serve in a war (combat) zone.
As a matter of fact, I ran into a psychologist who had “Protested the Vietnam War”! She was proud of it! When I started to question her about her involvement. She said, “You don’t need to make any more appointments!” I found out later, she protested against veterans returning home. I haven’t been to that ‘Mental Health Clinic” since. So I don’t know if she is still employed by VA.
I would bet, as I stated on the Fridays blog, right now more vets are probably committing suicide due to VA’s noncompliance to follow their rules and regulations concerning the “stressors” being submitted by veterans. This, I believe, is that reason!
In the past year since McDonald took office. Why haven’t VA’s law enforcement gone after companies or corporations over illegal contracts? Why are administrators not being held accountable for their egregious and illegal acts committed against veterans? Why hasn’t more VA employees been indicted for the many criminal acts being performed against veterans? There are so many questions, it’s shameful and an outrage against veterans and taxpayers.
In my opinion, Bobby wants money. He wants to move it from “A” to “B” and spend it without any accountability, transparency or honorable reason. He, and Gibson, are spending the money on something and not being honest. The taxpayers are now being better informed by many reputable news sources. And they are P!$$€D. Maybe this is the reason why the “committee” hasn’t given in so easily.
Like I say. Do a partial shutdown of VA. This is what they have earned. If one looks at the ‘total amount VA has received’ since 1 October 2014. (I believe it would be around $170 to $180 billion. And by April or May they had blown through all of it. Why? Their “facts and figures” are constantly changing. One employee says one thing. Another employee says something else, etc., etc., etc. This is why it’s hard to believe anything that comes out of any VA employee’s mouth……
P.S. The one thing you can believe that comes out of a VA employee’s mouth is—
“I CAN’T BE FIRED!”
I have heard that statement many, many times now. For at least the past 8 to 10 years.
While I definitely have something to share on the Keith Roberts case given I was involved with the same people at the Milwaukee VA also the Department of Justice starting just before his case and while his was going on. I will include what I have to say about the Roberts case in another post.
Crazy Elf sounds like you are having a tough mourning. Do not let it get to you. You do good work and you have work to do.
Already this mourning you have provided me with and opportunity to tell you and the readers of this blog about several VA money pits, a corrupt Congressman who is trying to rip off Veterans and the biggest boondoggle in VA history.
1.) So for now lets start with the Corrupt Congressman, who is trying rip off Veterans. Congressman Mike Coffman from the 6th District of Colorado. OpenSecrets.org show that Congressman Coffman has been receiving payments from the Atlantic Strategies Group, a lobbying firm in Washington, the payments amount to $41,000.
Atlantic Strategies Group’s LD-2 disclosure form show their sole purpose is to “Work with Congress to authorize sale of a specific VA property”. Atlantic Strategies Group was hired by LA Partners who currently least the property from the Veterans Administration for $400,000 a year.
The property that LA Partners is leasing from the Veterans Administration is a 5-star boutique 24-room luxury hotel, restaurant and night club located on some of the most expensive property in Paris. Right next door to Cartier Jewelers.
In 1992 estimates of value by the VA were about $40 to $80 million dollars thought other US Government agencies estimated it at $100 Million dollars. In 1997 it underwent a $189 million dollar restoration.
According to a press release by Congressman Coffman dated June 11th, 2015 on his congressional website.
The press release title is
“Coffman: Sell VA Hotel in Paris, Build Hospital in Aurora”.
The press release continues
“Jun 11, 2015”
“Press Release”
“VA Owns 5-Star Boutique Hotel Worth $30 Million”
“(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Representative Mike Coffman (R-CO) is urging the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to sell the five-star hotel it owns in Paris to help fund the cost overruns at the Aurora VA hospital.
The VA owns Pershing Hall, a 5-star boutique 24-room hotel, restaurant and club in Paris, and is currently leasing it to a private company, L.A. Partners, on a 99-year lease ending in 2097.
Due to VA mismanagement, the Aurora hospital is currently nearly a billion dollars over budget. The VA’s plan to pay for the cost overruns by either delaying other VA projects around the country or cutting spending on veteran healthcare has been rejected by Congressional leadership.”
So essentially this “Corrupt Congressman” wants to sell this 5-star boutique 24-room luxury hotel, restaurant and night club located on some of the most expensive property in Paris, that was valued at $100 million dollars in 1992, underwent a 6 year restoration costing $189 million dollars and is owned by the VA for $30 Million dollars to help pay for the Aurora Colorado new VAMC. The hospital that is the biggest boondoggle in the history of the VA. That is while he is getting paid $41,000 to promote the sale.
2.) Now on to the biggest Boondoggle in VA history the new Aurora VAMC. Which also happens to be in Congressman Coffman’s Congressional district. The hospitals construction cost is currently estimated to be more than 5 times the original estimate and the cost to finish the hospital is still unknown. There is more than $1.1 billion dollars unaccounted for. But the VA keeps coming back for more.
Earlier this spring Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson and Secretary Robert McDonald came to congress with a plan to pay for construction overrun proposing to congress that they use some of the $5 Billion coffer established last year as part of a reform bill passed by Congress to address systemic problems within the agency that contributed to deadly consequences at VA operations throughout the US.
Congress said no.
They went back to congress two more times asking for more money to complete the hospital and did receive additional stop gap fund to last until the end of July. Now their back again but this time trying to raid the Veterans Choice program. Saying without the additional funding from the Veterans Choice program they will have to start cutting services to veterans to keep the construction going.
Thanks for the pat on the back brother. I needed that today. Had a very very bad night. The wife said I kicked her a few times.
Did I read this right? The money from the 5 star hotel is supposed to be paying for the Aurora va hospital? Then wtf is McD and Gibson doing asking for more $$$$ from the taxpayers?
My wife is going to have fun with this one on “Twitter”! You can believe one that!!!!!
essentially this “Congressman” wants to sell this 5-star boutique 24-room luxury hotel, restaurant and night club located on some of the most expensive property in Paris, that was valued at $100 million dollars in 1992, underwent a 6 year restoration costing $189 million dollars and is owned by the VA for $30 Million dollars to help pay for the Aurora Colorado new VAMC. The hospital that is the biggest boondoggle in the history of the VA. That is while he is getting paid $41,000 to promote the sale.
https://coffman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/coffman-sell-va-hotel-in-paris-build-hospital-in-aurora
Sorry so short difficulty writing right now.