THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE
David C. Farmer, Successor Trustee
vs.
Bobby N. Harmon
(Formerly Mary Lou Woo vs. Harmon and James Nicholson vs. Harmon)
CV05-00030 DAE/KSC
United States District Court, District of Hawaii
Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang
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R. JAMES “JIM” NICHOLSON
Address to be determined.
R. James “Jim” Nicholson, was a former Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
From Health News Digest:
The Honorable R. James “Jim” Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as Secretary of Veterans Affairs on December 9, 2004, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on January 26, 2005. He was sworn into office on February 1, 2005.
As Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Nicholson is the principal advocate for veterans in the U.S. government, ensuring that they receive the care, support, recognition and dignity they deserve for their service to our country.
He also directed the Department of Veterans Affairs, the federal government’s second largest Cabinet Department, responsible for a nationwide system of health care services, benefits programs, and national cemeteries for America’s veterans and dependents. With a budget of more than $69 billion for fiscal year 2005, VA employs approximately 230,000 people at hundreds of VA medical centers, clinics, nursing homes, benefits offices, and national cemeteries throughout the country.
Prior to his nomination, Mr. Nicholson served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, a position he held since 2001, where he became a well-known advocate in Rome for the elevation of human dignity, giving special emphasis to human trafficking, religious freedom, starvation and bio-tech food, HIV-AIDS, and international terrorism. He was knighted by Pope John Paul II in October 2003 for this work representing the U.S. to the Vatican.
Mr. Nicholson was born in 1938 and grew up on a tenant farm in northwest Iowa in a family of seven children. He is a 1961 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. He served eight years on active duty as a paratrooper and Ranger-qualified Army officer, then 22 years in the Army Reserve, retiring with the rank of colonel. While serving in Vietnam, he earned the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, the Meritorious Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry and two Air Medals.
Mr. Nicholson earned a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York, and a law degree from the University of Denver. He practiced law in Denver, specializing in real estate, municipal finance and zoning law. In 1978 he founded Nicholson Enterprises, Inc., a developer of planned residential communities, and in 1987 he bought Renaissance Homes, which became an award-winning builder of quality custom homes.
In January 1986, Mr. Nicholson was elected committeeman from Colorado for the Republican National Committee (RNC). In 1993 he was elected vice-chairman of the RNC, and in January 1997, he was elected chairman of the RNC, where he served for four years, through the elections of 2000.
Mr. Nicholson is married to the former Suzanne Marie Ferrell of Highland Falls, New York, who is an accomplished artist. They are the parents of three adult children.
* * *
See related exhibits at
http://sites.google.com/site/thecatbirdsnest/
* * *
NEW DISCOVERY (09-22-10):
September 13, 2010
VA Made Secret Deal with Prudential;
Families Lose Millions to Insurance Giant
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs failed to inform 6 million soldiers and their families of an agreement enabling Prudential Financial Inc. to withhold lump-sum payments of life insurance benefits for survivors of fallen service members, according to records made public through a Freedom of Information request.
The amendment to Prudential’s contract is the first document to show how VA officials sanctioned a payment practice that has spurred investigations by lawmakers and regulators. Since 1999, Prudential has used so-called retained-asset accounts which allow the company to withhold lump sum payments due to survivors and earn investment income on the money for itself.
The Sept. 1, 2009, amendment to Prudential’s contact with the VA ratified another unpublicized deal that had been struck between the insurer and the government 10 years earlier — one that was never put into writing, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its November issue. This verbal agreement in 1999 provoked concern among top insurance officials of the agency, the documents released in the FOIA request show.
For a decade, until the contract was formally changed, Prudential wasn’t fulfilling its obligations to survivors of fallen service members, says Brendan Bridgeland, an insurance lawyer who runs the non-profit Center for Insurance Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
‘Violated Terms’
“It’s very clear they violated the original terms of the contract,” says Bridgeland, who is retained by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to represent consumers.
“Every veteran I’ve spoken with is appalled at the brazen war profiteering by Prudential,” says Paul Sullivan, who served in the 1991 Gulf War as an Army cavalry scout and is now executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington. “Now vets are upset at the VA’s inability to stop Prudential’s bad behavior.”
That the VA allowed Prudential to issue retained-asset accounts for 10 years while the contract required lump-sum payouts is “more evidence that the VA was asleep at the wheel for a decade,” says Sullivan, who was a project manager and analyst at the VA from 2000 to 2006.
“When grieving families check the box that they want a lump sum, they should get it. We remain disappointed and irate at the VA’s failure to provide advocacy for veterans,” he says.
State and U.S. Probes
Since July 28, when Bloomberg Markets first reported that Prudential sent checkbooks instead of checks to survivors requesting lump-sum payments, state and federal officials have demanded the retained-asset system be investigated and reformed. The VA itself launched a probe of its life insurance program the day the first story was published.
The next day, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched what he called a “major fraud investigation” of Prudential and other life insurers over their use of retained-asset accounts. Since then, Cuomo’s office has issued subpoenas to Prudential and at least 12 more insurance companies.
The insurance departments in Georgia and New York have also opened probes. The U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee plans to hold hearings into Prudential’s use of retained-asset accounts to pay money owed to fallen soldiers’ survivors.
‘News to Me’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates — whose department includes the VA and who was in office when the 2009 agreement was signed — said when the VA started its probe that he had been unaware that survivors were being sent retained-asset accounts.
“Until today I actually believed that the families of our fallen heroes got a check for the full amount of their benefits,” Gates said at the time. “This came as news to me.”...
CONTINUED AT: PRUDENTIAL - A NEST ON SHAKY GROUND
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NEW DISCOVERY (03-08-09): More undisclosed relationships between Jim Nicholson, Goldman Sachs, Dan Inouye, Daniel Akaka, Ted Stevens, Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Department of Indian Affairs, Gale Norton, The Nature Conservancy, Tesoro Petroleum, the 9-11 terrorist attacks, etc:
http://www.voy.com/129276/1294.html
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (07-08-08): E-mail regarding witness Judge Susan Oki Mollway:
Check out James B. Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon - Witness Judge Susan Oki Mollway
Tuesday, July 8, 2008 4:43 PM
From: Mutant Ninja Cats
Re:
James B. Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon - Witness Judge Susan Oki Mollway
FYI: Susan Oki, Echi Oki, Dan Mollway, Airline Industry, SEC, and the Broken Trust Asian Pacific Bamboo Legacy in collusion with AIPAC Political influence in the powerful influential Defense Appropriation Committee members {Ted Stevens and Duke Cunnigham} under Hawaii U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye's leadership...... and the stealth Political, Economic, and Socialized intents for the pending AKAKA BILL in Congress, documented, again, under "A Confederacy of Dunces" {Forbes}.
Hey CB....this one is the ultimate "insiders" in Hawaii regulatory Government for the Broken Trust cabals linked to the Hawaii Legislature members including their own Federal Reps in Washington protecting their Hawaiian Hui "inside" investors from Southeast Asia to Wall Street:
I talked with the State Ethic's Commissioner / Director, Dan Mollway....Ms. Susan Oki's husband... about the BIG conflicts of interests involving our case against the State DLNR, The Ombudsman Office Director, The DCCA Rico "Investigations" with huge Political cover-ups involving the ANZAI's and the Hawaii Judicial system protecting their own regulatory local hui investors linked to the Bishop Estate Trustees.
Dan Mollway was involved with the "separate" Investigations involving the DLNR Bureau of Conveyance Public land records being ILLEGALLY manipulated and tampered for "Controlled Business" practices by the private sector {Title Guarantee Company employees with Realtors linked to Hoiku Consultant private computers being placed strategically in Public Office Government Buildings linked to the Hawaii Legislature members and the KSBE investments under Headmaster Colbert Matsumoto}.
He claimed that the State Ethics Department was still in the process of their own "separate" investigations {with vague public follow-ups since last year} while the State of Hawaii Attorney General's office conducted their own internal "investigations" in conjunction with a Third Investigations by the Hawaii Legislature members with their Union supported employees!
This again, is the same as a California PYRO MANIAC investigating his own blazing Wild Fire, while creating numerous distracted small fires around the BIG MAIN BON-FIRE, to attention away from his malicious and well calculated deeds!
The gas can {State of Hawaii DLNR Public Forgery Document Executive Order 3117 with a false Public misleading Official GAO Survey Map} with the match {The original suppressed DLNR Legal Access documents} and the remaining evidence with charred ruins {The Hawaiian Airline Pilot's family Bankruptcy proceedings implicating the KSBE and U.S. Trustees mishandling and suppressing the FRAUD} is all their for the "Investigators" conducted by the same Hawaii Buzzards and Vultures linked to the BROKEN TRUST Hawaii Legislature members, again, conducting their own Public Relation separate "investigations" for their Union memberships obtaining bribery gifts and favors {Oriental customs?}; The Hawaii State Ethics Director, linked to the Bamboo network Hawaii Judiciary system Huis with their own separate Public Relation damage control "investigations" to nowhere under the Hawaii AG's Office....promoting a Sovereign Hawaiian Bill, based on Illegal Political Constructive Fraud in Washington {1993 Simple Federal Apology Resolution to Hawaii by Senators Daniel Inouye and Akaka} while ignoring blatant Public Fraud and Political Corruption with OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE with HUGE CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS for: "SOCIAL EQUALITY AND POLITICAL JUSTICE FOR ALL" in Washington......
DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS while Congress protects their own vested interests under the Political Department of Injustice cabals while helping spread American Democracy and American Values in the controversial Middle East and around the World!
Some interesting bit of side notes involving Ms. Susan Oki and her father....a former member of the famed 442 U.S. Military Regiment: My father, a former World War 11 Combat photographer in the South Pacific theatre, was married to a local Japanese during the War. He was a distant Political acquaintance and supporter for Jack Burns in Kailua, Oahu. They both belonged to the Kailua Lions Club and were both members of the private Lanikai Mid-Pacific Country Club....mostly all haole members after the War years.
My father was involved in a very fraudulent Hawaii land purchase and sale during the 1950s involving a corrupt Hawaii land surveyor and a fellow Irishman linked to the Hawaii Judges family members. After he relocated to San Francisco in the early 1960s, he retained a Hawaii attorney whom I believe was none other than Echi Oki.....from Honolulu, linked to the famed 442 Hawaii Military Brigade members whom he always supported due to the persecution of the local Hawaii Japanese community after Pearl Harbor.
Echi Oki, again, had close political links vis-a-vis their Military Service to Dan Inouye and their tight knit Hawaii 442 hui cabals.....prior and after the 1954 Hawaii Legislature Revolution. My father lost the Court case, despite the SELLER testifying in favor of my fathers allegations...... with huge conflicts of interests since the Judge was related to the Hawaii Judge {Taveras}.
Another side Note with the Airline Industry: I was personally involved with the earlier Bankruptcy proceedings with Frontier Airlines in Denver {1986} which later involved Drexel Burnham Wall Street investors linked to Frank Lorenzo and Carl Ichan in New York. Like Mr. Rodney Stich, the FAA investigator making allegations against United Airlines in Denver, I was singled out with several others for exposing blatant FAA rules and blatant Public Safety violations involving massive fraud and corruption benefiting short-cutting - Airline cost saving procedures...comprising massive Public Safety cover-ups and FAA regulatory with damage control omitted issues involving the new non-unionized, young and ignorant work force.
This all began with the across the board firings for the FAA Air Traffic Controllers soon after the Reagan - Bush Sr Tenure came into Office in 1981. The massive Airline De-regulations in Washington vis-a-vis Wall Stree profiteers, {i.e. - Michael Milken, Marc Rich, Ivan Boesky} during the roaring unregulated 1980s which became famous with the Movies: WALL STREET {Michael Douglas} and "BARBARIANS AT THE GATE".
AIPAC'S Norman Brownstein, based in Downtown Denver, vis-a-vis my former Brownstein political mole "girlfriend" , New York attorney Lisa Holstein, was responsible for helping Lorenzo with the Texas Continental Airline gang members to get out of their Prime gate and exclusive lounge commitments, including a faulty Automated Baggage system, involving more massive fraud and cover-ups at the new Denver International Airport were allowed to quietly relocate back to their Houston based "Texas Air Corp" headquarters.
In 1993, Clinton denied Frank Lorenzo, with his New York Attorney wife with Chase Manhattan Bank, as well as their Texas Air Corps - Colorado Resort land investors in Aspen & Vail {Phillip Winn Group}, to continue manipulating the SEC within the confines of the "insiders" under the lucrative "De-Regulated Airline Industry" mergers using Union Pension plans for lucrative leveraged acquisitions....compromising Public Safety and FAA violations with massive cover-ups in Washington.
Again, like former FAA investigator, Rodney Stich, doing his job, I became another Politcial liability, which is the former "inside" Dept of Justice / CIA lawyer, Norman Phillip Brownstein's expertise specialized job as Mr. Fix It at DIA; Protecting SEC Billionaire Fugitive's such as Marc Rich and HUD Director Phil Winn, while sheltering Drug Traffic cabals with Florida's Jack Devoe...for helping AIPAC's Political "cause" in Washington DC into vested SECURITY interests in the secular Middle East.....of course....always using OPM: The defrauded & obliviouos American Public Tax Payers left holding the bag on Wall Street to Main Street.
Brownstein's young, former single AIPAC New York mole attorney, Ms. Lisa Holstein, like others linked to AIPAC and David Steiner, as well as former CIA - U.S. federal prosecutor - Hawaii Public Safety Director, John Peyton, are reported deceased in New York and remote Africa?
The Rocky Mountain High - SILVERADO DNC Political Convention in Denver, Colorado, moving the Public cost over-run to a larger media exposure event with INVESCO Stadium {Bronco Pro Football Stadium...who are clients of NORM BROWNSTEIN, JACK HYATT, AND STEVE FARBER, now joined by former GOP Denver University CABALS - former Colorado RNC Chairman, Commercial Real Estate Investor and Resigned Department of Veterans Affair Director - James "De Oppressor Libre" Nicholson, linked to former Colorado RNC Chair, for convicted Swiss Ambassador - HUD Director - Phil Winn {DU Professor} with former DU Secretary of Interior Gale {CREA} Norton, as well as the latest new GOP University of Colorado connections to former U.S. Senator / UC President Hank Brown....involved in the "E Pluribus Unum" Wall Street article related to: THE 1993 Simple FEDERAL APOLOGY RESOLUTION TO HAWAII under Clinton with Political Constructive FRAUD and Public cover-up intents for the future Public subsidized AKAKA BILL in Congress....pending in Washington since 2000, after the U.S. Supreme Court decision over ruling the Hawaii Political Judicial system hidden under the Political Ninth District Circuit Court of Appeals, involving 'RICE V. CAYETANO' {Office of Hawaiian Affairs}.
Hope this "inside" information and insights can help you!
- little ninja cats with nonprofit coconut crab club
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (05-10-08): David Farmer’s undisclosed connections with AIPAC and “Bush’s Brain”, Karl Rove:
From: little ninja cats
Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 01:26:40 EDT
Subject: Check out The Raw Story | Official probing Rove now under investigation himself
To: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov, senator@akaka.senate.gov, ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov, admin@ehawaii.gov, jurisnot@yahoo.com, bobby_n_harmon@yahoo.com, hwburgess@hawaii.rr.com, Ken_Conklin@yahoo.com, rroth@hawaii.edu}
The Raw Story | Official probing Rove now under investigation himself
"While Rove Fiddled; The Bush was Burning"? or........White men who can't dance?
ck out:
Dismissed U.S. Attorney's Carole Lam {California} and Frederick Black {South Pacific}.
HATCH ACT and the 1978 Hawaii Constitutional Convention:
a} Congressional Defense Appropriation Committee members, previous Bureau of Indian Affair Chairman, Veterans Affair Committees, Intelligence Committees, Special Counsels {Iran - Contra / Central America International Committees} Bishop, Baldwin, REWALD, Dillingham & Wong, for Hawaii U.S. Senator - Daniel Inouye - Defense Chairman linked to: hidden Public Pork Barrel proceeds for the lavish Hokulia Canoe for Hawaiians only programs / Women Abuse Shelters for Two Political Hawaii Legislature members involved in 1992 U.S. Senate race allegations for Sexual Harassment allegations / Private Defense Contractor Brent Wilkes - Hawaii ADSC Company fronts - Lavish Hawaiian Private Vacations - Luxury Private Accommodations - Hawaiian "Entertainment" linked to Asian Pacific Advisory Council Politicians {Prince Hotels} - AIPAC Lobbyist for Akaka Bill; {Dismissed U.S. Attorney - Frederick Black, Political Appointee under former CIA Director / Vice-President / President George H. Bush linked to former U.S. Federal Prosecutors John Peyton - Kenneth Starr in collusion with former Hawaii District Judges {deceased}: Martin Pence, Harold Fong, & California District Judge: Brian Tamahana}.
b} Alaska U.S. Senator - Ted Stevens linked to hidden Public Pork Barrel projects {Bridge To Nowhere} with family member to self serving Alaska Contractors - Home remodeling projects as well as lobbying ANWAR Bill under the Department of Interior {CREA} with members with the Defense Appropriation Committee Political links to members of Congressional Committees {I.E. - Veterans Committee Chairman - Daniel Akaka, sponsor for the stealth Akaka Bill with no Public voice or vote in Hawaii, Obstruction of Justice in the South Pacific {Jack Abramoff - Tom Delay} and the Broken Trust legacy in Hawaii, in political exchanges for continued political support for a Case of War in Iraq and the ANWAR Bill.
c} California Congressman - Duke "Dukestar" Cunningham: Defense Appropriation Committee member - Veterans Affair Committees linked to lavish Political briberies with Private Defense Contractors and CIA agents linked to Iraq War Appropriations in Washington DC, Southern California, and Hawaii lavish vacations - "Entertainment" with obstruction of justice linked to political Dismissed U.S. Attorney Carole Lam, linked to Political dismissed U.S. Attorney Frederick Black in the South Pacific involving Jack Abramoff {AIPAC} linked to Grover Norquist and Tom Delay {CNP - PNAC}.
Aloha Mai Mo. Aloha Aku: Do the Disavowed Facts matter for Special Counsel Scott Bloch with Karl Rove under Alberto Gonzales and the Broken Trust Legacy in Washington DC?
catbirds - south pac
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (06-18-08):
June 18, 2008
VCS in the News: Congress and VCS Demand a Stop to Experimental Drug Testing on Veterans with PTSD
Vic Walter and Maddy Sauer, ABC News
"VA should have done a better job protecting the human rights of our veterans," said Paul Sullivan of VCS.
June 18, 2008 - The Chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee is calling for an immediate suspension of government tests on veterans involving an anti-smoking drug that has been linked to suicide.
"Nearly 40 suicides and more than 400 incidents of suicidal behavior have been linked to Chantix, yet the VA has chosen to continue the study and administer Chantix to veterans with PTSD," said Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA).
"The VA must immediately suspend this study until a comprehensive review of the safety of the protocol is conducted," said Rep. Filner.
Yesterday, a report on Good Morning America revealed that mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects. The report was the result of a joint investigation by ABC News and The Washington Times.
In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects of Chantix, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.
"Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," said former US Army sniper James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the Veterans Administration.
Elliott, 38, of suburban Washington, D.C., was recruited, at $30 a month, for the Chantix anti-smoking study three years after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He served a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq from 2003-2004.
Months after he began taking the drug, Elliott suffered a mental breakdown, experiencing a relapse of Iraq combat nightmares he blames on Chantix.
Veterans groups are also expressing their anger over the study. The executive director of Veterans for Common Sense said that this is yet another example of the VA failing America's veterans.
"VA should have done a better job protecting the human rights of our veterans," said Paul Sullivan of VCS.
"While VCS supports research to assist veterans, VA must bear a heavy burden of responsibility with these experiments on veterans diagnosed with PTSD," said Sullivan, who is also calling for an immediate suspension of the study.
Meanwhile, the VA is calling the ABC News / Washington Times report "inaccurate and misleading".
"In our PTSD and smoking cessation study, our research is to learn if it is easier to stop smoking when smoking cessation treatment is combined with PTSD therapy, or whether the two therapies are more effective if they are provided separately," said a statement posted on the VA website.
"In either case, patients are receiving treatment recommended by their own doctors using counseling with or without FDA approved medication that includes Varenicline (Chantix). Participation in this program is voluntary, and all participants are closely monitored clinically by mental health professionals who provide smoking cessation methods patients agree to use," the VA statement said.
The VA also said that it passed on warning about Chantix in a timely manner in November of last year after the FDA issued a statement on Chantix.
'VA immediately passed along that concern to practitioners at all of our medical centers. On February 1, FDA issued a 'Public Health Advisory,' to providers, providing more information on potential side effects of which clinicians and patients should be aware. VA distributed this alert to pharmacists in its system on that same day, and to researchers on February 5," said the statement.
The VA also said that it wrote a letter to participants that while not specifically warning of the suicide links, requested that they discuss possible side-effects with their doctors. The VA said the team that wrote the letter "felt that the issue of suicide should be discussed in a clinical setting, not in a mailing to a group of patients."
Chantix is one of the drugs being used in an estimated 25 clinical studies using veterans by the VA.
Pfizer maintains that "the benefits of Chantix outweigh the risks" and that it continues to do further studies on the drug.
Click here to read the full ABC News report 'Disposable Heroes'
www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm/page/article/id/10425
See also > > > Uncle Sam’s Guinea Pigs
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NEW DISCOVERY (04-06-08):
April 6, 2008
Investigators review
VA credit charges
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Veterans Affairs employees last year racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey - and government auditors are investigating, citing past spending abuses.
All told, VA staff charged $2.6 billion to their government credit cards.
The Associated Press, through a Freedom of Information request, obtained the VA list of 3.1 million purchases made in the 2007 budget year. The list offers a detailed look into the everyday spending at the government's second largest department.
By and large, it reveals few outward signs of questionable spending, with hundreds of purchases at prosthetic, orthopedic and other medical supply stores.
But there are multiple charges that have caught the eye of government investigators.
At least 13 purchases totaling $8,471 were charged at Sharper Image, a specialty store featuring high-tech electronics and gizmos such as robotic barking dogs. In addition, 19 charges worth $1,999.56 were made at Franklin Covey, which sells leather totes and planners geared toward corporate executives.
Government reports in 2004 said these two companies, by virtue of the types of products they market, would "more likely be selling unauthorized or personal use items" to federal employees.
Many of the 14,000 VA employees with credit cards, who work at headquarters in Washington and at medical centers around the nation, also spent tens of thousands of dollars at Wyndham hotels in places such as San Diego, Orlando, Fla., and on the riverfront in Little Rock, Ark. One-time charges ranged up to $8,000.
On at least six occasions, employees based at VA headquarters made credit card charges at Las Vegas casino hotels totaling $26,198.
VA spokesman Matt Smith the department was reviewing these and other purchases as part of its routine oversight of employee spending. He noted that many of the purchases at Sharper Image and other stores included clocks for low-vision veterans, humidifiers, air purifiers, alarm devices and basic planner products.
Smith said all the casino hotel expenditures in 2007 were for conferences and related expenses. He said the spending was justified because Las Vegas is a place where "VA is building a new medical center and an increasing number of veterans are calling home."
"The Department of Veterans Affairs, like many public and private groups, hosts conferences and meetings in Las Vegas due to the ease of participant travel, the capacity of the facilities, and the overall cost associated with hosting a conference," he said.
According to VA policy, purchase cards may be used at hotels to rent conference rooms or obtain audiovisual equipment or other items for VA meetings. They should not be used to reserve lodging. Auditors long have urged the VA to adopt policies to encourage use of free conference rooms. Auditors previously faulted the agency for booking rooms at expensive casino hotels without evidence it first had sought free space.
In the coming weeks, auditors at the Government Accountability Office and the VA inspector general's office are to issue reports on purchase card use and spending controls at the VA and other agencies. The reports are expected to show lingering problems at the VA, which auditors cited in 2004 for lax spending controls that wasted up to $1.1 million.
The list of charges provided to the AP gives the vendor, amount purchased, location and employee name; in most cases it does not indicate the specific item purchased. Requests by the AP for lists of the additional data in a timely manner were repeatedly declined on privacy and proprietary grounds.
The VA list shows that some credit-card holders took a modest route. VA employees in locations such as Portland, Ore., Gainesville, Fla., and Sheridan, Wyo., had charges for Motel 6 and Travelodge inns. One VA headquarters employee appears to have passed up casino hotels by booking at a Holiday Inn Express in Las Vegas for $787.75.
"For government travel and other spending, you have to be mindful of the appearances you're creating," said Steve Ellis, vice president of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. "If you're staying at a hotel at a strip in Vegas, you better have a pretty good reason for why a taxpayer should be funding the stay."
"It's not like the VA hasn't gotten into trouble for credit card abuses in the past," he added. "I find it hard to justify any government purchase from Sharper Image - unless you get something really goofy, it's going to be cheaper elsewhere."
Penalties for misuse of government credit cards range from suspension of the credit card to a reprimand and disciplinary action. Employees may be criminally prosecuted for fraud. More serious cases in recent years involved purchases of computers, televisions, DVD players and other items that were then sold to friends or kept for personal use.
"It's all being looked at," said Belinda Finn, the VA's assistant inspector general for auditing, in a telephone interview. Pointing to Sharper Image purchases in particular, Finn said many of the VA expenses identified by the AP raised serious "red flags."
"For a lot of the transactions on purchase cards, to be effective you really need to keep a close watch," she said. "It's really the first-level supervisors who know what's going on the most."
Congressional leaders said the expenditures were troubling.
Rep. Harry Mitchell, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee on oversight, said he would question VA officials about the purchases at a hearing set for July. Mitchell, D-Ariz., said he feared there may be "a growing culture of wasteful spending at the VA."
He noted that former VA Secretary Jim Nicholson had awarded more than $3.8 million in bonus payments to senior officials despite their roles in crafting a flawed budget that fell $1 billion short.
"It seems irresponsible that while our veterans are waiting months for doctor's appointments, the VA is spending thousands of dollars at Las Vegas casino hotels and high-end retail shops instead of seeking out more affordable or cost-free alternatives," Mitchell said.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, who heads the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said he planned to closely review the upcoming audit reports to see if spending controls needed to be tightened.
"I remain concerned that the federal government may end up paying more than necessary when employees purchase items one-by-one," said Akaka, D-Hawaii. "While I am confident that the vast majority of these charges are appropriate and legal, I urge VA to aggressively investigate allegations of fraud."
Over the years, lawmakers and watchdog groups have pointed to the potential abuse of government purchase cards, particularly at large agencies such as Defense, Homeland Security and VA, where card spending for goods ranging from defibrillators and prosthetics to Starbucks coffee has climbed from $1.7 billion in 2003 to $2.6 billion today.
In the past, purchase cards have been improperly used to pay for prostitutes, gambling activity and even breast implants.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the GAO estimated that 45 percent of Homeland Security purchase card spending during a six-month period was improper and included iPods, designer rain jackets and beer-making equipment. The credit-card bills are directly payable by Uncle Sam [aka US Taxpayers].
In 2004, the GAO faulted the VA for at least $300,000 in questionable charges, citing 3,348 movie gift certificates totaling over $30,000 that lacked documentation. Echoing similar concerns by the department's inspector general, investigators urged greater use of volume discounts and flagged several high-end retailers as questionable vendors that would require detailed paperwork to justify.
Among the other areas investigators say raise "red flags":
-Movie expenses. VA employees in 2007 made 68 charges totaling roughly $21,000 at Regal Cinemas. In light of previous questionable purchases of movie tickets, investigators say they will review the transactions case by case to see if the 2007 purchases are supported by the proper paperwork.
-Charges of $227.50 for harbor cruises in Baltimore and seven expenses totaling more than $6,603 at various Macy's locations. Such vendors were cited by the GAO in 2004 as questionable by virtue of the goods they typically provided and would need full documentation by VA employees to justify.
In response, the VA said it often pays for movies or harbor cruises as part of outpatient recreational therapy it provides for patients with schizophrenia and other problems. The VA did not immediately say whether all the required paperwork was submitted.
"I'm very concerned about frivolous, wasteful spending at the VA," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. "With hundreds of thousands of veterans homeless, VA employees don't need to be staying at ritzy-glitzy high-priced hotels, possibly gambling with taxpayers' money."
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (06-12-08):
June 12, 2008
Veterans from 1960s chemical
tests press for help
By ERICA WERNER, The Associated Press
Lawmakers and veterans of secret Cold War-era chemical and germ tests on military personnel demanded help from the Bush administration Thursday, but they got no satisfaction.
Officials from the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department said there was no need for legislation to guarantee health care and benefits to the veterans. Thousands of service-members were exposed, often without their knowledge, to real and simulated chemical and biological agents, including sarin and VX.
The tests were conducted at sea and above a half-dozen U.S. states from 1962-1973 to see how U.S. ships would withstand chemical and germ assaults and how such weapons would disperse.
"We were exposed to health hazards almost continuously," retired Navy Reserve Lt. Commander Jack Alderson told the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance.
Veterans who tried to get help from the V.A. were "shown the door," Alderson said, his voice loud and choked with emotion.
"I guess this is one of those times when someone should apologize to you on behalf of your country, so I will presume to do that," the panel's chairman, Democratic Rep. John Hall of New York, told Alderson.
Administration officials said there was no definitive link between the tests - called Project 112 and Project SHAD - and illnesses, including cancer and respiratory problems, now afflicting Alderson and others.
"DOD opposes this legislation. The scientific evidence does not support" it, Michael L. Dominguez, a principal deputy undersecretary of defense, said in written testimony to the panel.
The Pentagon did not send Dominguez or anyone else to testify in person. That aggravated Hall, who said the Defense Department backed out just last week after initially agreeing to attend.
"The nexus between DOD and V.A. is undeniable," Hall said as the hearing began. "Congress deserves the right to question the appropriate DOD personnel in person, not just in writing."
DOD spokeswoman Cynthia Smith defended the agency's no-show and said officials would respond to questions raised at the hearing.
"All V.A. issues are extremely important to the DOD," Smith said. "We decided the most effective and efficient way to handle this issue was to submit written testimony."
The V.A. witness echoed what DOD had to say. Bradley Mayes, the Veterans Affairs director of compensation and pensions, called legislation unnecessary because the agency was not "aware of evidence linking any disease to participation in project SHAD."
The bill under consideration is patterned after legislation passed in 1991 to help people exposed to Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant use used by U.S. forces in Vietnam that was linked to cancer and other ailments. Written by Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., it would guarantee coverage and benefits to veterans of Projects 112 and SHAD without requiring them to prove a connection to their military service.
Thompson said it took DOD decades to admit the secret tests actually happened and he put no stock in their refusal to recognize health problems the tests may have caused.
A similar bill is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee later this month.
http://www.kansascity.com/811/v-print/story/660534.html
http://www.kycbs.net/GuineaPigs.htm
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NEW DISCOVERY (05-22-08):
May 22, 2008
House subpoenas Karl Rove
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday subpoenaed former White House top political adviser Karl Rove to testify about whether the White House improperly meddled with the Justice Department.
Accusations of politics influencing decisions at the department led to last year's resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The subpoena issued Thursday orders Rove to testify before the House panel on July 10. He is expected to face questions about the White House's role in firing nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, a Democrat.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers had negotiated with Rove's attorneys for more than a year over whether the former top aide to President Bush would testify voluntarily.
"It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests," Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement. "Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate."
"Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters," Conyers said.
Neither Rove nor his attorney, Robert Luskin, could be immediately reached for comment.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_go_co/rove_subpoena
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04-15-08):
Connecting the dots...
David Farmer...Steven Guttman...Brian Schatz...Barack Obama...Oprah Winfrey...Hillary Clinton...Linda Lingle...John McCain....Norm Brownstein...AIPAC...Punahou School...Kamehameha Schools...Dee Jay Mailer...The Global Fund...Henry Paulson...George W. Bush...Haunani Apoliona...OHA...Daniel Akaka...Jim Nicholson...Dan Inouye...Stephanie Case...Dan Case...Steve Case...Jeffrey Case...Aon...The Nature Conservancy...Greg Dunn...Judith Neustadter Fuqua...etc...ad infinitum...
http://www.midweek.com/content/paina/image_full/2090/
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY: January 16, 2008: Jim Nicholson’s connection to witness Norm Brownstein:
Jim Nicholson, Former Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Joins Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is pleased to announce that R. James "Jim" Nicholson has joined the firm as senior counsel. His practice areas will include public policy, health care, international law, state and federal regulatory law, real estate, oil and gas, and alternative energy. Secretary Nicholson will begin work at the firm's Washington office on February 1.
"I am enthused to join this prestigious law firm, which is so highly respected around the country for the quality and breadth of its legal work," said Nicholson.
Nicholson served most recently as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, having been confirmed on January 26, 2005 by a unanimous vote of the Senate. As Secretary, he was responsible for the second largest department of government with more than 250,000 employees and a budget of $77 billion.
Nicholson is credited with affecting major reforms at the VA including the transformation of the information technology (IT) and security systems, an overhaul of the VA's vast contracting and acquisition systems, and real estate management and construction programs. He also launched initiatives to eradicate staph infections in VA hospitals and greatly expanded the VA's health care capabilities.
"We are grateful for Jim's many years of public service and we know that his tremendous experience in the public arena will make him a great new addition to our team," said Norman Brownstein, chairman of the firm.
Prior to his tenure at the VA, Nicholson served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. As the representative of the president and the people of the United States at the Vatican, he gave special focus to the issues of human trafficking, religious freedom, starvation and biotech food, HIV-AIDS, and international terrorism. In October 2003, Pope John Paul II knighted Nicholson for his leadership on human rights issues.
In January 1997, Nicholson was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee. During his four-year tenure, the Republican Party, for the first time in 50 years, won the White House, both houses of the U. S. Congress, a majority of state governorships, and a majority of State legislatures.
In the early '70's, Nicholson practiced law as a partner of a well-known Denver firm. In 1978, he established Nicholson Enterprises, Inc., which he built into a nationally recognized land development and home building company, earning a reputation for quality land use planning with a keen balance between growth and environmental sensitivity.
Nicholson served as a commissioner on the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission. He was a director of St. Mary Land and Exploration Company, a director of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado, Inc., and chairman of the board of the Volunteers of America of Colorado. Currently, he serves as director of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc.; The Daniels Fund; Federated Funds; and is a fellow of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Nicholson is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was an Army Ranger in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Combat Infantry Badge for his service in combat. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve with the rank of colonel. In May 2005, he was recognized with the Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Military Academy Award.
Nicholson earned a master of arts degree from Columbia University and a law degree from the University of Denver College of Law.
For more information on Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, visit http://www.bhfs.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080116/law033.html?.v=101
See also: Department of Veterans’ Affairs; The Puna Connection; Witness J.C. Shannon
~ ~ ~
October 4, 2007
Grilled Blackwater chairman
a major GOP donor
by Andrew Malcolm, Swamp Politics
You saw a lot of Erik Prince on TV the last couple of days, spending considerable time calmly fending off inquiries from agitated Democratic congressmen about his security company's suddenly controversial activities in Iraq. One explanation may be that Prince, the head of Blackwater, U.S.A., has a lengthy political pedigree as a Republican.
Members of the House Oversight Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), accused Blackwater employees of being "cowboys" who acted recklessly during their contracted security duties for the State Department in Iraq. It also came out that Blackwater, which has lost some three dozen employees in Iraq hostilities, has a 100 percent success rate in protecting VIPs under its contract.
This may shock some, but it also turns out that the target of the committee's angry questions was a 38-year-old former Navy SEAL who has donated $230,000 to federal campaigns and causes in the last decade. Almost all of that money has gone to Republicans, according to a check of Federal Election Commission records by The Times' campaign finance expert, Dan Morain.
Prince's latest donation was in July, when he gave $20,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. California recipients of Prince’s $1,000 checks include Reps. Jerry Lewis and Duncan Hunter, a current GOP presidential candidate, and former Rep. Richard Pombo....
So far, Prince has stayed out of presidential campaign donations. However, his family members have given to former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Prince’s lineage includes his late father, Edgar, who owned a large auto parts company in Michigan and was a major donor and advisor to Christian conservative Gary Bauer, a past GOP presidential candidate.
Prince’s mother, Elsa Prince, has donated $140,000 to federal Republican causes and candidates in the last decade. His sister, Betsy, is a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party who has given at least $61,000 to Republican campaigns on the federal level since 1997.
Betsy’s husband is Richard DeVos, who hails from the family that founded Amway. He ran unsuccessfully for Michigan governor in 2006. The Republican stalwart has given more than $2 million to federal causes and candidates in the last 10 years, FEC records show....
Andrew Malcolm writes for Top of the Ticket, the Los Angeles Times' political blog.
~ ~ ~
September 23, 2007
Disgraceful Legacy: VA's Nicholson is Worse than All the Other Bush Political Appointees
Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post (Florida)
As the Bush administration downward-spirals its way into the unforgiving annals of history, a fierce competition continues over who will go down as the president's most incompetent appointee.
Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA who botched the response to Hurricane
Katrina and then played down a catastrophe of biblical proportions with White House
talking points, was the early leader in the clubhouse. But Mr. Brown is facing stiff
challenges in recent months from within the Cabinet.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has to be considered a contender.
Besides getting nothing right about Iraq, Mr. Rumsfeld also left the U.S. military in the
worst shape it's been since Vietnam. Had he served another six months, the Viet Cong
might have reorganized and invaded Los Angeles.
Of course, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has made his own compelling case for infamy. Besides wrecking the Justice Department, Mr. Gonzales' performance during congressional hearings gave amnesiacs a bad name.
The dark horse in the race for most incompetent appointee (MIA) is Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, who is leaving office Oct. 1 after an impressive 32-month run of sustained ineptitude.
Mr. Nicholson made himself a contender with an eclectic display of bad management and indifference toward veterans' needs: He was $1.3 billion short on his first budget. He oversaw the debacle over outpatient conditions at Walter Reed Hospital. He gave $3.8 million in bonuses to VA administrators while soldiers returning from Iraq waited and waited and waited to see doctors.
He allowed the theft of 26.5 million vets' personal data because of inadequate security controls over laptop computers.
Hey, when it comes to haplessness, this guy deserves to be considered right there with Brownie, Rummy and Gonzo.
Mr. Nicholson, who got his job as a reward for serving as the Republican National Committee chairman, made what should be his final appearance before Congress last week. Predictably, it was another embarrassment.
Members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee listened with appropriate skepticism as Mr. Nicholson tried to dismiss the results of a VA inspector general's report released this month. The auditors examined hundreds of outpatient appointments for care at 10 VA medical centers. The investigators found that the VA was consistently distorting its record on wait times for injured and ailing veterans.
There is no practical difference between distorting and lying in how the agency behaved.
The auditors found that the VA falsely and repeatedly reported to Congress that nearly all its patient appointments - about 95 percent - were scheduled within 30 days of requests. In fact, only about 75 percent of veterans received timely appointments.
The report also found that the VA may have understated the number of veterans on its electronic waiting lists by more than 50,000 - this, despite constant warnings from Congress to provide accurate data.
The numbers that Mr. Nicholson was able to get right are discouraging as ever. He admitted that the VA has been unable to make progress in reducing the backlogs of disability claims, a chronic problem that has been exacerbated by veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with physical and mental injuries. Vets still have to wait about six months to get rulings on their claims.
Mr. Nicholson testified that he is "bedeviled" by the backlog problem. He also was bedeviled by budgets, administrative largess, laptops and honesty in general.
Probably Mr. Nicholson's greatest contribution to the VA is providing the ideal example of the type of unqualified political crony who never should be entrusted to oversee veterans' care. Running the RNC is hardly the proper proving ground for running the VA.
But among the many things the Bush administration will be remembered for is giving the unqualified the opportunity to demonstrate their incompetence.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/8486
~ ~ ~
July 23, 2007
Injured Iraq war veterans sue
federal government over pay
By HOPE YEN, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -Frustrated by delays in health care, a coalition of injured Iraq war veterans is accusing VA Secretary Jim Nicholson of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.
The class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks broad change in the agency as it struggles to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that the VA has failed warriors on several fronts - from providing prompt disability benefits, to adding staff to reduce wait times for medical care to boosting services for post-traumatic stress disorder.
The lawsuit also accuses the VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with the Pentagon to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying out benefits. The VA and Pentagon have generally denied such charges.
VA spokesman Matt Smith said Monday he could not comment on a pending lawsuit. But he said the agency is committed to meeting the special needs of Iraq war veterans.
"Through outreach efforts, the VA ensures returning Global War on Terror service members have access to the widely recognized quality health care they have earned including services such as prosthetics or mental health care," he said. "VA has also given priority handling to their monetary disability benefit claims."
The lawsuit comes amid intense political and public scrutiny of the VA and Pentagon following reports of shoddy outpatient care of injured soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and elsewhere.
"Unless systemic and drastic measures are instituted immediately, the costs to these veterans, their families, and our nation will be incalculable, including broken families, a new generation of unemployed and homeless veterans, increases in drug abuse and alcoholism, and crushing burdens on the health care delivery system," the complaint states.
It asks that a federal court order the VA to make immediate improvements that would speed disability payments, ensure fairness in awards and provide more complete access to mental health care.
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court in San Francisco issued a strong rebuke of the VA in ordering the agency to pay retroactive benefits to Vietnam War veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and contracted a form of leukemia.
"The performance of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs has contributed substantially to our sense of national shame," the opinion from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals read.
Nicholson abruptly announced last week he would step down by Oct. 1 to return to the private sector. He has repeatedly defended the agency during his 2 1/2-year tenure while acknowledging there was room for improvement.
More recently, following high-profile suicide incidents in which families of veterans say the VA did not provide adequate care, Nicholson pledged to add mental health services and hire more suicide-prevention coordinators.
Some veterans say those measures aren't enough. In the lawsuit, they note that government investigators warned as early as 2002 that the VA needed to fix its backlogged claims system and make other changes.
Yet, the lawsuit says, Nicholson and other officials still insisted on a budget in 2005 that fell $1 billion short, and they made "a mockery of the rule of law" by awarding senior officials $3.8 million in bonuses despite their role in the budget foul-up.
Today, the VA's backlog of disability payments is now between 400,000 and 600,000, with delays of up to 177 days to process an initial claim and an average of 657 days to process an appeal. Several congressional committees and a presidential commission are now studying ways to improve care.
"While steps can and will be taken in the political arena, responsibility for action lies with the agency itself," said Melissa W. Kasnitz, managing attorney for Disability Rights Advocates, in a telephone interview. Her group is teaming up with a major law firm, Morrison & Foerster, to represent the veterans.
"We don't believe the problems will be fixed by the VA if we wait for them," she said. "In the meantime, it is veterans who risk their lives for our country who are suffering the consequences."
The lawsuit cites violations of the Constitution and federal law, which mandates at least two years of health care to injured veterans.
The veterans groups involved in the lawsuit are Veterans for Common Sense in Washington, D.C., which claims 11,500 members, and Veterans United for Truth, based in Santa Barbara, Calif., with 500 members.
~ ~ ~
From: http://vawatchdog.org/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2007/07/17/AR200707170
0701.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Story below:
-------------------------
July 17, 2007
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Resigns
By Christopher Lee, Washington Post Staff Writer
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson announced his resignation today, saying he would step down from his post as head of the federal government's second-largest department no later than October 1.
Nicholson, a decorated Army veteran who served in Vietnam, has held the top job at the VA since 2005. He said in a statement that he plans to return to the private sector but has not lined up a new job.
"It has been an honor and privilege to lead the VA during this historic time for our men and women who have worn the uniform," said Nicholson, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. "This coming February, I turn 70 years old, and I feel it is time for me to get back into business while I still can."
The department has been under intense scrutiny for its treatment of injured veterans returning from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as they transition from the military health care system to the VA system, and for its chronically slow processing of the disability claims of disabled, injured or sick veterans from all eras.
Critics complain about lost paperwork, a shortage of VA caseworkers, a backlog of hundreds of thousands of disability claims, and long waits for veterans trying to get initial appointments in the VA health care system.
Just five months into the job, Nicholson had to ask Congress for an emergency infusion of more than $2 billion because, he said, the Bush administration had vastly underestimated the number of service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking VA medical care. He said the original estimates were based on outdated assumptions from 2002.
"The bottom line is there is a surge in demand in VA [health] services across the board," Nicholson told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in June 2005....
The department, with 243,000 employees and budget of about $70 billion, is the
second-largest in the federal bureaucracy after the Defense Department. It administers
a vast system of 154 medical centers and more than 1,300 clinics that treat about 5.5
million patients a year. But it also handles a wide range of other benefits, including
loans and financial assistance and burial benefits for which about 25 million living
veterans are eligible.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the next VA secretary must be "a truthful advocate
for veterans, not an apologist for this administration's failures to plan."
"The next VA Secretary must have a record of being a strong and independent voice for veterans -- not someone being rewarded for political loyalty," Murray said. "Our veterans deserve to know that the head of the VA system can stand up to the White House and fight for the resources and benefits our veterans need."
~ ~ ~
May 3, 2007
VA OFFICIALS’ BONUSES RAISE EYEBROWS
Washington (AP) - Months after a politically embarrassing $1 billion shortfall that put veterans' health care in peril, Veterans Affairs officials involved in the foul-up got hefty bonuses ranging up to $33,000.
The list of bonuses to senior career officials at the Veterans Affairs Department in 2006, obtained by The Associated Press, documents a generous package of more than $3.8 million in payments by a financially strapped agency straining to help care for thousands of injured veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Among those receiving payments were a deputy assistant secretary and several regional directors who crafted the VA's flawed budget for 2005 based on misleading accounting. They received performance payments up to $33,000 each, a figure equal to about 20 percent of their annual salaries.
Also receiving a top bonus was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who helps manage a disability claims system that has a backlog of cases and delays averaging 177 days in getting benefits to injured veterans.
The bonuses were awarded even after government investigators had determined the VA repeatedly miscalculated — if not deliberately misled taxpayers — with questionable methods used to justify Bush administration cuts to health care amid a burgeoning Iraq war.
Annual bonuses to senior VA officials now average more than $16,000 — the most lucrative in government.
The VA said the payments are necessary to retain hardworking career officials.
Several watchdog groups questioned the practice. They cited short-staffing and underfunding at VA clinics that have become particularly evident after recent disclosures of shoddy outpatient treatment of injured troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
"Hundreds of thousands of our veterans remain homeless every day, and hundreds of thousands more veterans wait six months or more for VA disability claim decisions," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. "The lavish amounts of VA bonus cash would be better spent on a robust plan to cut VA red tape."
Sen. Daniel Akaka, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said the payments pointed to an improper "entitlement for the most centrally placed or well-connected staff."
Seeking an explanation from Secretary Jim Nicholson, Akaka also asked the department to outline steps to address disparities in which Washington-based senior officials got higher payments than their counterparts elsewhere.
"Awards should be determined according to performance," said Akaka, D-Hawaii. "I am concerned by this generous pat on the back for those who failed to ensure that their budget requests accurately reflected VA's needs."
A VA spokesman, Matt Burns, said the department was reviewing Akaka's request. Burns contended that many of the senior officials had been with the department for years, with an expertise that could not be replicated immediately if they were to leave for the more profitable private sector.
"Rewarding knowledgeable and professional career public servants is entirely appropriate," he said. "The importance of retaining committed career leaders in any government organization cannot be overstated."
In 2006, the VA officials receiving top bonuses included Rita Reed, the deputy assistant secretary for budget, and William Feeley, a former VA network director who is now deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management.
Also receiving $33,000 was Ronald Aument, the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who helps oversee the strained and backlogged claims system that Nicholson now says is unacceptable.
The bonuses are determined by the heads of the VA's various divisions, based in part on performance evaluations. All requests are submitted to Nicholson for final approval.
In July 2005, the VA stunned Congress by suddenly announcing it faced a $1 billion shortfall after failing to take into account the additional cost of caring for veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The admission, months after the department insisted it was operating within its means and did not need additional money, drew harsh criticism from both parties and some calls for Nicholson's resignation.
The investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, determined the VA had used misleading accounting methods and claimed false savings of more than $1.3 billion, apparently because President Bush was not willing, at the time, to ask Congress for more money.
According to the White House Office of Personnel Management, roughly three of every four senior officials at the VA have received some kind of bonus each year. In recent years, the payment amount has steadily increased from being one of the lowest in government — $8,120 in 2002 — to the most generous — $16,713 in 2005.
In contrast, just over half the senior officials at the Energy Department in 2005 received an average bonus of $9,064. Across all government agencies, about two-thirds of employees received bonuses, which averaged $13,814 in 2005, the most recent data available.
Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said the VA bonuses appeared to reflect a trend in government in which performance bonuses were increasingly used to reward loyal associates and longtime employees.
Put in place shortly after the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, executive bonuses were designed to increase accountability in government by tying raises more closely to performance. But while bonuses can help retain key employees, damage can be done when payments turn into an automatic handout regardless of performance, Ellis said.
"Simply put, people who nearly shortchanged our veterans shouldn't get a bonus check at the end of the year," he said.
Joe Davis, spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, one of the nation's largest veterans groups, agreed. His organization is awaiting Nicholson's explanation, saying that the budget shortfall was partly to blame for backlogs and other problems.
"No one joins the government to get rich, and the bonus may be used as a retention tool to keep the best and the brightest, but it must be performance-based in award to be fair and impartial," Davis said. "Anything else could be viewed as favoritism."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/03/national/printable2757717.shtmlFor more see: Vampires in the Department of Veterans Affairs
~ ~ ~
March 8, 2007
Veterans suffer as VA delays disability claims
By Dennis Camire. Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — More than a quarter of military veterans with disability cases before the Department of Veterans Affairs wait six months or longer for the agency's decision, creating financial hardships for them and their families, veterans advocates say.
Joe Violante, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, said even though the compensation isn't that much, the delay in getting it sometimes leads to bankruptcy and homelessness.
"Some veterans have died while their claims ... were unresolved for years at VA," Violante told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i.
VA compensation for a single veteran ranges from $2,471 a month for someone rated as 100 percent disabled to $348 for someone considered 30 percent disabled.
"In many cases, that may be the only income they have coming in at the time," Violante said. "The longer that is delayed, the harder it is for them to get their lives back on track and to take care of their families."
Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said he received a letter from a disabled Iraq war veteran who the VA told would not be receiving his first disability payment for six to eight months because the agency was running behind.
"My question is how am I supposed to survive until I start my disability pay," Rockefeller read, during a meeting yesterday of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "I have rent, truck payments, utilities, food and child support to pay. Will I be evicted from my apartment and have to live in my truck until it's repossessed?"
401,000 PENDING CASES
As of March 3, the VA had almost 401,000 pending cases for disability compensation with almost 115,000 languishing for six months or more.
The numbers have been climbing in recent years with disability cases increasing by almost 29,000 since last year, partly because of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Those wars have seen more than 1.45 million active-duty, National Guard and Reserve troops deployed. Of those, about 685,000 have since been discharged.
"I think it is clear to everyone here that the system overall is struggling and some veterans are waiting far too long for decisions," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
But the VA problems also are unrelated to recent news accounts about the Defense Department holding injured active-duty troops at Walter Reed Medical Center for long periods awaiting decisions from medical boards on their ability to rejoin the military and if not, their compensation.
To deal with its problem of delays, the VA wants to hire more caseworkers next year and continue its program to improve computer technology.
MORE THAN EXPECTED
But Akaka said he was concerned the VA budget was based on erroneous workload projections that didn't increase through the end of 2008. In reality, the VA received 8 percent more claims than expected in the final three months of 2006.
"Without prompt action, we will fail to keep our promise to provide timely and accurate decisions to veterans," he said.
One problem causing serious delays is the transfer of electronic medical files for veterans from the Pentagon to the VA.
The two departments are still unable to share electronic medical records through their computer systems, despite years of work now two years past deadline.
Craig said the U.S. military is the most modernized one in the world, but still can't share records electronically with the VA.
"I don't know what it takes to turn a battleship around, other than hit it with a torpedo, maybe," said a frustrated Craig.
HEAVIER WORKLOAD
James P. Terry, VA undersecretary for benefits, told the committee the delays were being caused by an increasingly heavier load of cases that have grown more complex to decide.
In 2000, about 579,000 disability cases were filed, increasing to 806,000 last year, Terry said.
"It is expected that this high level of claims activity will continue over the next five years," Terry said.
~ ~ ~
March 8, 2007
House panel says Walter Reed problems
extend to VA hospitals
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Substandard care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center appears to extend to the nation’s vast network of veterans hospitals, the head of a House panel investigating the situation said Thursday.
Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., cited recent audits and reports that pointed to confusing paperwork and poor health care coordination as well as backlogs in the treatment of returning service members who were deemed at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.
“That’s unacceptable and embarrassing, and the American people deserve answers,” Mitchell said in remarks prepared for a hearing late Thursday. ”I’m not convinced the Veterans Affairs Department is doing its part.”
Following revelations of poor conditions and neglect in Walter Reed’s outpatient care, the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee was investigating problems at more than 1,400 VA hospitals and clinics.
The VA facilities provide supplemental health care and rehabilitation to 5.8 million veterans after they are treated at military hospitals such as Walter Reed.
In his statement, Mitchell questioned whether Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson was doing enough for veterans, citing complaints by a former VA project manager, Paul Sullivan.
Sullivan was expected to testify late Thursday that Nicholson had shelved a proposal to alleviate long delays for health care and benefit payments because he was too concerned about the $1 million price tag.
We have a responsibility to make sure that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs is doing its job to make that transition as easy as possible,” Mitchell said.
Thursday’s hearing is the latest to examine the quality of care by wounded veterans in the wake of disclosures of shoddy outpatient health care at Walter Reed, one of the nation’s premier facilities for treating veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Since the report last month by the Washington Post, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has forced Army Secretary Francis Harvey to resign and Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was in charge of Walter Reed since August 2006, was ousted from his post.
President Bush has also appointed a bipartisan commission to investigate problems at the nation’s military and veteran hospitals, and separate reviews are under way by the Pentagon, the Army and an interagency task force led by Nicholson.
Earlier in the week, Nicholson defended his agency’s efforts to serve veterans but made clear that he would not tolerate substandard conditions. The VA has recently expanded the network of centers designed to provide care to those with traumatic brain injury and will be screening all patients who served in combat for post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.
“If even one of these young men or women does not receive needed care, that is one too many, and we will do all within our power to ensure such a situation is rectified,” Nicholson wrote Wednesday in a letter to the House committee.
House panel says Walter Reed problems extend to VA hospitals
During the hearing Thursday, Cynthia Bascetta, director of health care at GAO, testified that investigators over the years had pinpointed several problems involving coordination between the Defense Department and the VA in providing health care.
While some improvements have been made, GAO investigators could not offer assurances that problems of veterans falling through the cracks wouldn’t happen again, according to Bascetta’s prepared testimony.
Among the problems:
_The Defense Department had difficulty sharing medical records the VA needed to provide rehabilitative care. Because there was no real-time electronic access for most facilities, VA officials typically had to go through a cumbersome process of faxing material back and forth.
_Six of seven VA medical facilities visited by the GAO expressed concerns about the growing demand for PTSD treatment from returning service members. They estimated that delays could be as long as 90 days.
~ ~ ~
March 6, 2007
Dole, Shalala to investigate
Walter Reed problems
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Tuesday named Democrat Donna Shalala and Republican Bob Dole to head a commission to investigate problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Shalala is a former secretary of health and human services; Dole is a former GOP presidential nominee.
Substandard conditions and a confusing bureaucracy at an outpatient facility at Walter Reed for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan were revealed in a series of articles in the Washington Post in February.
"It's unacceptable to me, it's unacceptable to you, it's unacceptable to our country, and it's not going to continue," Bush said in a speech to the American Legion in Washington.
"My decisions have put our kids in harm's way. And I'm concerned about the fact that when they come back they don't get the full treatment they deserve."...
Bush said the commission will also examine whether similar problems exist at other military and veterans' hospitals.
Shalala served for eight years in the Clinton administration and is currently president of the University of Miami.
Dole, a wounded World War II veteran, was a senator from Kansas for 27 years and served as Senate majority leader before his retirement from Congress. He was the Republican nominee for president in 1996.
Also Tuesday, senators on the Armed Services Committee were questioning senior members of the military about the problems.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker and Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley testified before the panel. Kiley was in charge of Walter Reed from 2000 until 2004.
The Washington Post series documented a variety of problems at "Building 18," a one-time motel converted to a long-term outpatient dormitory at the Washington hospital. The newspaper found troops who lost limbs and suffered traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress were quartered for months in moldy and rodent-infested rooms with inadequate follow-up care.
Monday, witnesses told a House panel that wounded U.S. soldiers are forced to struggle against a nightmarish and untrustworthy Army medical system that leaves veterans stranded in unfit conditions.
Two Iraq war veterans and the wife of a third gave heartbreaking tales of neglect at the now notorious Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Annette McLeod, wife of Cpl. Wendell McLeod, who received an injury to his head in the war, said her husband "has been through the nightmares of the Army medical system."
"This is how we treat our soldiers -- we give them nothing," she said. "They're good enough to go and sacrifice their life, and we give them nothing. You need to fix the system."
The panel chairman, Rep. John Tierney, called "the unsanitary conditions" and other problems at Walter Reed hospital "appalling."
Maj. Gen. George Weightman, whose duties included overseeing the facility before he was fired over the scandal, said, "It is clear mistakes were made, and I was in charge. We can't fail one of these soldiers or their families, not one, and we did."
Acting Secretary of the Army Peter Geren told the committee that "we have let some soldiers down."
"We're going to fix that problem," Geren said.
Geren stepped into his role after Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey's resignation Friday. In addition to Harvey's resignation, the outcry over the conditions some outpatient soldiers faced at Walter Reed led to Weightman's removal.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/06/walter.reed/
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From Open Secrets:
Prior to taking the helm of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Jim Nicholson spent three years as U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. But he was better known as the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, a position he held from 1997 to 2000. Under his watch, the RNC raised more than $379 million during the 2000 election cycle (the DNC raised only $261 million during that time).
Securities and investment firms contributed $22 million to the RNC that cycle, more than any other industry.
Nicholson was an Army Ranger and a paratrooper for eight years during the Vietnam War and retired as a colonel after 22 years in the Army Reserve. Nicholson took charge of 219,000 personnel in a department that is the second largest in the federal government and is responsible for a nationwide system of health care services, benefits programs and national cemeteries for veterans and their dependents. Nicholson, who practiced law in Colorado until 1978 and went on to develop real estate in the state, replaced Secretary Anthony Principi.
Nicholson's brother, retired Brig. Gen. John W. Nicholson, is under secretary of Veterans Affairs and directs the National Cemetery Administration.
www.opensecrets.org/bush/cabinet/cabinet.nicholson.asp
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August 9, 2006
From the Denver Post:
2nd VA data loss prompts resignation call
Senators argued Tuesday over whether Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson should be held accountable following the second disappearance of a computer containing veterans' personal information.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called for to Nicholson, a former Colorado developer, to "resign immediately." Other Democrats questioned his leadership.
Nicholson announced the second disappearance Monday. A subcontractor, Unisys Corp., told the department last week that a desktop computer was missing from its Reston, Va. offices.
It included data on 38,000 veterans who received medical treatment in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
http://progressnow.org/digest/080906.htm
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From KAUM News:
KUAM News has obtained copies of several e-mail messages sent from super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff to Carl Taitano, the campaign adviser for the Joe Ada-Felix Camacho gubernatorial team. In the December 15, 1998 e-mail Abramoff writes to Taitano about his "non-stop" efforts with the Republican National Committee on getting a big endorsement with congressional members' signatures.
Additionally Abramoff worked to get backing from groups like Americans for Tax Reform and then-RNC chairman Jim Nicholson. Abramoff wrote in one such e-mail to Taitano, "onward to victory". The messages also reveal that Abramoff was attempting to get congressional members and their staff to assist in the Guam race efforts.
When the congressional e-mail went down Abramoff wrote, "we will have to call each member to get them on board. The list that we are working needs to be expanded. I know that this is an unusual request, but if you can drop everything you are doing before the deadline tomorrow, and get others to call as well it would be very helpful."
One message was also sent to former senator Mark Charfauros, who could not be reached for comment.
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September 5, 2006
Jim Nicholson Joins Straight Talk America as
Michigan Finance Chairman
ALEXANDRIA, VA - Straight Talk America announced today that Jim Nicholson will serve as the Michigan State Finance Chairman of the PAC.
In recent months Mr. Nicholson helped coordinate a forum of prominent, politically active business figures from Michigan to talk with various national leaders about the 2006 elections and beyond. After several similar meetings, Mr. Nicholson determined he wanted to help Senator McCain’s Straight Talk America.
“Senator McCain has the foreign policy expertise and ability to help lead our nation in these critical times,” said Jim Nicholson. “We will put together a top-notch fundraising operation that will be second to none in Michigan and across the country.”
I appreciate Jim Nicholson’s years of service to the Republican Party and to philanthropic organizations across Michigan,” said Senator John McCain. “I am proud to call Jim my friend and look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead.”
A Bush Ranger in 2004 and a Bush Pioneer in 2000, Mr. Nicholson also served as Finance Chairman for U.S. Senate candidate Keith Butler and has held finance leadership roles for a number of Michigan candidates including gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, former Governor John Engler, Attorney General Mike Cox, and various Supreme Court candidates. He ran for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 1996....
Mr. Nicholson is Chairman of the Board of the Amerisure Companies and a member of the board for both the Handleman Company and LaSalle Bank. He is Chairman of the Board of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chair of the metropolitan area's Tourism Economic Development Council and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Detroit Renaissance. Nicholson is a current member and past chairman of the Wayne County Airport Authority, Detroit Public Television, the Michigan Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit boards.
A Detroit native, Nicholson and his wife Ann reside in Grosse Pointe Farms.
www.straighttalkamerica.com/news/Read.aspx?ID=63
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This witness is expected to testify regarding his business, professional, political and personal relationships with George W. Bush, Jack Abramoff, “Duke” Cunningham, “Dusty” Foggo, Brent Wilkes, Norm Brownstein, Ken Mehlman, Leonard Millman, Stew Webb, Tom DeLay, Larry Mizel, Lamar Hunt, Dan Inouye, Bill Frist, Gale Norton, Steven Griles, Linda Lingle, Dee Jay Mailer, The Global Fund, Norman Mineta, Elaine Chao, Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs, Faye Kurren, Tesoro Petroleum, Aloha Petroleum, Harken Energy, The Peregrine Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Peter Savio, University of Hawaii Foundation, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company, John McCain, Henry Kissinger, William Cohen, and other entities to be named upon discovery.
Internet References:
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS UNDER INVESTIGATION
Documents, Letters, News Articles and Related Links
www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/06/walter.reed/
www.opensecrets.org/bush/cabinet/cabinet.nicholson.asp
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topics/Jim+Nicholson
http://starbulletin.com/2007/03/11/editorial/editorial01.html
http://healthnewsdigest.com/site/nicholson.html
http://govarchive.hawaii.gov/gov/eNewsletters/August20-26
http://progressnow.org/digest/080906.htm
www.kbtx.com/news/headlines/1138922.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/107/107424.html
www.straighttalkamerica.com/news/Read.aspx?ID=63
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/02/333773.shtml
www.kycbs.net/Apartheid-Hawaii.htm
www.kycbs.net/BlackstoneGroup.htm
www.kycbs.net/DrugVultures.htm
www.kycbs.net/Jupiter-Island.htm
www.kycbs.net/Impeach-Bush.htm
www.kycbs.net/IndianAffairs.htm
www.kycbs.net/Peregrine-Gallery.htm
www.kycbs.net/PunaConnection.htm
TO GO TO THE WOO VS. HARMON WITNESS INDEX
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Index.htm