It’s Time to Dump Veterans Affairs Secretary and Faux-Vet “Battlefield Bob” McDonald for Incompetency and he Needs to Take his Faux-Vet Deputy, “Slow to Combat” Slone Gibson, with Him!

Seems every time VA Secretary “Battlefield Bob” McDonald or his Deputy “Slow to Combat” Slone Gibson open their mouths, they earn Four (4) Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker and every day there is another article where they are caught doing nothing to fix the VA or fire “bad apples” in the department!  Seems they are not only consummate liars but have gone native becoming part of the VA bureaucracy they were appointed to reform.  The problem is NOT money, it’s ineffective leadership at the top!  It appears “Battlefield Bob” suffers from “Clinton Syndrome” (The psychological disorder rendering the sufferer incapable of being truthful). 

Almost two years on the job and with expedited disciplinary action authorized yet neither have done anything to fix the VA problems and are more interested in protecting the VA workforce than rooting out evil. That’s what you get when you select faux-Vets like "Battlefield Bob" and “Slow to Combat” Slone as VA Leaders. Both are West Pointers that bailed out of uniform the very second they could after the payback time for their free education - without ever even serving in a combat zone let alone hearing a shot fired in anger. Neither even bothered to remain in the Reserves as doing so might someday subject them to danger! So much for "Duty - Honor - Country!" and “a Cadet does not lie, cheat nor steal!” Both faux-Vets have demonstrated they possess the requisite detachment to continue the VA’s absolute indifference towards Vets.

It’s time for both of them to Go!  At least GEN Eric Shinseki, “Battlefield Bob’s” predecessor who was fired, was at least a well decorated combat Vet who was seriously wounded in action so had something in common with us real Vets.  The only thing these two clowns now there have demonstrated was their ability to avoid combat under any circumstances.

So what keeps earning “Battlefield Bob” the coveted Four Pinocchios, he keeps lying about how many people he's fired....

Remember on NBC Meet the Press back on 15 Feb 2015, “Battlefield Bob” uttered this lie:  “Nine hundred people have been fired since I became secretary. We’ve got 60 people that we fired who have manipulated wait times.” 

Thankfully, within days the WaPo Fact Checker blew the whistle on “Battlefield Bob” and awarded him the prestigious 4 Pinocchios for wildly inflating his “firing” statistics.  Then in the 6 Aug 2015 article Fact Checking a statement by Jeb Bush that Only Two people had been fired for anything related to the scandal, the Fact Checker found he was absolutely correct when he made the statement although as of 6 Aug that number had risen to THREE!

Back then I posted on this Blog my take on this incident and the actual Washington Post Fact Checker article (if you’re interested) at: http://old-soldier-colonel.blogspot.com/2015/02/ineffective-veterans-affairs-secretary.html 

Now doubling down on his previous lie, “Battlefield Bob” told this whopper on 6 November 2015 during his speech at the National Press Club:  “We have proposed disciplinary action against 300 individuals for manipulating scheduling.” 

During this speech he even had the audacity to bemoan the lack of fact-checking of his assertions by saying: “I just wish that there would be more fact-checking on some of the numbers that are used, because there are a lot of myths out there.”  Obviously, the biggest myth turns out to be “Battlefield Bob” is capable of telling the truth, even under oath!  Maybe “Battlefield Bob” can file for VA benefits as he does suffer from “Clinton Syndrome."

Unfortunately, the Washington Post Fact Checker took “Battlefield Bob” up on his challenge and guess what, he again got his figures on wait-time manipulation disciplinary actions WRONG!

Seems the VA provides weekly updates to the House and Senate veterans affairs committees about proposed and completed employee disciplinary actions taken since June 3, 2014, “on any basis related to patient scheduling, record manipulation, appointment delays, and/or patient deaths."

Seems “Battlefield Bob” says he was citing numbers in the VA’s 29 Oct 2015 which listed 306 disciplinary actions but that number contained 20 probationary employees as well as cooks, food service workers, voucher examiners and transportation supervisors, none of whom had anything to do with what was required to be reported!  Hence, the real number was 27 employees (one was a senior executive) had disciplinary actions proposed against them for patient wait-time manipulation and only three were successfully fired. The Senior Executive which was marked as successfully removed was actually fired for accepting improper gifts and not for “wait-time manipulation.” 

This is the second time this year that the Washington Post Fact Checker has called “Battlefield Bob” out for inaccurately cited the disciplinary actions taken against VA employees for manipulating wait-time data and finding “a disturbing discrepancy” between the figure “Battlefield Bob” cited during the speech and the figure his agency is reporting to Congress.

It’s time for Faux-Vets “Battlefield Bob” McDonald and his Deputy “Slow to Combat” Slone Gibson to “hit the bricks” and hopefully President Obama can find a real Vet who actually cares about his fellow combat Vets to replace him and Fix the VA! 

If you want to see what the Washington Post Fact Checker actually said, here is her entire article.

Ineffective Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert “Battlefield Bob” McDonald Awarded the Prestigious Four Pinocchios by the Washington Post for Lying to the Nation

Updated 6 August 2015

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert "Battlefield Bob" McDonald is not only a consummate liar but he’s just too arrogant and full of himself to be effective.  One thing is for sure, he has “gone native” and become part of the VA bureaucracy he was appointed to reform.  His arrogance was “on parade” at the 11 February Congressional hearing on his agency’s budget when he got ­defensive and snapped at Rep Mike Coffman ­(R-CO) when he CORRECTLY suggested McDonald had accomplished little in his first six months on the job. Coffman accurately accused McDonald of “glossing over” the problems that still plague services for veterans and said he thinks McDonald “will not have made a difference in changing the culture” by the end of the Obama administration.

“I ran a large company, sir, what have you done?” McDonald said to in a heated exchange.  In all fairness, McDonald was CEO of Procter & Gamble but Coffman had founded a successful property-management firm and served as Colorado’s secretary of state and treasurer before being elected to Congress in 2009.  He also had two combat tours as a Marine!

Then on NBC “Meet the Press” on 15 Feb. 2015 “Battlefield Bob” uttered this lie:  “Nine hundred people have been fired since I became secretary. We’ve got 60 people that we fired who have manipulated wait times.”

Thankfully, within days Washington Post Fact Checker Michelle Ye Hee Lee blew the whistle on “Battlefield Bob” and awarded him the prestigious Four Pinocchios for wildly inflating his “firing” statistics.

The WaPo pointed out that the VA is the largest non-military Cabinet agency with more than 340,000 employees (as of September 2014) so even if 900 employees were fired, they accounted for less than 0.3 percent of all VA employees. Plus, in fiscal year 2013, there were 2,247 VA employees fired in that one year -- two and half times more than McDonald’s 900 figure and before a massive systemic problem was found – and that is about the VA’s normal annual dismissals for misconduct such as insubordination and chronic absenteeism.

6 August 2015 Update - Since this article was posted, almost Six Months has elapsed and Michelle Ye Hee Lee has done a follow-up where she Fact Checked a 20 July 2015 Statement by Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush where in a speech he stated "only two people had been fired for lying about the wait times."  After the Fact Checker's extensive research she affirmed that Jeb got it CORRECT and awarded him a Geppetto Checkmark although she did note that by the time of her 6 August article that number has risen to THREE!  See below where her 6 Aug is posted.

Remember, two days after McDonald took office Congress passed legislation authorizing him to expedite disciplinary actions for senior executives. It was notoriously difficult to fire senior executives at the VA — at a one-fourth rate than the firing rate for all federal agencies -- so the goal was to allow the VA chief to replace bad actors quickly, especially ones connected to the scandal. 

In his “Meet the Press” interview, McDonald lied when he said 60 employees who manipulated wait times were fired.  Actually, as of his 15 February TV appearance only eight employees had been removed and even this is misleading because all except one were low level employees and he had used his new personnel authority to remove senior executives only once to fire someone for anything related to the VA scandal — that one was James Talton, director of Central Alabama’s VA.

Hence, with seven (7) months on the job, McDonald has done little to fix the VA scandals and seems more interested in protecting the VA workforce than rooting out the deadwood. This is what you get when you select faux-Vets like "Battlefield Bob" McDonald and  “Slow to Combat” Slone Gibson as VA Secretary and Deputy Secretary; just what we need to “help” and “lead” our troops after we’ve been engaged in protracted combat for the past 14 years. Both are West Pointers that bailed out of uniform the very second they could after the payback time for their free education - without ever even serving in a combat zone let alone hearing a shot fired in anger.  Neither even bothered to remain in the Army Reserve as doing so might someday subject them to danger!  So much for "Duty - Honor - Country!" and “a Cadet does not lie, cheat nor steal or tolerate those that do!” Both faux-Vets have demonstrated they possess the requisite detachment to continue the VA’s absolute indifference towards Vets.

Now let’s contrast “Battlefield Bob’s” Military creds with the service of Mike Coffman (R-CO), the man he “snapped” at during his 11 Feb budget hearing.  Coffman, the son of a career Army officer, enlisted in the Army Infantry in 1972 at age 17.  When he left active duty at the end of his enlistment to attend college, he remained in the Army Reserves.  Upon graduation in 1979, he transferred to the Marine Corps and served on active duty as an Infantry Officer until 1983 but remained in the Marine Reserves retiring in 1994 at the rank of Major.  During the Gulf War he was called to active duty and actually SAW COMBAT as a Marine light armored Infantry officer.  In 2005 he returned to Active Duty to serve in the Iraq War where he supported elections and helped establish interim local governments in the western Euphrates Valley; he completed his duty in Iraq in 2006.

Now, who between “Battlefield Bob” and “Major Mike” possesses the better political acumen and Military credibility to look after the interests of Veterans?  In the opinion of this Combat Vet (with a CIB) “Major Mike” gets my vote!  Maybe it’s time “Battling Bob” and his Number Two, “Slow to Combat” Slone go back to working with the USO where they came from and the President find a new secretary that is up to the job – hopefully someone that’s been steeled by Combat!

But the best example of “Battlefield Bob’s” incompetence is contained in Michelle Ye Hee Lee Washington Post Fact Checker article so rather than retelling it myself, I’ll just attach it below (after the 6 Aug added Bush article) so she can tell it in her own words.  We should all be grateful to Michelle for exposing this lying COWARD for the fraud that he is.  We should also thank her for his below follow-up where she points out that the grand total of firings is now THREE!

Gibson to Deputy VA Secretary and Rooney as Navy Under Secretary - President Appoints Two More Incompetents!

Slone Gibson as VA Deputy Secretary and Jo Ann Rooney as Navy Under Secretary, just what we need to “help” and “lead” our troops after we’ve been engaged in protracted combat for the past 12 years. A ’75 West Pointer that bailed at his first opportunity without ever even serving in a combat zone let alone hearing a shot fired in anger, Slone will have the requisite detachment to continue the VA’s absolute indifference towards Vets. As for Jo Ann, I’m sure her previous 9 month stent (11-12) starting at the top as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness (before which she had never even heard of DOD) along with her years of experience as a college president, tax lawyer and managing director at scandal-ridden Huron (a company akin to Romney’s Bain Capital but with a real “history”) make her well suited to be Under Secretary of the Navy. Thanks Mr. President