Posted on 07/03/2015 12:57:59 PM PDT by Kaslin
Veterans Affairs employees in Aurora, Colorado, who played a role in the agency’s expanding scandal, have found a way to escape punishment – they’re retiring.
In May, the building of the Aurora Veterans Affairs department was $1 billion over budget and more than a year behind schedule, ABC News reported. Taxpayers were forced to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to bring it back on track. Contributing factors to the project's slow progress included "changes to veterans' health care needs, site-acquisition issues, and a decision in Denver to change plans from a medical center shared with a local medical university to a standalone VA medical center." Thanks to the expensive mess, Aurora was named the “biggest construction failure” in the agency’s history.
Two particular VA employees played a role in Aurora’s earning that title, but they’re quietly exiting stage left.
But now that attorney Phillipa Anderson and construction chief Glenn Haggstrom have left the Department of Veterans Affairs, it is unlikely they will face any punishment for their part in developing the over-budget medical complex. It's now estimated to cost $1.73 billion.
In a hearing last week, VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson explained that the administration is powerless to punish employees once they’ve left their positions.
"Once a person is resigned or retired, they are no longer an employee and we have no basis for taking any disciplinary action," Gibson said in an interview.
But that’s not all. Not only are Anderson and Haggstrom leaving Scot free - they are doing so with full pensions in tow.
"Years-late, bureaucratic knuckle-rapping will not suffice for accountability, especially when the two officials retired unscathed with their full pensions and bonuses," U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, said in a statement.
Ironically, Gibson recently announced that accountability efforts are working.
VA employees who were complicit in the agency's disaster deserve to be reprimanded – and our vets deserve better.
They probably got bonuses at some point too.
For crying out loud, would the news outlet putting out this article use a CORRECT canned photo instead of showing one from California????
Enough with the stock photos already. Sheesh.
Maybe that’s the only one they had
That wouldn’t surprise me one bit
Growing scandal? I didn’t think there were any growing scandals other than who amongst us denies climate change.
Some animals are more equal than others.
Well then, maybe they should walk their little old butts over to the VA hospital in Denver and take a picture instead of being a cheapskate news media source who constantly posts canned stock photos instead of going to the actual location and taking a picture.
We’ve been seeing this over and over again. From bees to Greece to the Clintons on vacation. Sheesh. Go out and get some real pictures. Isn’t that the job of the media?
“VA employees who were complicit in the agency’s disaster deserve to be reprimanded – and our vets deserve better.”
Well then, some damaged Vet should sue them personally. They should not escape some form of prosecution. Since they are no longer employees of the government, the would not get a free lawyer, so at the very least, they could be bled for a bunch of their pension money!
They don’t need to be reprimanded ...
They need to be found,
in the supermarket,
in the coffeeshop,
in the hair parlor,
in the department store,
and (blank).
Reader, fill that in within the confines between your ears, alone, please.
What a PIECE of $HIT this Country is turning into.
Typical government SNAFU....no one is responsible, no is accountable and no one pays, except for us, the US taxpayers.
The “growing scandal” of last week was the Confederate flag at the state house in S.C. Anything to distract the voters from the obvious corruption of Mrs. Clinton as she spins her lying butt into the White House.
Oh get over it. It that’s only thing you have to bitch about get off the thread
They need to be more than reprimanded
Actually, that is against the law in these paranoid days. You cannot take pictures on VA property without prior authorization and that is easier said than done. This probably applies to almost any and all government facilities, just another of our liberties taken by both zealous regulation and terroristic fear.
Very well said
...and the VA continues murdering Veterans through neglect. However, they are building that new $2,000,000,000.00 facility in Denver that probably has nice administrative offices with a nice manicured lawn view.
moral of the story is to stay employed with health benefits.
better to work until you drop than to depend on this snakepit..
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