Fellow Veterans and Friends of Veterans:
Please read this current article by NPR about the West LA VA and where the money has gone under the headline:
“Los Angeles VA has made millions on rental deals”
In part it says: “Meanwhile, what (Henry) Waxman wants to know is where the money's gone.
“They earn extra money, which they use — they tell us — for … VA services,” says Waxman. “The reason I say, 'They tell us they use it' is [because] we've never been able to get a lot of the details … of exactly how much money they got and how that money was used.”
Huh?
What does he mean “us?”
He's the Congressman for the District where all of this has been taking place Henry Waxman was chairman of the Oversight Committee. He investigated everyone and everything except the corruption in his own backyard. Waxman investigated professional baseball players for purportedly using steroids, but never the biggest land-fraud scam in American history – at the largest VA in the nation right in his own back yard.
On July 17, 2006, the Los Angeles Times featured an article about Henry titled, “For Better or Worse, He's on It.” http://articles.latimes.com/2006/
In her article, Times reporter Faye Fiore proclaimed, “He's the general of an army of investigators who churn out unsparing reports.” She then refers to this unparalleled investigative staff as: “The WBI — the Waxman Bureau of Investigation, a.k.a. the self-appointed Inspector General of the World.” (underlined for emphasis)
Think about it. He has been called the “Inspector General of the World” but he never once investigated the corruption and shenanigans taking place on 388 acres of federal property within his own Congressional District, claiming he doesn't know “exactly how much money they got and how that money was used.”
The reason Waxman will not investigate any of this would mean he would have to investigate himself because he really does know where the money has gone and who got it.
From the NPR story: “Where the money went may be a mystery, but NPR has been able to estimate how much money the West L.A. VA has taken in. Through the Freedom of Information Act, NPR obtained the major long-term rental agreements as well as related correspondence between the VA and members of Congress.
“Some data are missing and some of the documents conflict, but it appears that over the past dozen years, the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center has taken in at least $28 million and possibly more than $40 million.
Waxman knows what he'd like them to do with the money. “There are many needs that are not being met,” he says, “including housing for homeless veterans.”
How is it that an NPR journalist can investigate and get an estimation on how much money the VA has taken in, but Waxman, the entrusted public servant elected to oversee the VA, cannot? As one of the most powerful members in Congress, why can't Waxman appropriate necessary funding to permanently maintain this land as a National Veterans Home in accordance with the 1887 Act of Congress and the Deed of 1888?
After 38 years of blundering incompetence, it's time to send Henry packing and joining the ranks of the unemployed.
There are 20,000 homeless Veterans (8,000 is the number of chronic homeless Veterans) in Los Angeles who are depending on “us,” not Henry Waxman, to get them proper shelter and care. Join the Veterans Revolution. Vote Henry Waxman out of office.
Vote for Independent Bill Bloomfield in the 33rd Congressional District on Nov. 6. God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution!
Mr. Rosebrock, a Veteran of the Vietnam War era, may be contacted at RRosebrock1@aol.com
