By Jim Vines | jim.helpingveterans@gmail.com
Investigators looking into lavish spending for a pair of Veterans Affairs training conferences in 2011 found evidence that department employees improperly accepted gifts, wasted hundreds of thousands on unneeded expenses and exhibited serious management weaknesses in handling taxpayer dollars.
The investigation report released Monday by the VA Inspector General’s office also says the department’s top human resources official, Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration John Sepulveda, failed to provide proper guidance and oversight to his senior executives and lied to investigators about details of the conference. Investigators said Sepulveda told them under oath he had no prior knowledge of some of the expenses, including the costly “Patton” video produced by an outside contractor. Other VA employees contradicted that, saying Sepulveda not only viewed the video but even suggested changes. Sepulveda resigned last Sunday.
VA officials released a statement saying, “misuse of taxpayer dollars is completely unacceptable” and calling the actions cited in the report, “serious lapses in oversight, judgement and stewardship.” Two other employees cited by investigators in the report were placed on administrative leave pending a review of their involvement in the case. VA officials did not release their names. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced he will appoint a panel of senior officials to review the case and recommend appropriate administrative action against other employees involved in the conference planning.
About 1,800 VA employees attended the two professional development conferences held in July and August 2011. Investigators said the conferences appeared to be legitimate training opportunities, but noted that senior leaders accepted little responsibility for financial stewardship in spending more than $6 million for two events. Among the more flagrant expenses were $50,000 for a conference video of the movie “Patton”; $98,000 for promotional items such as tote bags and thumb drives; $37,000 for questionable travel expenses for VA employees; and $43,000 in extra pay for staff running the events. The investigators also found more than $ 480,000 in excessive spending for hotel catering, hotel audiovisual services and contractor travel.
The report says VA employees planning the conferences accepted free massages, hotel rooms, limousine rides and helicopter tours, all against well-known policies forbidding government employees from receiving gifts.
In a statement, VA Inspector General George Opfer said, “Beyond the individual ethical lapses, which cast all federal employees in a bad light, the management failures resulted in unnecessary costs and unauthorized commitments that diminished these legitimate training events.”
Continuing investigations into the conferences were promised by House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Senate Veterans Affairs Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash.
AmVets Post 133 is hosting a Friday, Oct. 12, car, truck and bike cruise and the Saturday, Oct. 13, car, truck and bike show at the 33rd annual Crazy Water Festival. Check online at www.crazywaterfestival.org for detailed information regarding both events.
Speak to you again next week.
Jim Vines is commander of AmVets Post 133 in Mineral Wells.
Veterans Corner
Report released on lavish spending by VA officials
- Veterans Corner
-
-
Veterans' Corner
An unfair fight for job seeking veterans has become increasingly evident on the jobs front.
-
Veterans Corner
A new hotline has been developed and launched by the Department of Veterans Affairs specifically for women veterans.
-
Veterans' Corner
Department of Veterans Affairs doctors are continuing to prescribe tranquilizers such as Valium and Xanax to veterans diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, despite VA guidelines advising against their use for the condition.
-
Veterans' Corner
The Veterans Administration has streamlined its efforts to help homelessness by concentrating on veterans in four areas. Employment, safe housing, health care and mental heath care are now more defined to aid veterans quicker.
-
Veteran's Corner
Suicide remains a problem without a clear solution in both the active-duty and veterans' communities. After another rise in military suicides last year, the armed services last week outlined to Congress their efforts to reverse the trend and evaluate their prevention programs.
-
Veterans' Corner
Having recently attended a veterans funeral service, I overheard a disagreement between some attendees regarding the reciting of meanings during each fold of the flag. The meaning of the folding of the American flag is not without importance, however, meanings of each fold are not official and not required.
-
Veterans' Corner
Despite assurances that veterans benefits and services will be exempt from the budget cuts effective March 1, veterans and their families will share the suffering along with military counterparts.
-
Veterans' Corner
Even as the Pentagon lifts the ban on women in combat roles, returning servicewomen are facing a battlefield of a different kind. They are now the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, an often invisible group bouncing between sofa and air mattress, overnighting in public storage lockers, living in cars and learning to park inconspicuously on the outskirts of shopping centers to avoid the violence of the streets.
-
Veterans’ Corner
On Feb. 21, TD Bank, headquartered in Cherry Hill, NJ, and Portland, Mass., announced it has joined with the International Franchise Association (IFA) and a pilot group of franchises to help military veterans become franchise owners.
-
Veterans' Corner
Today, hundreds of thousands of service men and women and recent military veterans have seen combat. Many have been shot at, seen buddies killed, or witnessed death up close. These are the types of events that can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD.
- More Veterans Corner Headlines
-
Veterans' Corner
Officials: Truck Hit Bridge Before Collapse
Sheriff: No Sign Killing of 2 Kids Was Planned
Obama Defends Drone Strikes, With Limits
Raw: Jurors Deadlock on Jodi Arias Penalty
Boy Scouts Decision "First Step" Say Activists
Raw: Utah Teen Arrested in Death of His Brothers
Closer Look at Okla. School Where Children Died
Two Suspects in Murder Known to London Police
Boy Scouts Mom Supports Gay Inclusiveness
"Be Ready": NOAA Warns of Busy Hurricane Season
SeaWorld: Penguins Are Coolest Thing in Florida
Obama Renews Call to Close Gitmo
Obama Offers Drone Strike Defense
Raw: Heckler Interrupts Obama on Guantanamo
A Slice of Apple History Up for Grabs
