Those
whistleblowers reported numerous ethical violations, retaliation and possible
leaking of market-sensitive information that may have affected retail investors.
I’ve
been waiting more than a year for a response.
Emails
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by government watchdog
Empower Oversight show that career public servants at the VA prepared a
response to my letter over a year ago.
But,
when it came time for Secretary McDonough to send that letter to my office,
senior Biden political officials blocked it.
It
appears that Biden-appointed VA officials have issued an order not to respond
to my requests and I have a pretty good idea why.
We
know that the VA received these allegations from whistleblowers early on, and
ignored them.
Whistleblowers
alleged, among other things, conflicts of interest between a senior-level VA
official and a company represented by her husband.
This
official, Charmain Bogue, has since left federal service. The company that
employed her husband, Barrett Bogue, is Veteran’s Education Success, or V.E.S.
On
multiple occasions, starting in December of 2017, an employee at VA sought guidance
from VA lawyers on whether Mrs. Bogue should recuse herself on a
procurement-related matter.
The
lawyers affirmed that Mrs. Bogue should recuse herself, and the employee copied
Mrs. Bogue on this guidance.
The
employee also alerted VA leadership of Mrs. Bogue’s need to recuse herself.
Mrs.
Bogue never recused herself. But, the VA employee was reportedly removed from
federal service.
In
response to my letter about these and other allegations, the VA OIG immediately
opened an investigation.
The
VA OIG uncovered more wrongdoing than originally thought, including:
1.Mrs.
Bogue participated in matters involving her spouse’s employer, contrary to ethics
guidance;
2.Mrs.
Bogue’s interactions with that company violated the apparent conflict rule;
3.Mrs.
Bogue did not provide sufficient details to VA ethics about her spouse’s
business; and
4.Mrs.
Bogue refused to cooperate fully in the OIG’s investigation.
These
are only some of the allegations I received.
The
VA OIG did not review the allegations of whistleblower reprisal, nor did it
investigate whether VA employees mishandled non-public information.
I
raised questions about all of these issues, and to date I’ve had no substantive
communication from Secretary McDonough about any of them.
What
is the VA hiding here? What else did the VA know about and choose to
ignore?
Independent
government watchdogs and whistleblower advocates have called on the VA to
review government grants and screen for companies and individuals who have
engaged in wrongdoing.
They’ve
also urged the VA to consider whether those individuals or entities should be
able to obtain government contracts in the future.
I’m
very interested in whether those who refuse to cooperate with OIG requests can
still obtain taxpayer money through government contracts.
The
Biden administration has claimed time and again that it is the most transparent
in U.S. history. Well, we know that’s not true, and it certainly hasn’t been
true in this case.
The
VA deserves much better, and our veterans deserve much better.
The
VA needs to start being as transparent as they claim and cooperate with this
investigation.
