Senior VA executives abused positions for financial gain

Report: Senior VA executives abused positions for financial gain

A senior Department of Veterans Affairs manager who was supposed to clean up a beleaguered regional office abused her position for financial gain, part of a wider scheme to give stealth raises to executives, according to a VA Office of Inspector General report released Monday.

Two senior Department of Veterans Affairs officials accused of scamming the hiring system in the agency for financial gain were demoted Friday, the VA said in a statement released late in the day.

Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves were both accused of acquiring their jobs as regional office directors for the Veterans Benefits Administration after manipulating the system to create vacancies in hard to fill areas and then receiving nearly $400,000 in relocation benefits.

The VA Inspector General made criminal referrals to the Department of Justice for Rubens, who was director of the Philadelphia Regional Office, and Graves, who was director of the St. Paul Regional Office.

Both were demoted to assistant director positions at other regional offices and will return to work immediately, the statement said.

The minor punishments for the two executives were met with outrage from veterans advocates.

“For those wondering whether VA is committed to real accountability for corrupt employees, VA leaders answered that question today with a resounding ‘no,’” said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who chairs the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

“Rubens and Graves clearly should have been fired,” Miller said in a statement. “The fact that VA leaders refused to do so gives me no hope the department will do the right thing and take steps to recover the more than $400,000 taxpayer dollars Rubens and Graves fraudulently obtained.”

A committee staffer said the VA is not taking steps to recoup the relocation benefits and both executives will continue to earn well over $100,000 a year.

The case of the two executives is just the latest embarrassment at a department that has been fraught with scandal. More than year ago, revelations emerged that patients at the VA were dying while lingering on secret wait lists at the Phoenix VA Medical Center. The scandal led to former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s resignation, but many lawmakers say reform is taking too long.

Rubens and Graves appeared before the House committee earlier this month, but invoked their Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions to protect themselves against self incrimination. Both had to be subpoenaed after refusing to appear in October.

At the hearing, Rubens’ and Graves’ predecessors in Philadelphia and St. Paul both testified that they’d been pressured to leave the posts that the two women filled. Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits Danny Pummill assured committee members that the two would be punished.

Dale Barnett, national commander of the country’s largest veterans service organization American Legion, said in a statement Friday that the decision dashed hopes after the hearing that the VA was “finally understanding the need to hold people accountable.”

“This is an insult and disgrace to all veterans,” Barnett said. “Any promises that VA officials make about accountability in the future need to be taken with a grain of salt.”

VA officials did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Miller noted that the VA will not even recoup the $8,000 bonus Graves received this year.

“Because of the department’s failure to adequately hold employees accountable in this and many other situations, VA is being forced to tolerate corruption, malfeasance and incompetence within its ranks. As a result it remains under the shadow of perpetual scandal,” Miller said.

“The millions of American veterans who depend on VA and the hundreds of thousands of VA employees who are dedicated professionals deserve better than this broken status quo,” he added. “But until VA leaders make a commitment to supporting real accountability – something they have refused to do thus far – efforts to reform VA are doomed to fail.”

THE BONE LABYRINTH

THE BONE LABYRINTH (Morrow, on sale 12/15, ISBN 13: 780062381644, $27.99) by James Rollins.

In THE BONE LABYRINTH, Rollins has taken his trademark scientific research to the next level and has created extraordinary characters that allow him to compare and contrast intelligence in nonhuman primates with that of human intelligence. More revolutionary and terrifying than Jurassic Park, THE BONE LABYRINTH explores similar themes—but he’s gone far beyond dinosaurs into the world of prehistoric human beings and genetically modifying human embryos using ancient DNA. Rollins weaves in cutting edge scientific details unlike any other writer writing today.

Rollins urges readers to stretch their imaginations while learning real details about history, science and current events. Rollins’ own fascination and extensive education in evolutionary biology inform these tales that are rooted in scientific and historical plausibility, yet encapsulated in a fantastical stretch of the imagination.

There are many themes to explore in this novel:

• WHAT CAUSED “THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD”: For the past 200,000 years, human brains remained unchanged, but roughly 50,000 years ago, there was an intelligence explosion that has baffled both anthropologists and geneticists. Why did human intelligence suddenly surge ahead? That’s what THE BONE LABYRINTH explores, tapping into the latest research about an unknown piece of mankind’s history. What Rollins discovered is astounding.

• ROLLINS THE VETERINARIAN, RESEARCH IN CHINA: Rollins visited the Beijing Zoo for research and found the state of that zoological park to be appalling. This detail plays a major role in the story and he’s happy to discuss his trip. As a veterinarian, he folds in animals into his novels in unique ways. The character of Baako, a genetically modified gorilla, allowed him to explore intelligence in nonhuman primate.

• CREATING ENEMIES WITHIN OUR BORDERS: Currently half the physics doctorates from the U.S. are awarded to foreign nationals, most return home. Much of their education is paid for by the American taxpayer. This poses a security risk to America, but we’re also creating our own market competitors. Scientists and engineers drive innovation—and we’re shipping that intellectual capital abroad.

• NEW HUMAN SPECIES: In September the NYTimes reported that a new human species had been discovered in Africa. This was well after Rollins had finalized THE BONE LABYRINTH, but in this novel he proposes that humans share DNA with another extinct species. But what does this mean when we begin to engineer life and what dangers does this pose? Some believe that genetically modifying embryos could eradicate devastating diseases, but it’s a slippery road toward eugenics, where human life will be engineered, where potentially there will be a new class of human. And while this sounds like the stuff of science fiction, it’s already yesterday’s news. The genie is out of the bottle—and where that might lead is explored in THE BONE LABYRINTH.

• MYSTERIES OF THE MOON: Father Carlos Crespi’s vast collection of mysterious artifacts puzzle historians. The mystery eventually led to a great search into a cavern system that spanned the Andes, led by a reclusive American hero: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. His strange enlistment in this venture plays a major part of THE BONE LABYRINTH. And what mysteries does the moon hold? THE BONE LABYRINTH explores just how truly strange the lunar satellite is. For example, the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, while also sitting 1/400th distance between the earth and the sun. No other planetary moon in our solar system matches this symmetry, not even close. Isaac Asimov described this odd alignment as “the most unlikely coincidence imaginable.”

ATTACK IN PARIS

BY NOW IT SHOULD BE PERFECTLY CLEAR THAT THERE IS NO WAY THAT ISIS IS GOING TO BACK DOWN. IT'S TIME TO GATHER TOGETHER AND WIPE THEM OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH.

AND IT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW!

WINGS OF SORROW AND BONE

(Harper Voyager Impulse | on-sale 11/10/2015 | eISBN: 9780062411266 | $.99)

The rich world building and complex, diverse cast of characters in award-nominated author Beth Cato’s Clockwork Dagger series has captured the hearts and minds of the SFF community. Cato’s stories—which blend the experimental, Victorian-inspired science of the steampunk genre with the whimsical magic of classic high fantasy—are much beloved additions to the steampunk oeuvre. And now, with her latest offering, Wings of Sorrow and Bone, Cato is adding one more element: high-stakes gamesmanship.

Few things can enthrall the way a high-stakes chess game can; the forethought, the outmaneuvering, the tactical skill it takes—but what if instead of inanimate chess pieces, the game were more of a battle, and the board was an obstacle course…and the pieces were chimera gremlins, cobbled together by magic and science, and piloted by risk-taking jockeys? Beth Cato’s Wings of Sorrow and Bone hones in on this, focusing on the Arena Games mentioned in her Clockwork Dagger duology.

If you haven’t had a chance to enjoy the works of this newcomer to the scene yet, now is the perfect time! Wings of Sorrow and Bone is a delightful novella, set in the same world as The Clockwork Dagger, but featuring secondary characters and the fan-favorite gremlins! The gremlins are charming, cheese-loving chimeras, fused together with science and magic, and cruelly used for war games purely for the entertainment of others. Despite the fact that they are constructs, the endearingly ugly gremlins have hearts of gold, and are everything that readers love about fantastical beasts. Wings of Sorrow and Bone is a perfect jumping on point to a short, sweet, immensely satisfying steampunk series—and for existing readers, this novella is a great peak at the playful, sweet, gremlins we love!


About the Book:

After being rescued by Octavia Leander from the slums of Caskentia, Rivka Stout is adjusting to her new life in Tamarania. But it’s hard for a blossoming machinist like herself to fit in with proper society, and she’d much rather be tinkering with her tools than at a hoity-toity party any day.

When Rivka stumbles into a laboratory run by the powerful Balthazar Cody, she also discovers a sinister plot involving chimera gremlins and the violent Arena game Warriors. The innocent creatures will end up hurt, or worse, if Rivka doesn’t find a way to stop Mr. Cody. And to do that means she will have to rely on some unexpected new friends.


About the Author:

Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in a lair outside of Phoenix, Arizona. She shares the household with a hockey-loving husband, a number-obsessed son, and a cat the size of a canned ham.

Gunnar Hansen

Leatherface is gone

Gunnar Hansen, the actor who played terrifying villain Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, has died.

The Icelandic-born actor, 68, died on Saturday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Maine, US, his agent said.

The 1974 film depicts how five friends visiting their grandfather's country house are hunted by Leatherface and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

Hansen's character is "one of the most iconic evil figures in the history of cinema," said agent Mike Eisenstadt.
Keen naturalist

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, directed and co-written by Tobe Hooper, went on to become a classic slasher film, which features a psychopath murdering several victims.

Beth Cato’s Wings of Sorrow and Bone

I’m so excited to be sharing award-nominated author Beth Cato’s Wings of Sorrow and Bone with you for early review consideration! The rich world building and complex, diverse cast of characters in her Clockwork Dagger series have really captured the hearts and minds of the SFF and steampunk communities. Cato’s stories—which blend the experimental, Victorian-inspired science of the steampunk genre with the whimsical magic of classic high fantasy—are much beloved additions to the steampunk oeuvre. But if you haven’t had a chance to enjoy the works of this newcomer to the scene yet, now is the perfect time! Wings of Sorrow and Bone is a delightful novella, set in the same world as The Clockwork Dagger, but featuring secondary characters and fan-favorite gremlins! It’s a perfect jumping on point to a short, sweet, immensely satisfying steampunk series—and for existing readers, this novella is a great peak at the playful, sweet, gremlins we love!

Wings of Sorrow and Bone
Beth Cato
November 10, 2015
Harper Voyager Impulse
E-Book
Fiction / Science Fiction / Steampunk
$0.99 USD, $2.99 CAD, £1.99 GBP, €0.90 EUR

About the Book:

After being rescued by Octavia Leander from the slums of Caskentia, Rivka Stout is adjusting to her new life in Tamarania. But it’s hard for a blossoming machinist like herself to fit in with proper society, and she’d much rather be tinkering with her tools than at a hoity-toity party any day.

When Rivka stumbles into a laboratory run by the powerful Balthazar Cody, she also discovers a sinister plot involving chimera gremlins and the violent Arena game Warriors. The innocent creatures will end up hurt, or worse, if Rivka doesn’t find a way to stop Mr. Cody. And to do that means she will have to rely on some unexpected new friends.

About the Author:

Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in a lair outside of Phoenix, Arizona. She shares the household with a hockey-loving husband, a number-obsessed son, and a cat the size of a canned ham.