'Why didn't they prepare?' Hundreds of VA vacancies, as returning vets strain system

WASHINGTON –  Despite rampant allegations of veterans stuck in limbo waiting for care, hundreds of jobs remain unfilled at the Department of Veterans Affairs -- including at some of the very locations where doctors supposedly were too short-staffed to see patients. 
A search by FoxNews.com on Friday of the USA Jobs federal employment website showed more than 1,080 current vacancies in health-related fields at the VA. 
A search of the words “VA” and “physician” yielded 167 jobs openings with top-range salaries of roughly $295,000 a year. There are 18 openings alone in the Phoenix VA Health Care System – the same one facing allegations that up to 40 people died while waiting for treatment.
One full-time position is for the chief of medicine. The vacancy, posted April 15 and open until June 13, comes with an annual salary up to $235,000.  
The VA pitches the job as a don't-miss opportunity. The ad boasts that “as a VA physician, your opportunities are endless” -- the agency offers "generous paid time off and a variety of predictable and flexible scheduling opportunities.”
So why the vacancies, at such a critical time? 
In recent weeks, whistleblowers have come forward to criticize how the agency is handling its massive caseload. The allegations generally accuse local VA facilities of pushing off patients and then manipulating their own records to make it seem like they’re receiving care in a timely fashion.
Officials, in explaining the overburdened system, have pointed to the influx of veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the long-term care of aging vets from Vietnam.
“We go into Afghanistan, leave Afghanistan for Iraq with unfinished business in Afghanistan,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday, suggesting these problems were years in the making. “Ten years later, we have all of these additional veterans -- in the past five years, two million more veterans needing benefits from the VA. That's a huge, huge increase.” 
But the hundreds of vacancies show that the VA, with the influx of veterans a well-known factor, is not even operating at full capacity now. 
Pete Hegseth, CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, questioned why the department didn't better prepare for the returning veterans by staffing up. 
“These are self-inflicted wounds. This isn’t a money issue. This is a prioritization issue,” he said. "They knew there were going to be more veterans who needed care. Why didn't they prepare?" 
Hegseth, a Fox News contributor, said he’s not surprised that lawmakers are trying to shift the blame. “It’s cover your ass time,” he said. 
The inspector general at the VA says 26 facilities are now being investigated nationwide, including the one in Phoenix.
Some have accused administrators of cooking the books and creating an environment that encouraged VA staff to manipulate wait times of veterans who need medical or mental health care. Others, though, have called the scandal political theater and say for the most part, the VA medical system works.
In a letter to veterans Friday, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki vowed to do better and promised to investigate every allegation brought to the department’s attention.
“As we approach our observance of Memorial Day and its special significance to our nation, VA is re-doubling its efforts, with integrity and compassion, to earn your trust,” he wrote. 
On Wednesday, President Obama broke his silence on the issue, vowing to “fix whatever is wrong” but stopping short of calling for Shinseki’s resignation.
As the scandal plays out in D.C., the VA continues its march to fill the hundreds of vacancies for health care officials at its clinics and hospitals across the country.
Among those is also a position in Kansas City, Mo., for a full-time radiologist, with a pay range of $98,967 to $295,000.
There are also openings at the VA teaching hospital in Danville, Ill., for urologists, pulmonologists and dental laboratory technicians. The facility also has an opening for an outpatient pharmacist, tasked with dispensing “appropriate medications and counseling patients on proper medication administration and storage.” The salary range is between $101,580 and $123,776.
Calls to the VA for comment were not returned.

Allen West: Obama administration's response to jailed Marine's plight 'very embarrassing'

Former Florida congressman Allen West told Fox News’ Andrea Tantaros Friday the Obama administration's reaction to the plight of the Marine jailed in Mexico on gun charges is “very embarrassing."
Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who grew up in Southern Florida, was arrested March 31 after he says inadvertently crossed into Mexico with weapons in his truck.
West noted that Secretary of State Kerry was in Mexico this week, but did not demand the Mexican government release Tahmooressi.
“So right now what we have are these very neutered, pajama boy leaders, faux leaders in Obama and in Kerry and it’s very embarrassing,” West said. “It is a sad state of affairs that a Marine is being detained, a combat veteran, who could possibly be suffering from PTSD, who is guilty of nothing.”
West also said he believes the Mexican government is attempting to make money from holding the Marine.
“It’s extortion,” he said, later adding, “this is absolutely heinous, it is appalling and it’s unconscionable.”

Judge allows long-time Dem Rep. Conyers on primary ballot

A federal judge put Michigan Rep. John Conyers, one of the longest-serving Democrats in Congress, on the primary ballot Friday hours after state election officials declared him ineligible.
Earlier Friday, Conyers lost his appeal to get on the August primary ballot after state officials found problems with his nominating petitions.
But hours later, Detroit federal Judge Matthew Leitman issued an injunction ordering that Conyers' name be placed on the ballot.
Conyers needed 1,000 petition signatures to get a spot in the Democratic primary. But many petitions were thrown out because the people who gathered names weren't registered voters or listed a wrong registration address. That left him more than 400 short.
But Leitman's injunction said a Michigan law that puts strict requirements on petition circulators is similar to an Ohio law that was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal appeals court in 2008.
Leitman said the free speech rights of Conyers and the circulators were harmed, an argument pressed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
There's evidence that the failure to comply with the law was a "result of good-faith mistakes and that (circulators) believed they were in compliance with the statute," the judge said.
Conyers, 85, told WXYZ-TV,"I'm trying not to smile openly much but this is very good news, and it's also good news for the process."
The first decision, from the Secretary of State's office, determined that Detroit-area officials were correct in keeping Conyers off the ballot, since he "failed to submit" a minimum of 1,000 signatures to qualify.
Wayne County officials had said there were problems with some people who collected signatures -- the circulators weren't registered to vote or had listed a wrong registration address.
Under Michigan law, that can spoil petitions.
Killing Conyers' career in such a way would be "pretty outrageous," his lawyer, John Pirich, said this week.
But an attorney for a Democratic challenger, the Rev. Horace Sheffield III, said Conyers for decades had no problem following the law.
"In essence, they played the game, lost and then complained that the rules were unfair," Eric Doster said, quoting a Virginia judge.
Conyers has spent 50 years in Congress and is the second most-senior member of the House, only to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who is already retiring.

Issa: White House warned YouTube over anti-Islam video during Benghazi attack

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa claimed that an email he’s reviewed shows the White House decided to reach out to YouTube within hours of the Benghazi terror attack, to warn the website about the consequences of posting an anti-Islam video.
The email would suggest the White House was connecting the attack to the video almost from the outset -- though their initial claim that the attack sprung out of protests over the film would later be proven false.
According to Issa, who discussed excerpts from the otherwise classified emails on Wednesday, the email was sent at 9:11 p.m. ET on Sept. 11 to the Diplomatic Security Command Center.
According to Issa, the email said: “White House is reaching out to UTube to advise ramifications of the posting of the Pastor Jon Video.”
Issa said this email is “troubling” because it “contradicts” White House claims that the faulty storyline on the video was drawn from the intelligence community’s talking points.
The congressman also said “the email shows the White House had hurried to settle on a false narrative -- one at odds with the conclusions reached by those on the ground -- before Americans were even out of harm’s way or the intelligence community had made an impartial examination of available evidence.”
Issa, who wants the administration to declassify the email, discussed its contents as a House select committee prepares to launch its investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attacks and their aftermath. Ahead of that committee’s work, Issa has subpoenaed Secretary of State John Kerry to appear before his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next week.
Issa has questions about this email, as well as a previously released email showing the White House held a “prep call” after the attack with then-U.N. ambassador Susan Rice in which it pushed the video storyline. The White House has claimed that call pertained to protests elsewhere in the region.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Issa’s Democratic counterpart on the oversight committee and a newly chosen member of the select committee, blasted Issa for discussing the YouTube-related email.
“This latest document leak makes the strongest case yet for Democrats seeking procedures to protect against these kinds of abuses,” he said in a statement. “In what has become an irresponsible pattern, Chairman Issa unilaterally released a cherry-picked document excerpt – claiming it means one thing when in fact it means the opposite.”
A White House official also told ABC News that the email only “proves” what the administration has said – that they were concerned about the video given the protests in the region.

Whistleblower says crimes covered up at Miami VA hospital

A VA police officer says administrators at the hospital in Miami where he works are covering up crimes occurring at the facility, including evidence of physical abuse of patients and drug dealing.
Thomas Fiore, who still works at the facility, told Fox News’ Eric Bolling on “Hannity” that drug dealing among patients at the hospital is a “regular occurrence,” and he felt he had to come forward because attempts he made to investigate or report wrongdoing fell on deaf ears.
"I actually prepared a written plan, if you will, pertaining to an undercover operation so that we can at least identify who our targets are for the drug sales," he said. "And I presented that in an email and I'm still waiting on a response. I submitted it about two years ago." 
Fiore earlier told the Miami Herald that the breaking point for him was a March 2013 report on the facility’s residential drug rehab program, which charged the program failed to adequately monitor patients or stop illicit drug use.
The report highlighted Nicholas Todd Cutter, a 27-year-old Iraq war veteran who overdosed on drugs shortly before he was set to graduate the program. Fiore told the Herald Cutter’s death “could have been prevented.”
"There are just so many things that have occurred that are just an absolute disgrace," he said. 
Fiore told the newspaper that when he tried to report drug dealing among patients, patient abuse or missing drugs from the pharmacy he was either ignored or his attempts to investigate the incidents were thwarted.
“I was told that the police reports were to stop,’’ he said, “and they would notify me if something important came up.’’
Fiore told the Herald he was eventually reassigned to a clerical position.
“I was reassigned because I continued to bring things up to the director, and he continued to ignore it,’’ he said. “They just needed to get rid of me.”
Miami VA Healthcare System spokesman Shane Suzuki told the Herald Fiore’s claims have no evidence to back them up.
“Miami VA leadership has every intent of holding employees who mistreat our veterans accountable for their actions,’’ Suzuki said in a written statement. “We will fully investigate any allegations that we do anything less than treat our veterans with the respect and honor they have earned.’’
The allegations in Miami are only one example of a storm of controversies plaguing the VA.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General's Office said Tuesday that 26 facilities are now being investigated nationwide over allegations of manipulated waiting times and other issues.

Al Qaeda terrorists at Guantanamo treated better than our vets

President Obama finally addressed the nation Wednesday about the growing scandal at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. After meeting with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki he pledged to hold folks accountable.
Thanks, Mr. President.
By now most American have heard about the VA’s infamous patient “secret wait lists” which reportedly contributed to the deaths of up to 40 veterans in the Phoenix area alone. Those patriots were American heroes who served our country proudly. Yet they were left to die waiting to see a doctor.   

While the Gitmo ratio is 1.5 to 1, for America’s 9 million veterans receiving VA health care and 267,930 VA employees, the ratio is 35 to 1.

Here’s another secret the White House doesn’t want you to know about the VA. Al Qaeda detainees get better medical treatment than our veterans.
Say what?
Yes, it’s true. I know because I served as a Pentagon spokesman from 2005-2009 and visited Guantanamo Bay Naval Base over 30 times during those years.
Despite the fact that Al Qaeda terrorists carried out the Sept. 11 terror attacks, killing 3,000 people in America, the admitted co-conspirators and their roughly 150 fellow jihadists at Gitmo have approximately 100 doctors, nurses and health care personnel assigned to them.
Doctors and medical personnel are at their beck and call.  Got a cold, a fever, a toothache, a tumor, chest or back pain, mental health issues, PTSD?  No problem, come right on in. Military doctors are waiting to see you.
The VA and Gitmo eligible patient-to-health care provider ratios speak volumes.
While the Gitmo ratio is 1.5 to 1, for America’s 9 million veterans receiving VA health care and 267,930 VA employees, the ratio is 35 to 1.
But beyond the Gitmo numbers, the situation at the VA is also a bright, shining example of misguided priorities and terrible mismanagement.
In late 2008, when Obama was  president-elect, he and his staff were warned not to trust the wait times reported by VA health care facilities. But instead of fixing the problem, their focus was closing Guantanamo and improving the comfort of detainees. Even though they already lived under some of the best prison conditions ever seen.
While some who see “2008” may reflexively say, “blame Bush, not Obama” the fact is that the VA’s health system has been fatally flawed for years, regardless of who has been the president.
The VA is a classic example of big government gone wild. It is America’s second largest cabinet agency after the Defense Department. Since civil service promotions are traditionally based more on seniority than performance, and it’s near impossible to fire anyone, there’s a punch-the-clock mentality that’s pervasive. Not surprisingly, there's little to no sense of urgency. So to instill incentives, the VA shells out high salaries and bonuses, deserved or not.
According to a Fox News report, Phoenix VA hospital paid staff up to $357,000 for doctor executives and $147,000 for nursing staff.  On average, doctors and nurses in Phoenix make just over half those figures.
Meanwhile, the gardening budget at Phoenix VA hospital was over $180,000 in 2013. The facility also spent $211,000 on interior design over the past three years.
If any government entity ever needed a complete overhaul, it’s the VA.  If it were in the private sector, it would have been shuttered long ago.
Today’s VA has near zero accountability, while labor unions fight to protect employees who aren't doing their jobs. Shinseki and his senior staff should be the first to go.
 President Obama needs to refocus his priorities. There must be less time, effort and energy caring for Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at Gitmo and much more attention put on caring for America's veterans. 
Our veterans have served the nation proudly. In many cases they were gravely wounded during their service and now will require a lifetime of medical support. Every one of them deserves better.
J.D. Gordon is a retired Navy Commander who served as a Pentagon spokesman in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2005-09. He serves as senior adviser to several Washington-based think tanks.

NSA

Committee OKs end to door-slot mail for millions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Americans would no longer get mail delivered to their door but would have to go to communal or curbside boxes instead under a proposal advancing through Congress.

The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on an 18-13 party-line vote, approved a bill Wednesday to direct the U.S. Postal Service to convert 15 million addresses over the next decade to the less costly, but also less convenient delivery method.

Democrats objected to the plan, and efforts in recent years to win its adoption have failed.

"I think it's a lousy idea," Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., said. Other lawmakers said it wouldn't work in urban areas where there's no place on city streets to put banks of "cluster boxes" with separate compartments for each address. People with disabilities who have difficulty leaving their homes could get waivers, and people who still want delivery to their door could pay extra for it — something Lynch derided as "a delivery tax."

The measure falls far short of a comprehensive overhaul most officials agree is needed to solve the postal service's financial problems. The committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., acknowledged that at the outset but said it "provides an interim opportunity to achieve some significant cost savings."

Converting to communal or curbside delivery would save $2 billion annually, Issa said, quoting from estimates that door delivery costs $380 annually per address compared with $240 for curbside and $170 for centralized methods. He said less than 1 percent of all addresses nationwide would undergo a delivery change annually and that communal boxes offer a safe, locked location for packages, doing away with the need for carriers to leave packages on porches and subject to theft and bad weather.

The Postal Service reported a $1.9 billion loss for the first three months this year despite continued cost-cutting, a 2.3 percent rise in operating revenue and increased employee productivity. Package business has risen but the service struggles with inflationary cost increases and a continued decline in first-class mailing as people move to the Internet for letter writing and bill paying.

Postal officials have asked repeatedly for comprehensive legislation giving them more control over personnel and benefit costs and more flexibility in pricing and products. Though various legislative proposals have been advanced, Congress has not been able to agree on a bill with broad changes.

"Lawmakers should fix what they broke, not break what's working," National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando said, referring to a 2006 law that requires the Postal Service to prefund its retiree health benefits. Meeting that requirement accounts for the bulk of the postal service's red ink. He said the Oversight Committee's bill is "irresponsible ... bad for the American public, bad for businesses, bad for the economy and bad for the U.S. Postal Service."

The Postal Service has been moving to more centralized delivery for some new addresses but hasn't done much to convert existing addresses, Issa said.