the crime of the VA is its failure to treat the cause of causalgia as discovered by VA employee eugene j ratner
many in congress are of no better character than the crew in Waco Texas that prosecutes boys who ride bikes
us veteran and family man phillip magnano benefitted from ratner's treatment at fort Hamilton
VA Chief Got Free Wimbledon Tickets, Wife’s Airfare on Trip, Watchdog Says
Inspector general’s report says 11 people made trip, with a department employee acting as a ‘personal travel concierge’
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin speaking at a House committee hearing on Feb. 6 in Washington, D.C. PHOTO: JACQUELYN MARTIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON—Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin improperly accepted a gift of Wimbledon tennis tickets, misspent taxpayer money and misused department resources in an official trip to Europe last year, according to an inspector general’s report released Wednesday.
The report also said a department employee acted as a “personal travel concierge” during the trip to Europe, and that Dr. Shulkin’s chief of staff made false claims to a VA ethics official by altering an email to get official approval for Dr. Shulkin’s wife to take part in the trip as an “invitational traveler,” a status that meant the VA would cover her expenses. Her airfare cost taxpayers $4,312.
The inspector general referred the matter involving the chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. The report said the Justice agency chose not to prosecute the case.
At issue is Dr. Shulkin’s trip to Copenhagen and London from July 11 to July 21, 2017. A total of 11 people made the trip, including security agents and Dr. Shulkin’s wife, Merle Bari, a dermatologist in private practice. The trip cost the VA at least $122,000, the report said.
The entourage traveled first to Copenhagen, where Dr. Shulkin attended meetings with Danish officials, and then went to London for a summit meeting devoted to veterans’ issues.
The report said Dr. Shulkin attended a total of 3½ days of meetings while spending “significant personal time for sightseeing and other unofficial activities.”
In an interview Wednesday with The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Shulkin said the inspector general had only given the department a week to respond, which he said was inadequate, but that the dozens of pages of rebuttal provided by him and included in the report address the issues.
“It’s important that people take a look at the full facts of the case to make sure they’re making their own objective assessment,” he said in the interview. “If they consider both what the IG has said, as well as the information I’ve provided, I think the facts speak for themselves.”
The VA didn’t make Ms. Simpson available for comment on Wednesday.
VA spokesman Curt Cashour said in an email: “Accountability and transparency are important values at VA under President Trump, and we look forward to reviewing the report and its recommendations in more detail before determining an appropriate response.”
Dr. Shulkin’s response, submitted by his attorneys, said the trip was “immensely valuable” to the VA. They wrote that Dr. Shulkin violated no “ethical regulations” in accepting the Wimbledon tickets. They said Dr. Shulkin had no role in obtaining approval for his wife’s travel, and that the department employee, “on his own initiative,” had undertaken the “detailed planning of tourist activities.”
Dr. Shulkin said that he has offered multiple times to reimburse the cost of the Wimbledon tickets, and that a British veterans official obtained them through a personal, not a professional, connection and gave them on a personal basis.
In the department’s response to the report, VA Deputy Secretary Thomas Bowman said the inspector general hadn’t given the department ample time to review and respond to the report, but said the report “cast the VA, the secretary and others identified in the report in the least favorable light.”
Mr. Bowman also said Dr. Shulkin would reimburse the government for his wife’s travel costs and the Wimbledon tickets if the general counsel determined he should do so.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in the fall, Dr. Shulkin said he paid for all leisure events and focused primarily on work during the trip. The report said that Dr. Shulkin received the tennis tickets for free.
The report is the latest instance of a Trump cabinet member coming under scrutiny for taxpayer-funded travel. Last year, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned amid a furor over his use of private jets and military planes to fly him to official events.
“We believe that public officials must be held to a higher standard, and whether intentional or not, misusing taxpayer dollars is unacceptable,” said the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate committees on veterans’ affairs in a joint statement. “We’re counting on Dr. Shulkin to actively address all of the allegations outlined in this report."
