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VA SECRETARY JIM NICHOLSON RESIGNS --
Early news reports and the official word from
the VA.
VA Secretary Jim Nicholson has announced his
resignation!
My sincere desire is that the new Secretary
will be a true veterans' advocate, not just another political hack who's
being rewarded for taking orders.
But, I don't hold out much hope for that
happening.
We have the official, self-serving "I did great
deeds" VA press release...and then an early news story.
VA press release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/
vap07/vap071707-1.htm
Press release below:
-------------------------
Nicholson to Leave VA and Return to the Private
Sector
July 17, 2007
Under his Leadership, VA Makes Strides in Health Care and IT
Modernization
WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jim Nicholson announced
today he has tendered his resignation to President George W. Bush,
effective no later than October 1, 2007.
Under Nicholson’s leadership, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
continued its evolution as a leader in health care innovations, medical
research, education services, home loan and other benefits to veterans.
He transformed the VA health care system to meet the unique medical
requirements of the returning combatants from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In his letter of resignation, Nicholson praised and thanked the
President for the honor of serving him and our Nation’s veterans in this
key post at such a “critical time in our nation’s global war on terror.”
“The VA is a dynamic organization dedicated to serving our nation’s
finest citizens – our veterans,” Nicholson said. “It has been an honor
and privilege to lead the VA during this historic time for our men and
women who have worn the uniform. We have accomplished so much and the VA
is always striving to improve our services to veterans.”
Nicholson said he wants to return to the private sector. “This coming
February, I turn 70 years old, and I feel it is time for me to get back
into business, while I still can.” He said he has no definite plans at
this time.
He also addressed an assembled group of Washington VA employees and
those watching around the country on VA’s closed-circuit television. In
his message to employees, Nicholson told them how privileged he felt to
have worked with them in fulfilling our nation’s promises and
obligations to its veterans.
“VA has come a long way in meeting the growing needs and expectations of
our veterans and you deserve the credit,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson, a Vietnam Veteran, was sworn in as Secretary of Veterans
Affairs on February 1, 2005.
During Secretary Nicholson’s tenure at the Department of Veterans
Affairs:
* Directed each of our veterans of the global war on terror who come to
the VA for any kind of care to be carefully screened for brain damage (TBI)
and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
* Hired 100 new Outreach Coordinators to
provide services to returning OIF/OEF veterans. The new coordinators are
located in Vet Centers throughout the country especially near our
military processing stations.
* Created a new Advisory Committee on OIF/OEF
Veterans and their families to advise him on ways to improve programs
serving OIF/OEF veterans.
* Directed the Veterans Benefits Administration
to give priority to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring
Freedom (OIF/OEF) veterans in its compensation and pension claim system.
* Launched a major information technology
transformation in the VA with the way it uses and safeguards personal
and health information of veterans.
* Created a new Office of Operations, Security,
and Preparedness to deal with emergency planning and security.
* Initiated the overhaul of the VA’s vast
contracting and acquisitions systems.
* Created a blue ribbon Genomic Research
Advisory Committee to use the VA’s expansive medical data holdings to
advance the science of predictive medicine.
* Commenced a major campaign to reduce the high
rate of diabetes in veterans.
* Launched a national effort in the Veterans
Health Administration to eradicate staph infections in VA hospitals.
* Approved 82 new Community-Based Outpatient
Clinics (CBOC) to bring VA top notch care closer to the veterans who
have earned it.
* Created a new multi-campus Nursing Academy
through partnership with the nursing schools throughout the country to
help address a shortage of nurses within the VA and nationwide.
* Directed the hiring of suicide prevention
counselors at each of VA’s 153 facilities to strengthen one of the
nation’s largest mental health programs. He also established a 24-hour
national suicide prevention hotline that will be operational by the end
of July 2007.
* Hired 100 new Patient Care Advocates to help
severely injured veterans and their families manage VA’s system for
health care and financial benefits.
* Led the President’s recent Task Force on
Returning Global War on Terror Heroes to improve the delivery of federal
services and benefits to Global War on Terror service members and
veterans.
“This is a very big Government agency that, among many other things,
sees over 1 million patients a week in its health care system, and is
doing a world class job,” Nicholson said. “The American people can feel
proud about the way we are treating our veterans. The President and the
Congress have been very supportive and for that I am grateful as well.”
Nicholson thanked the President, “he has given me terrific opportunities
to serve my country and under his strong and supportive leadership, it
has been a real privilege.”
Nicholson left the private business world over 10 years, where he ran a
successful residential development and construction company. He was
elected Chairman of the Republican National Committee in January 1997.
Immediately prior to becoming Secretary, he served as the U.S.
Ambassador to the Holy See.
-------------------------
News story here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2007/07/17/AR200707170
0701.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Story below:
-------------------------
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Resigns
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson announced his resignation
today, saying he would step down from his post as head of the federal
government's second-largest department no later than October 1.
Nicholson, a decorated Army veteran who served in Vietnam, has held the
top job at the VA since 2005. He said in a statement that he plans to
return to the private sector but has not lined up a new job.
"It has been an honor and privilege to lead the VA during this historic
time for our men and women who have worn the uniform," said Nicholson, a
former chairman of the Republican National Committee. "This coming
February, I turn 70 years old, and I feel it is time for me to get back
into business while I still can."
The department has been under intense scrutiny for its treatment of
injured veterans returning from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as they
transition from the military health care system to the VA system, and
for its chronically slow processing of the disability claims of
disabled, injured or sick veterans from all eras.
Critics complain about lost paperwork, a shortage of VA caseworkers, a
backlog of hundreds of thousands of disability claims, and long waits
for veterans trying to get initial appointments in the VA health care
system.
Just five months into the job, Nicholson had to ask Congress for an
emergency infusion of more than $2 billion because, he said, the Bush
administration had vastly underestimated the number of service personnel
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking VA medical care. He said the
original estimates were based on outdated assumptions from 2002.
"The bottom line is there is a surge in demand in VA [health] services
across the board," Nicholson told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
in June 2005.
At the same time, the VA health system has won plaudits during
Nicholson's tenure for its continued development into what experts say
is in many ways a model health system, particularly in its extensive use
of electronic medical records. That turnaround began in the 1990s.
The department, with 243,000 employees and budget of about $70 billion,
is the second-largest in the federal bureaucracy after the Defense
Department. It administers a vast system of 154 medical centers and more
than 1,300 clinics that treat about 5.5 million patients a year. But it
also handles a wide range of other benefits, including loans and
financial assistance and burial benefits for which about 25 million
living veterans are eligible.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the next VA secretary must be "a
truthful advocate for veterans, not an apologist for this
administration's failures to plan."
"The next VA Secretary must have a record of being a strong and
independent voice for veterans -- not someone being rewarded for
political loyalty," Murray said. "Our veterans deserve to know that the
head of the VA system can stand up to the White House and fight for the
resources and benefits our veterans need."
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
