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THE NEW VA SECRETARY: A RECESS APPOINTMENT WOULD

DO "END-RUN" ON CONFIRMATION PROCESS -- Recess

appointment would eliminate confirmation hearings and the new

Secretary would serve until the end of the Bush Administration.

 

 

Story below:

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On July 17 of this year, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson announced his resignation, effective no later than October 1.  Story here...
http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/
nfJUL07/nf071707-11.htm

There has been much speculation as to who will replace Nicholson.

At the top of the list is Deputy VA Secretary Gordon Mansfield.  Mansfield has been with the VA since 2001 and was the executive director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America.  Mansfield's bio is here... http://www1.va.gov/
opa/bios/biography.asp?id=30

And, there is a big push to name Rick Romley, the high-profile Arizona prosecutor.  Romley served three months with the VA investigating the theft of the laptop computer containing personal information on 26.5 million veterans.

Now, Romley is back.  Just days before Nicholson announced his resignation, he brought Romley back to to VA, supposedly to keep on investigating the data theft.  But, why?  The data theft was solved.  Was this just a move to position Romley for the Secretary position? 

There would be a perception problem if Romley got the nod:  Do we want a prosecutor heading the VA?  That certainly wouldn't paint a picture of a "benevolent" organization.  For more on Romley, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=romley&op=and

Whoever gets the nomination from President Bush would be sure to face tough grilling during the confirmation process.  Republicans want a Secretary who can keep a lid on the VA's problems while towing the "Party Line" and Democrats don't want another Nicholson who was viewed as mediocre, at best.

But, there is a way around the confirmation hearings.

President Bush could make an appointment during the August Congressional recess.  There would be no confirmation hearings.  While some feel this is a subversion of the process, it is absolutely legal.

If a recess appointment were made, the new VA Secretary, by law, would serve until the end of the Bush Administration in January 2009.

The law states that a recess appointee must face confirmation by the end of the next session of Congress.  We are in the first session of the 110th Congress and the next, or second, session ends at the end of the Bush term.  More on recess appointments here...
http://www.senate.gov/reference/
resources/pdf/RS21308.pdf

A recess appointment would make political sense to the White House.  They would get the person they want with absolutely no questions asked...no confirmation of any kind.

We'll just have to hope that if the President does this we will get a VA Secretary who will truly work in the best interest of veterans.

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Larry Scott  --