(See 2 pdfs below)
Fellow Veterans and Friends of Veterans,
[img]2835|right|Mr. Henry Waxman||no_popup[/img]I have attached an overview essay on “Henry Waxman's Legacy” published two years when he was running for his 20th term in Congress.
Nothing has changed. The “full biography” on his website still does not acknowledge one word about Veterans or the VA.
In another 2012 essay by Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times, the retiring Congressman admitted he had no vision for the largest VA in the nation after 38 years in office. Even if he had had a vision, he claimed there was “no money.”
To the contrary, Henry appropriated $60 million for a bogus solar panel project that was recently built on the Los Angeles VA property that will begin to save $1 million a year in electricity, beginning in 2018.
Six Decades to Recover
Thus, it will take more than 60 years to recoup this incredulous misappropriation of VA money instead of spending $60 million for immediate emergency and temporary pre-fab housing for war-injured and homeless Veterans.
Equally egregiously, Mr. Waxman and Sen. Dianne Feinstein appropriated $20 million to rehab Building 209, a vacant, dysfunctional, rat-infested dump to house 65 “formerly homeless Veterans.” Meanwhile, Los Angeles has 20,000 disabled, disadvantaged homeless Veterans living on skid row and in back-alley squalor.
Since the accounts of 2012, a federal judgment has been entered against West Los Angeles VA executive director Donna Beiter and former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki for engaging in nine illegal real estate deals.
The federal court ruling on this disgraceful illegal activity was followed by a scathing Government Accountability Office report exposing widespread mismanagement and misappropriation of funds from the illegal leases. They included non-collection of lease revenue from the occupants of the illegal leases.
Mr. Waxman claims to be clueless about all of this malfeasance and misappropriation of federal VA property. Indeed, he aided and abetted in the giveaway of Veterans’ land, including to his alma mater, UCLA, for a baseball diamond (illegal), as well as to his wealthy Brentwood homeowner friends who got a rent-free 30 year agreement for a public park (illegal).
After 40 years of gross negligence and failure at protecting the Los Angeles VA, non-Veteran Mr. Waxman is finally retiring.
The two candidates seeking his seat, Ted Lieu and Elan Carr, are both Veterans.
Both Refuse to Speak up
However, they have both remained absolutely silent about the biggest and most shameful land-fraud scandal in American history. They refuse to make this a campaign issue.
Mr. Waxman has endorsed Ted Lieu, as has Barack Obama, whose Dept. of Justice vigorously fought the ACLU lawsuit over the misuse of Veterans land and lost. Then they appealed the no-nonsense federal judgment at the added expense of the American taxpayer. They prolonged the misery and suffering of thousands who need immediate housing and care.
Top legal scholars in the United States have declared the VA-DOJ appeal to be “morally and legally indefensible.”
But let's look at a much larger picture of responsibility. The attached letter from Waxman to then-VA Secretary Nicholson in 2007 where he not only admits there's widespread misuse of Veterans’ land but that there are more Veterans living within 50 miles of the Los Angeles VA than 42 states combined.
Think about this: The elected steward of the 33rd District has the moral and legal responsibility to protect the largest VA in the nation for hundreds of thousands of Veterans living outside this District. Yet not Mr. Waxman, nor Mr. Lieu nor Mr. Carr considers it a paramount responsibility in the biographies or “important issues.” None has a vision or plan.
Fellow Veterans 50 miles away, as well as locally, deserve to know how these two candidates will be different from Mr. Waxman. Or will they be the same, as now appears certain.
Nothing has changed from the decades of the Waxman debacle except there are new players. They are proving to be as dismissive about their entrusted fiduciary duty to patriotically oversee and protect the largest VA in the nation as Mr. Waxman was.
The Henry Waxman Legacy of putting the VA and Veterans last in his vision and list of priorities must come to an abrupt end. The federal judgment and GAO report dictate that new, trusted leadership is of paramount importance.
However, as it now stands, the best Veterans can do on Tuesday is a “no vote” for either candidate. Then they can demand a recall and bring in a rock-solid Veteran challenger to make the Los Angeles VA and Veterans housing and healthcare the No. 1 campaign issue.
Both candidates have six days to let Veterans and the American taxpayer how they will protect this national sacred trust to house and care for our Veterans living in degrading conditions.
Time is of the essence.
God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution!
Mr. Rosebrock may be contacted at rrosebrock1@aol.com
[img]2836|exact|Waxman Letter 50 Miles PDF||no_popup[/img] [img]2838|exact|Henry Waxman Legacy PDF||no_popup[/img]