Frustrated lawmakers blast VA for too few dismissals

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/veterans/2014/11/13/va-frustration-lawmakers/18965555/

Frustrated lawmakers blast VA for too few dismissals
By Leo Shane III, Staff writer 11:48 a.m. EST November 13, 2014

Members of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee returned from their election break with a warning for VA leadership: Don't repeat the mistakes of the past. In a hearing covering the department's efforts to reform its operations and image in the wake of nationwide patient care delay scandals, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., committee chairman, expressed dismay at the lack of accountability in the department and suggested VA lawyers are confused about how to implement new firing authorities granted by Congress this summer.

Miller and others said bad advice from subordinates is already hurting VA Secretary Bob McDonald's efforts to clean up his department. "This is the same issue that I believe doomed Secretary (Eric) Shinseki's tenure," Miller said, referencing the former secretary's forced resignation in May. "I hope you take my suggestion seriously when I tell you that VA's entrenched bureaucracy must be shaken up in order for any true reform … to succeed."

Less than an hour before the hearing, VA officials announced the firing of former Pittsburgh VA Healthcare system director Terry Gerigk Wolf, who had been suspended from the post as officials investigated her handling of a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak in 2011.
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committee members questioned whether officials have been too afraid of appeals to react to clear incompetence and malfeasance by employees. Several took aim at VA's decision to give to-be-dismissed employees five days to respond to charges before termination, a time frame they've labeled as an extra, unnecessary appeal.
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