WASHINGTON — A former VA executive was singled out for humiliation this week in a way that few — if any — government workers ever have received: a public shaming penned by Congress.
The official in question is Glenn Haggstrom, who once served as construction chief at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and who supervised a VA hospital project in Aurora that saw its price , from $604 million in 2011 to about $1.7 billion this year.
Haggstrom in March — amid an investigation into the Aurora project — and since then federal lawmakers have howled over the fact Haggstrom left the VA with and after collecting $63,777 in bonuses from 2009 to 2013.
But vindictiveness is a dish best served cold, and Congress this week moved to extract some measure of retribution.
Included in a year-end spending package — which totals — is a 71-word provision that takes direct aim at Haggstrom.
Although it doesn’t mention him by name, the provision prohibits the use of federal funds allocated in the bill to pay the salary of “any individual who (a) was the Executive Director of the Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction, and (b) who retired from Federal service in the midst of an investigation, initiated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, into delays and cost overruns associated with the design and construction of the new medical center in Aurora, Colorado.”
Haggstrom is the only individual who fits those criteria.
Given that the $1.1 trillion bill directs most federal spending through September of next year — including the VA — the provision basically bars Haggstrom from working for the federal government for the next nine months.
Haggstrom already has retired, and so the provision is mostly symbolic, as it takes aim at neither his benefits nor the bonuses he received.
Yet U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk — the Illinois Republican who inserted the language — said through a spokeswoman that its goal is to bring some measure of accountability to VA leadership.
Haggstrom did not return a phone call seeking comment.
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, another longtime VA critic, agreed the measure was “largely symbolic” but said it was “important nonetheless,” given how Haggstrom talked about the Aurora project’s progress to Congress.
“His conduct was not simply incompetent, it was criminal,” said Coffman, R-Aurora. “He lied in hearing after hearing after hearing about the status of the hospital.”
Mark K. Matthews: 202-662-8907, matthews@denverpost.com or @mkmatthews
