[Vision2020] VA Criticized for Bonuses for Officials

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (May 4, 2007) Spokesman Review -

"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 the burgeoning Iraq war."

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VA criticized for bonuses for officials 

Hope Yen (Associated Press)
May 4, 2007

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders on Thursday demanded that the Veterans
Affairs secretary explain hefty bonuses for senior department officials
involved in crafting a budget that came up $1 billion short and jeopardized
veterans' health care.

Rep. Harry Mitchell, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee on
oversight, said he would hold hearings to investigate after the Associated
Press reported that budget officials at the Veterans Affairs Department
received bonuses ranging up to $33,000.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, who heads the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said
the payments pointed to an improper "entitlement for the most centrally
placed or well-connected staff." He has sent a letter to VA chief Jim
Nicholson asking what the department plans to do to eliminate any bonuses
based on favoritism.

"These reports point to an apparent gross injustice at the VA that we have a
responsibility to investigate," said Mitchell, D-Ariz. "No government
official should ever be rewarded for misleading taxpayers, and the VA should
not be handing out the most lucrative bonuses in government as veterans are
waiting months and months to see a doctor."

One member of the House committee, Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., called for
Nicholson to resign.

A list obtained by the AP of bonuses to senior career officials in 2006
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 the burgeoning Iraq war.

Annual bonuses to senior VA officials now average more than $16,000 - the
most lucrative in government. 

All bonuses are proposed by division chiefs, then approved by Nicholson.

A VA spokesman said the payments are necessary to retain hardworking career
officials. "Rewarding knowledgeable and professional career public servants
is entirely appropriate," spokesman Matt Burns said.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.