An Open Letter to My Senators Opposing Non-Vet Political Stooge Denis McDonough as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs

 An Open Letter to my Virginia Senators
Senator Tim Kaine
231 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
 
Senator Mark Warner
703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
 
Sir;
 
I am writing you to request that you ask President-Elect Biden to reconsider his selection of Denis McDonough as Secretary of Veterans Affairs and if he does not withdraw it, vote against his confirmation when it come up for a vote in the Senate.
 
Generally, I have no major objections with most of President-elect Biden’s cabinet picks as they are moderately acceptable although several are of dubious qualifications. For instance Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) as Interior Secretary has little executive experience and can’t be very bright as she graduated from law school but couldn’t even pass the NM Bar exam.  Alejandro Mayorkas might have a challenge being confirmed at DHS because of his grossly unethical behavior last time he was in DHS as documented by a scathing IG report on him. Pete Buttigieg’s qualifications for Transportation Secretary are he was once the mayor of a small Indiana town with a population smaller than the University of Michigan Football Stadium on game day and he has traveled on a train and an airplane .. oh ya, he proposed to his husband at an airport.  The most qualified Biden Cabinet picks so far are Retired General Lloyd Austin at Defense, Janet Yellen at Treasury and Merrick Garland at Justice – All highly qualified and a Great selections.
 
The only one of Biden's Cabinet picks so far I am vehemently opposed to is McDonough for Veterans Affairs.  Non-Vet McDonough for VA is totally unacceptable to most Veterans and Veterans’ Groups because he never served and he has ZERO qualifications. Of the 18 former VA Secretaries and acting secretaries, 14 VA Administrators and two Directors of the Veterans Bureau going back 100 years, McDonough will be only the second person to run government Veterans affairs since 1920 that is NOT a Veteran. The only other one was Dr. David Shulkin who lasted about a year and was Obama’s Under VA Secretary that Trump bumped up to the top job and we all know how that one went. He got fired in short order for ethics violations.

There is a reason why we Veterans overwhelmingly want a fellow Vet leading our VA, because they know what we have gone through so there could NOT possibly be a worse selection then McDonough. With all the highly qualified Democratic Veterans in politics, why is President-elect Biden slapping us Veterans in the face by nominating this non-Vet political stooge to run Veterans Affairs? VA is a tough assignment to begin with but Vets will cut a fellow Veteran some slack.  Like with Shulkin, we will not cut McDonough any slack so I predict he will not last a year.  I would add that Shulkin was even an Army Brat that grew up on Military Posts all over the World and he didn't even understand us.

The ideal candidate would have been former Army Surgeon General LTG (Ret) Nadja West. Not only has she run hospitals, she commanded an entire Major Military Medical Command.  A proven Medical professional with vast management experience.

So exactly what are McDonough's qualifications:
1. NEVER wore the uniform so probably couldn't pick the Soldier out in a line up with bellhops
2. NO Medical experience
3. NEVER run an organization bigger than his bowling team

In his Senate confirmation hearing McDonough had the chutzpah to testify: “I got a taste of the veteran’s life on trips to Iraq and Afghanistan while I served in the Obama White House.” As if accompanying the President on a PhotoOp to a combat zone and spending a couple of hours on the tarmac at Bagram gave him a “taste” of what it’s like to be a Vet or be in combat. Next he’ll be claiming he was “under fire” when he accompanied Hillary Clinton on her historic trip to Bosnia.  

And this is the clown President-elect Biden is trying to saddle us Veterans with to run the VA. Many Veteran's organizations are in the process of organizing to protest the McDonough nomination and I will encourage ALL Veterans to contact their Senators to voice their opposition to this non-Vet political stooge being nominated as our Secretary of Veterans Affairs and urge their NO Vote when he comes up for confirmation.
 
v/r
 
COLONEL, US Army (Retired)
An extended Tour Vietnam Veteran with a CIB
Also served in Afghanistan for the Government as a Civilian