VA Rip Off

I have been watching and reading many stories about how our soldiers are still waiting for medical treatment and benefits. Here is a current one.

Hundreds of thousands of war vets still waiting for health benefits
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/29/health...its/index.html


So we can't get medical for the soldiers but the VA sure can party up a storm.

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/va-vacation

Events costs taxpayers more than $6 million while federal workers took free massages, limo rides, helicopter tours and Rockettes show tickets

Its budget and facilities already stretched thin, the Veterans Affairs Department wasted money on two summertime training conference to the vacation hot spot of Orlando, Fla., that cost taxpayers more than $6 million and let federal employees collect freebie gifts like meals, helicopter tours, limo rides, massages and show tickets from contractors, an internal investigation has found.

The VA's inspector general concluded top agency officials failed to be good stewards of taxpayer money throwing conferences last year, including spending nearly $50,000 to create a parody video featuring the late Gen. George Patton.

In all, federal investigators concluded about $762,000 of the money spent on the two events in July and August 2011 was wasteful, undercutting their legitimate human resources training mission for the conferences.

"The issues described in this report and the lack of processes needed to control and track expenditures negatively affected the results of these HR conferences," Inspector General George Opfer wrote in the report released this week. "As VA moves forward, this report should serve as lessons learned that all VA management officials and staff share responsibility and accountability for meeting program objectives in an economical manner and reflect proper fiscal stewardship of taxpayer funds."

Adding to the vacation-like atmosphere of the events, the watchdog found at least 11 VA employees accepted illegal gifts from hotels and other vendors seeking their business in connection with the conferences. VA officials toured three cities before choosing Orlando as the conference destination.

The gifts they accepted during the selection process and subsequent conferences ranged from free lodging, room upgrades and limo rides to meals, gift baskets, gift cards, spa massages, Rockettes show tickets and a helicopter ride, the inspector general reported.

"All of the VA employees who participated in the pre-selection conference site visits to Dallas, TX; Nashville, TN; and Orlando, FL, accepted gifts in violation of laws and regulations," the inspector general reported. "The hotels that offered the gifts were prohibited sources in that they were seeking official action by VA in selecting their venue for the conferences, and their interests could be substantially affected by the employees’ performance or nonperformance of their official duties in evaluating and/or recommending the hotels for the conferences."

The report also provided a stinging rebuke of top VA officials involved in planning the events, referring one assistant secretary for possible criminal investigation for making false statements during the investigation and citing another official for failing to appreciate the wasteful nature of the Patton parody video.

The report made public this week is the latest to raise questions about the government's travel practices, which first came to light earlier this year when the General Services Administration acknowledged it spent nearly more than $800,000 on conference in Las Vegas that featured a clown, a mind-reader and rap video.

Lawmakers in both parties expressed outrage at the VA's handling of the conferences in Orlando, which is the gateway to the Walt Disney World resort.

Members of Congress from both parties voiced outrage in response to the IG's report, saying the findings demonstrate that the department lacks an adequate system of checks and balances to ensure it's a good steward of taxpayer dollars.

"The blatant waste of taxpayer dollars and government employees improperly accepting gifts cannot, and will not, be tolerated," said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Rep. Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said the money spent in vain could have been used to provide hundreds of veterans with health care.

In all, the two VA conferences cost about $6.1 million and were held to fulfill valid training needs for nearly 1,800 employees. But some expenses were unnecessary and wasteful, including nearly $100,000 for unnecessary promotional items, nearly $50,000 for the production of a video featuring a parody of General George S. Patton and nearly $150,000 in contractor travel picked up by the department, said the inspector general's report.

In August, the inspector general briefed VA Secretary Eric Shinseki on its investigation. He directed outside reviews of all training and conference policies as well as ethics training.

The inspector general reported the department was unable to provide accurate accounting of costs associated with the conferences and that estimates changed several times during the investigation. Investigators said they identified "serious management weaknesses," including VA staff making purchases they were not authorized to make.

Next time I hear someone say we all need to be pay our fair share, I'm going to go off like no tomorrow. Why pay my fair share when my money is blown like this? Why pay anything? We need a bigger federal budget to cover this crap? Are you kidding me!

$50K Patton look-alike?

http://www.thedaily.com/article/2012...ews-va-report/

GENERAL WASTE
VA spends $6M on lavish conferences – including a $50K Patton look-alike

The Veterans’ Administration wasted more than $750,000 in taxpayer funds — including $50,000 for a parody video featuring a George S. Patton impersonator — to put on two lavish training conferences in Florida, an internal investigation has found.

A 150-report released yesterday by the VA’s Office of Inspector General estimated that the weeklong conferences cost $6.1 million; of the total, $762,000 was spent on what the report deemed “unauthorized,” “unnecessary” and “wasteful,” including $97,000 for promotional items such as pedometers, water bottles, exercise bands and USB drives and $154,000 undocumented travel expenses for vendors.

Both conferences took place in 2011 — one in July, the other in August — at the Orlando Marriott World Center Golf and Spa Resort. About 1,800 human resources employees attended.

The report singles out 11 conference organizers for improperly accepting gifts, such as helicopter rides and tickets to the Rockettes, from “contractors seeking to do business or already doing business with VA.” The staff members did not seem to let the gifts influence where the conferences were held or which contractors were hired, the report stated.

One employee, however, solicited gifts and could be prosecuted on criminal charges, the report stated.

Inspector General George J. Opfer repeatedly admonished John Sepulveda, the VA assistant secretary for human resources, for failing to supervise his senior executives. Sepulveda, an Obama appointee, also misled investigators when he denied knowing about the Patton video.

“Several individuals have, in fact, testified that Mr. Sepulveda viewed the videos before the conferences took place,” Opfer wrote.

Sepulveda resigned Sunday, explaining he didn’t want to be a distraction for the White House.

Yesterday, the VA announced that the organizers “who have misused taxpayer dollars or violated VA standards of conduct will be held accountable.”

Lawmakers who sit on committees that oversee the VA reacted swiftly to the report.

Florida Rep. Jeff Miller, who chairs the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, demanded: “This sort of funny-money accounting must stop, and will no longer be tolerated, especially in today’s tight fiscal climate.”

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington State, who chairs the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, didn’t hide her outrage either.

“The blatant waste of taxpayer dollars and government employees improperly accepting gifts cannot and will not be tolerated,” she said.

Not in question is the VA’s need to train its human resources staff members, whose numbers have doubled since 2001 to process claims.

At of the end of August, the VA had a backlog of 866,928 claims for compensation and benefits. Nearly 40 percent represented new claims by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, the agency received 1.3 million claims from former service members.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has promised to put measures in place so that such mismanagement and lack of oversight “does not occur again,” according to the statement from the agency.

“Misuse of taxpayer dollars is completely unacceptable,” the statement said. “The actions cited in the report represent serious lapses in oversight, judgement and stewardship.”

The VA is the second federal agency to have a conference scandal this year. In April, the Government Services Administration came under fire for spending $822,000 on a 2010 conference in Las Vegas that featured a mind reader and over-the-top cocktail receptions. The embarrassment led GSA chief Martha Johnson to resign and brought about the firings of other senior officials.

And my wife wonders why I don't pay my taxes.