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VA doesn't have 'legal authority' to require executives to return $400K they [scammed]
Stars and Stripes ^ | 11/24/15 | Cahn

Posted on 11/25/2015 6:51:37 AM PST by pabianice

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs will not try to recoup more than $400,000 from two senior VA executives who manipulated the hiring system to get their jobs of choice and received hundreds of thousands in extra money to relocate.

The agency has remained silent on questions about its decision to demote and transfer but not fire executives Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves, and whether it would collect repayment of those relocation benefits. The original statement from the VA announcing the decision said the women had the right to appeal their reassignments.

But Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who chairs the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the VA’s top lawyer has determined that the agency does not have the legal authority to recoup the money, even after acknowledging that the women had abused their offices.

“I am flabbergasted,” Miller said in a letter to VA Secretary Bob McDonald, released Tuesday. “How can it be that the law prohibits recouping benefits paid to, or on behalf of, employees who only received those benefits because they abused their positions of authority? To put it mildly, VA’s decision defies common sense.”

(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: military; va; veterans
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To: pabianice

Has any government criminal been punished for ANYTHING in this administration?


21 posted on 11/25/2015 7:22:46 AM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: pabianice

I’m sure the VA has plenty of time to go after service men who jay walk...


22 posted on 11/25/2015 7:31:19 AM PST by GOPJ (Bill Clinton needs to apologize for the rape of Juanita Broaddrick. Hillary needs to apologize too.)
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To: Red Badger

“Change the rules...............Make it punishable by 20 years in prison and a huge fine.....................”

And we get to pick one person to punch each one of them in the stomach! This has got to be a joke or The Onion, right?
Can’t ask for the embezzled money back??


23 posted on 11/25/2015 7:33:43 AM PST by Bucky14 (And I would have gotten away with it too, if not for you meddling kids!)
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To: wiggen

A personnel expert needs look at this, one not with a vested interest. The IG identified the problem and I don’t think they would have reported on it were it not at a minimum misfeasance.

Regardless, seems to me someone wanted them to not get hurt in these personnel moves. They probably did not lose anything except status as their pay was probably the same anyway. Nice to be in an entitled group. I bet they were not Vets either.


24 posted on 11/25/2015 7:38:48 AM PST by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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To: pabianice

It’s become clear that, in the Obama era, lawmakers have no need to obey the law.


25 posted on 11/25/2015 7:45:38 AM PST by Jack Hammer
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To: Bucky14

Apparently they manipulated the ‘system’ for their own benefit, seemingly legal but unethical as hell............


26 posted on 11/25/2015 7:45:47 AM PST by Red Badger (READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
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To: Salvavida

That’s getting off too easily. Fine them a minimum of DOUBLE what they “misappropriated.”


27 posted on 11/25/2015 7:58:21 AM PST by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: Red Badger
Apparently they manipulated the 'system' for their own benefit, seemingly legal but unethical as hell............

I think that "ethical Civil Servant" is an optional job descriptor. Like honor & responsibility, ethics is not a modern trait to be expected in government work.

28 posted on 11/25/2015 8:05:34 AM PST by SES1066 (Quality, Speed or Economical - Any 2 of 3 except in government - 1 at best but never #3!)
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To: pabianice
Our “leaders” are criminals...their minions are criminals. All should go to prison for their perfidy.
29 posted on 11/25/2015 8:57:30 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: hal ogen

...and yet they continue to murder Veterans through neglect and mismanagement.


30 posted on 11/25/2015 8:58:15 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: pabianice

“”in a letter to VA Secretary Bob McDonald””

That guy is one sorry excuse for an administrator of the VA; CEO at Procter and Gamble - great choice for running the VA but he’s proud as punch to be selected by the boss....Don’t expect HIM to ever go against his wishes!


31 posted on 11/25/2015 9:09:20 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: pabianice

“”In reviewing job changes for 22 senior VA executives, the IG found a pattern of employees being moved to increase their salaries or keeping their salaries after responsibilities were reduced. The VA paid $1.3 million in moving expenses for those executives and increased their salaries by more than $300,000.””

Can’t we please get rid of all the IG’s in the government?? No one is EVER prosecuted after their reports of wrongdoing are made public so what good do they serve? Let’s just cut them out of the budget and save those salaries. If they were EVER listened to and their reports acted upon, it would be a different story. If any of them actually hit “pay dirt” in an investigation - at least under obozo, they would get fired anyway...Remember the guy in Sacramento:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124511811033017539

“”President Obama swept to office on the promise of a new kind of politics, but then how do you explain last week’s dismissal of federal Inspector General Gerald Walpin for the crime of trying to protect taxpayer dollars? This is a case that smells of political favoritism and Chicago rules.””


32 posted on 11/25/2015 9:29:47 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: Mollypitcher1

That doesn’t include the jail time.


33 posted on 11/25/2015 9:49:25 AM PST by Salvavida (The restoration of the U.S.A. starts with filling the pews at every Bible-believing church.)
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To: blueunicorn6

they will spend more time and money to not do something, than the actul something costs.

the goal is to kill off primarily white elderly. as every action by this regime is, directly or indirectly.


34 posted on 11/25/2015 12:09:29 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: pabianice
NSFW photos of the perps:


35 posted on 11/25/2015 12:23:39 PM PST by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi! My vote is going to Cruz.)
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To: Red Badger

That’s amazing. They have the authority to withdraw every dime for my meds from my disability check. I guess that if it’s more than $1500 then their authority just sorta evaporates.


36 posted on 11/25/2015 1:24:51 PM PST by HeartlandOfAmerica (How can God bless a country that's BUTCHERED 53 million babies?? Almost as many as ALL killed inWWII)
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica

The ‘problem’ is these two women used the ‘system’ in a way that they benefited greatly. While it may be unethical, immoral and downright wrong, it may in fact be legal..................


37 posted on 11/25/2015 1:29:18 PM PST by Red Badger (READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
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