Congressman for President Donald Trump to relieve his VA secretary, David Shulkin, of his duties. It appears the Trump appointee played fast and loose with the taxpayers’ money to enjoy what amounted to a grand European vacation for himself and his wife.
Reading through the conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ watchdog, we see the congressman’s point. Shulkin’s behavior hardly suggests he is the leader the VA needs to bring about the presidentap campaign promises of reform.
The VA’s Office of Inspector General found that Shulkin and his wife, Merle Bari, spent 11 days on the July trip, which, minus travel and three-and-a-half days of official business as part of a summit on veterans affairs in London, afforded them ample leisure time. The couple headed for Denmark to tour palaces and castles, took a boat tour of Copenhagen, did a spot of shopping and took in a nice dinner in Sweden. In London the itinerary included visits to the Churchill War Rooms, Buckingham and Kensington palaces, Westminster Abbey, stops at St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe, and other neat places. There was also another cruise, this time on the Thames.
The busy personal schedule wasn’t spontaneous. Instead, Shulkin enlisted significant VA resources to plan for the tour. A VA program specialist coordinated the travel.
“This was time that should have been spent conducting official VA business and not for providing personal travel concierge services,” the investigative report notes.
There’s more. The inspector general found that the couple improperly accepted free tickets and VIP access to the Ladies’ Final tennis match at Wimbeldon, and then lied about getting them from the head of a for-profit enterprise. To get around ethics rules, the inspector general says, Shulkin claimed the tickets came from a personal friend of Bari’s. Turns out that alleged friend couldn’t remember Bari’s first name.
Other instances of falsity helped round out the trip. The secretary’s chief of staff, Wright Simpson, has resigned after the watchdog determined that Simpson altered an email to support a false claim that Bari should be allowed to travel on the taxpayers’ dime because the secretary was to receive an award. In fact, there was no such honor accorded. Information about the doctored document has been forwarded to the Justice Department for potential criminal prosecution, the watchdog notes there is no evidence Shulkin was aware of the subterfuge.
Finally, the watchdog found that Shulkin made misleading statements to The Washington Post to cover his tracks.
Coffman represents Colorado’s 6th Congressional District, which includes Aurora and the new, still-under-construction VA hospital that blew its budget by more than $1 billion and has been a frequent subject of these pages. He’s right to see irony in the fact that two weeks before the trip the secretary directed all VA employees to engage in only essential travel, in order to hold down expenses. The Republican is right to also detect the portent of further fiscal trouble in Shulkin’s escapades.
Perhaps the newcomer secretary could overcome these errors. He’s repaid the Treasury for his wife’s expenses and covered the Wimbeldon tickets. Could be thatap enough for our ethically loose president.
But the brave men and women who have served this country deserve better.
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