[img]1593|left|Henry Waxman||no_popup[/img]When you read the edited “full biography” of U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman on his website (http://waxman.house.gov/bio), you will think this is the most powerful, thoughtful visionary in government.
But when you read the unedited biography of him, you will know that Henry Waxman is one of the most powerless, visionless and uncompassionate public servants in American history.
Henry’s version boasts a political career full of power, responsibility and seniority as chairman of major committees that dominate our nation’s legislation and essentially control the way we live.
In the 1,032-word bio that spares no over-glorification of his career as a member of the U.S. Congress, not once is the word “Veteran” mentioned. Nor is there any mention of “disabled” or “homeless.”
In fact, there’s no mention of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Los Angeles National Veterans Home, the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.
Yet this largest VA in the nation has been in Henry Waxman’s Los Angeles Congressional District over the past 38 years.
Was It an Oversight?
In a letter dated Oct. 7, 2005, to James Nicholson, then-Secretary of the VA, Mr. Waxman writes:
“According to the California Department of Veterans Affairs, more veterans live within fifty miles of the West Los Angeles VA Center than 42 other states combined.”
Think about this. Mr. Waxman not only is entrusted to oversee the largest VA facility in the nation, but the responsibility includes more Veterans living within 50 miles of the VA Center than 42 other states combined.
Why doesn’t he mention this in his “full biography”?
Is he ashamed of this rare, prestigious honor to serve those who have served us? What is Henry hiding?
It is quite obvious that Henry is concealing the most disgraceful, repulsive political record in American history.
Henry was elected to Congress in 1974. He took his oath of office four months before the fall of Saigon that ended the Vietnam War in May 1975.
Within his Congressional District is the responsibility to oversee nearly 400 acres of property exclusively deeded to the government of the United States, “to be permanently maintained as a National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.”
‘There Was a Catch’
This magnanimous gift from two families was preceded by an 1887 Act of Congress that instituted federal law guaranteeing that this land would always be maintained for disabled and homeless Veterans, ensuring that there never would be a “homeless Veteran” in Los Angeles because this would always be maintained as a “Home” for their sole benefit.
In a letter dated Sept. 11, 2007 to the Wall Street Journal, Congressman Waxman wrote:
“Here are the facts: After the Civil War, the federal government began to construct national soldiers' homes for disabled and homeless war veterans. Soon after Congress enacted legislation in 1887 to authorize construction of the first soldiers' home in the West, a patriotic California family donated 388 acres in Los Angeles for this purpose. But there was a catch – the legal deed requires that the federal government maintain the property permanently for veterans. Today that 388-acre campus houses the largest VA health care center in the nation and serves more than 300,000 veterans.”
Henry unwaveringly confirms his entrusted responsibility. So there is no question about the magnitude of his fiduciary duty to honor it.
But instead of enforcing the Congressional Act and legal Deed that would provide safe shelter for Veterans to heal from their war injuries, non-Veteran Waxman ignored this noble duty.
Instead, he served his wealthy constituents by allowing this sacred trust to be leased for a public dog park, a public community park, a public golf course, public entertainment theaters, private school playgrounds, hotel laundry facilities, used car storage.
So Much for His Watch
Meanwhile, disabled and disadvantaged Veterans pledged their lives to defend our nation while Henry was attending UCLA Law School. They were exiled from their legally deeded Home under his “watch,” forced to live homeless and hungry in back-alley squalor while Henry lived in luxury and ate at the public trough.
Under Henry’s watch, the biggest land-fraud scam in American history took place while some of the most heinous crimes against humanity were being committed on American soil — inhumane crimes of forced homelessness and neglect against disabled and disadvantaged Veterans. It has been 37 years since the Vietnam War ended. Yet today, 47 percent of our homeless Veterans are of the Vietnam era.
Tragically, instead of providing supportive housing for those who sacrificed so greatly, Henry Waxman has allowed the Los Angeles Veterans Home to be run down and left in shambles. Numerous buildings have been vacant for decades except for the safe sheltering of rodents and other wildlife that have found their way inside.
In Henry’s “full biography,” it states:
“From 2007-2009, Rep. Waxman served as Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the principal investigative committee in the House of Representatives. From 1997 to 2006, he served as Ranking Member of the Committee. As Chairman and Ranking Member, he conducted investigations into a wide range of topics, from the high cost of prescription drugs to waste, fraud, and abuse in government contracting and formed a Special Investigations Division that prepared hundreds of investigative reports on local and national topics for Members of Congress.”
Waxman’s Choice
Make no mistake; Henry Waxman had full power in Congress to investigate anyone about anything, or as he proclaimed, “everything that the government is involved with.”
Instead of investigating how Los Angeles became the capital for homeless Veterans when this is the largest VA Home in the nation, Henry investigated professional baseball players for supposedly using steroids, for manufacturers using lead in toys, for e-mail use in the White House, for overseeing the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Henry investigated Walter Reed Military Hospital in Bethesda, MD, regarding health reforms. But he never once investigated the Los Angeles VA in his Los Angeles Congressional District regarding the misappropriation of Veterans land and facilities and the abuse and neglect of 20,000 disabled and homeless Veterans.
Time magazine ran an article in 2006 titled “The Scariest Guy in Washington.” (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1562974,00.html#ixzz2Ab1D7hr0)
Here’s how they described Henry Waxman: “When it comes to putting powerful people on the hot seat, there’s no one tougher and more tenacious than veteran California Congressman Henry Waxman.”
If you talk to the average military Veteran in Los Angeles, here’s how he or she will describe Mr. Waxman: “When it comes to providing disabled and homeless Veterans with safe shelter, there’s no one weaker and more faltering than Henry Waxman.”
In Henry’s version of extolling his decades of public service, he essentially proclaims to be a compassionate visionary with unparalleled seniority and power.
In a recent Los Angeles Times essay by Steve Lopez, “Poor care for veterans becomes campaign issue,” (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0926-lopez-column-veterans-20120926,0,5118741.column), Henry confessed that he has “not devoted enough time to the VA,” that he has “no vision for the VA or how to care for our homeless Veterans,” and that he is “powerless.”
In nearly 40 years of public service, Henry Waxman coldly ignored the helpless cries of tens of thousands of disabled and destitute Veterans scandalously sentenced to a life of homelessness.
Over the past decade, Henry Waxman voted for every war budget costing more than a trillion dollars to send our men and women into harm’s way. (This is not mentioned in Henry’s “full biography.”)
Let the record reflect that for nearly four decades Henry Waxman didn’t appropriate a single dollar to shelter disabled homeless Veterans at the Los Angeles VA. He didn’t provide a single tent, cot, sleeping bag or a simple blanket for homeless Veterans. Nothing.
Instead of building Veteran housing at the VA, Henry built Los Angeles into our nation's capital for homeless Veterans, estimated to be at least 20,000 with 8,000 chronic homeless Veterans.
This is Henry Waxman’s real legacy.
To paraphrase that late great Paul Harvey … Now you know the rest of Henry’s biography. For those who live in the new 33rd Congressional District, please vote on behalf of 20,000 disabled and homeless Veterans in Los Angeles.
Deliver poetic justice by voting for Bill Bloomfield.
God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution!
Mr. Rosebrock may be contacted at RRosebrock1@aol.com