In Vet Wife's recent diary I wrote the following and yesterday, I was proven wrong:
I think Gen. Shinseki accomplished his mission:
He's identified the problem people and positions in VA, VHA, and VBA. As we all know the top 3 and 4th tier of the VA consist of a mix of political animals and career VA employees with "political rabbis*".
All of the career employees are eligible for elective retirement and most of the political employees are cloaked in Civil Service protection so they can't be fired without going through a couple of years of bureaucratic hoops.
I have heard that Sec. Robert McDonald won't take action to fire or eliminate top management positions until Nov. 6th - or later if the Senate elections get hung up in vote counts.
McDonald was a major donor in Ohio Republican politics and donated $100,000 to Mit Romney's campaign. If John Boehner is able to hold on to the Speaker's chair [or better yet, the Majority Leader's slot if Democrats take back the House], McDonald will have a pretty free reign to carry through with what Shinseki started.
* I personally find this use of the word Rabbi offensive. In this context it means Mentor with a negative implication.
From NBC News:
The Veterans Affairs Department is firing four senior executives in the wake of a nationwide scandal over long wait times for veterans seeking medical care, and falsified records covering up the delays. The dismissals are the first since Congress passed a law this summer making it easier for veterans who experience delays to get care outside VA's nationwide network of hospitals and clinics. The law also made it easier for the agency to fire senior officials suspected of wrongdoing, shortening their appeals process to 28 days.
Among those being fired are Susan Taylor, a top purchasing official at the Veterans Health Administration who was found to have “misused her position” and steered contracts to a private reverse auction company; Terry Gerigk Wolf, director of the Pittsburgh VA Healthcare System, who was found to have engaged in unspecified “conduct unbecoming a senior executive”; and James Talton, director of the Central Alabama VA Healthcare System, for substantiated allegations of neglect of duty. Deputy VA secretary Sloan Gibson said Monday the VA will "actively and aggressively pursue disciplinary action" against any employee who violates VA rules or values.
The 4th executive,
James Talton, director of the Central Alabama VA Healthcare System, is being fired following an investigation by the VA's Office of Accountability Review substantiated allegations of neglect of duty.
Let's score this as a good, brief introduction to Sec. McDonald's reformation program. All of the wrongful actions were identified under Gen. Shinseki. McDonald was able to move quickly because of a change in VA law initiated be Shinseki. Now, when an executive is identified as worthy of termination, finality is achieved in 28 days.
Henry Molski, on Saturday, September 27, 2014, published in the Cincinnati Enquirer one of those typical "Local Man Returns Home and Now the Whole World Gets See How [fill in the blank] He Is ! ! !" . . . or so it seemed. The premise of the article was that McDonald was in his 59th day of being the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and he had a 90 day plan to reform a moribund agency. Good luck with that, Bob.
Well, you might want to read that article more closely.