VA whistleblower resigns
According to Fox News, Brian Smothers, who told Congress about the Veterans Affairs Department’s waiting lists for veterans awaiting treatments, has resigned because of retaliation from the agency.
Brian Smothers told The Associated Press Wednesday the VA had opened two separate inquiries into his actions and tried to get him to sign a statement saying he had broken VA rules. He said he refused.
Smothers also said the VA reassigned him to an office with no computer access, no significant duties and no social contact.
He called the VA’s actions punitive and his working conditions intolerable. He said he resigned as of Tuesday.
The VA claims, of course, that they don’t tolerate retaliation. They do, however, tolerate cheats, liars and thieves, among their employees so I’m thinking that it’s not exactly a broad-jump to get to retaliation.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
I hope Trump’s admin will look into this.
The phrase ‘look into this’ is bureaucratese for ’round-file this’.
Lookng into anything doesn’t mean jack schitt unless there is concrete followup – in this case, harsh punishments for those who lied.
My hope is the Trump admin sending a riled up mob of experienced bureaucratic witch hunters through every level of management in that agency. Torch and pitchfork time.
Come Jan 20, Trumps team will be kicking ass! starting with people responsible for bullshyt like this!
If smothers isn’t mainly an annoying malcontent, I suspect his fortunes will turn 180 in just over two months….
They do, however, tolerate cheats, liars and thieves, among their employees so I’m thinking that it’s not exactly a broad-jump to get to retaliation.
I’m starting to think you are perhaps one of the better masters of understatement regularly posting on the internet….
It’s always amazing and instructional when we learn about what happens to those who shine the light of truth on the misdeeds of an entire organization. They are seldom welcomed for their truthtelling and are almost always turned into pariahs without allies, friends, or options. It says an awful lot about the nature of organizations and the people who work in them.
An organization is essentially an organism – its goal is survival, and to that end it wants to acquire sustenance and protect itself. All organisms are essentially the same – what he did incurred the ‘self-protection’ trait. Happens in any group which perceives it is threatened.
I hope Trump brings in a SOLID VA Director and burns that fucking agency to the ground.
Only then can we fix it.
Which union do the managers fall under?
For what it’s worth: this appears to be the same case that Jonn wrote about here:
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=68934
Someone in that individual’s position is caught in a helluva dilemma.
See he is a moral man, that why he does not understand that this is a promotion at the VA. Now he has no work, no one can find him and he cannot get blamed for anything. Not to mention check in 0700, out the door at 0715.
—no work, can’t be found and can’t get blamed.—
Kinda sounds like a non aviation Army Warrant Officer to me./sarc
Behold, look at the commissary parking lot at 0300 and see all the Warrants lined up for morning PT.
My take Senior, is that he probably knew or felt that he would have an eyeball on him as soon as he entered the parking lot in morning, until he left that parking lot at the end of shift.
That way the powers-that-be could make up some crap that he only blew the whistle to cover his own tracks.
I hate the VA almost as much as I hate the current SECNAV.
The VA needs to pay through the nose for this.
If he would like some $$$$$ down the road he can sue for constructive wrongful discharge and for the whistleblower retaliation but litigation is a long and winding road which is only fun for the “lawers.”