Why Forcing VA Secretary Shinseki to Resign Is a Bad Idea

[MineralMan]

Right now, in the face of very, very serious issues at VA hospitals, a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon of suggesting that Eric Shinseki should resign forthwith. Here are some problems with that:

First, while forcing a resignation might make politicians feel like and look like they are doing something, his resignation will do nothing to fix the long-time problems of veterans getting prompt treatment at VA hospitals. The problems and outright fraud are longstanding problems and are deeply embedded in VA Hospital culture. They existed before Shinseki's appointment as VA Secretary.

Second, right now, Shinseki is in charge and can fire people, move people, and take care of the issues that are causing the problem. He can't do that instantly, but he is the person who can handle the serious management issues that caused this problem.

Third, if Shinseki is forced to resign, that top position will be vacant, leaving a management gap that will interfere with the necessary personnel actions that are definitely going to be needed. Replacing the VA Secretary will require finding and appointing a new Secretary, and that appointment will have to be confirmed by the Senate. In the meantime, Senators will behave as though they solved the problem, without actually doing anything to solve it. Given the issues the Senate has had with confirming appointments, it could be months before a new Secretary takes office.

Fourth, any new VA Secretary will not have the knowledge immediately that is needed to properly manage this crisis. Entrenched existing management will be able to obstruct the new Secretary's access to the information he or she will need to make the personnel decisions that need to be made. Time will pass, the issue will fall out of media coverage and there is a strong potential for the same abuses to simply continue.

Finally, there is a sitting VA Secretary who can, once all necessary information from the investigations is available, take immediate action to remove people who are responsible for these abuses from their positions. He can do that now, not months from now, once a new VA Secretary has been appointed, confirmed, and has had time to learn the ins and outs of the VA hospital system.

For those reasons, I believe Secretary Shinseki should remain in his position and be allowed to act to remove those responsible for denying veterans proper and timely care. Action needs to be taken now, not many months down the road.

[tblue37]

1. KnR. nt

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Let me repost something I just posted in another thread.

I actually have changed my mind on Shinseki resigning, although not for the reasons others have.

I think he should go for 'pointy-haired boss' syndrome. Someone pointed out that the whole '14 day wait time' deadline that all of the bonuses or punishments were tied to was Shinseki's idea. That's a 'pointy-haired boss' deadline idea showing that he ignored reality and just made a policy that 'looked good', and expected reality to bend to his will.

A leader who understood reality would have realized that unplugging the clog in getting people into the system would just move the clog down the pipeline into getting people their first appointments. So attacking the backlog of people getting into the system without also simultaneously expanding the capability of the system to handle far more people was guaranteed to lead to a clog in first appointment wait times. And to then just turn around and declare by fiat that those wait times had to be under 14 days was delusional.

Is there some reason his second in command can't simply take over the work until a new guy is named?

Does him resolving 'fix' anything? It 'fixes' the fact that there's pointy-haired boss syndrome going on. He may be a great guy, he may be a great general, but he doesn't seem to have a good grasp of how to be a 'boss' at a non-military organization.

[Demo_Chris]

3. Kinda like appointing bankers to oversee bank regulation and TARP, right?

I see things differently. I believe the situation at the VA is a national shame. This clown should not only be fired, he should be investigated with a microscope and prosecuted for anything they can dredge up that might even potentially stick. In other words, he can fuck off. People are DEAD thanks to this guy and the mistakes that have happened under his watch. I am TIRED of the grotesque incompetence of these appointees and the fawning excuses some Democrats feel compelled to make for them.

[Savannahmann]

4. I could not disagree more.

Eric Shinseki was confirmed on January 20th 2009 as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Now, even Common Core math would tell anyone that is five years. For five years either Secretary Shinseki was woefully inept, or a complacent part of the conspiracy. Either way, he must go. An internal investigation has already been conducted, not because he wanted it, but because the scandal couldn't be covered up any longer.

There are many who blame congress for the actions of Secretary Shinseki. I am not one. If I tell you I need $100 to perform a task properly. You listen, and then give me $10 and tell me to make it happen. I have two choices. I can lie and tell you that the job is done, I can tell the truth and tell you it can't be done for $10. The Department of Veterans Affairs went with option number one. They lied, they doctored documents to make it look like they were doing their jobs. They lied on official documents in other words.

But here is the kicker. Many people received promotions, and bonus money, for their lies. That now crosses the line from poor performance that requires termination, to Criminal Fraud. They lied, and received bonus money, and promotions, for those lies.

Secretary Shinseki should have been fired already. The Justice Department should be crawling up the assess of those who got bonus's, and it shouldn't be hard to find those who profited since they're named in the IG report, and bringing them before the bar of Justice.

[Ballast_Point]

5. All valid up until the last bit...

Part of the problem, I have been led to believe, is that many of those positions are protected and they cannot just be dismissed without a long and arduous process that requires regular and repeated documentation of failures that I suspect is not there.

[question everything]

6. It is about politics

I don't have an opinion one way or another; the only veteran in my family, my father in law, is long gone.

But it is clear to me that most of the members of congress calling for his resignation are creating a video clip and a sound bite to be used in their upcoming re-election campaign. For that matter, most of the so-called committees investigating anything have these goals.

[Leme]

7. yeah, the video clip thing

just saw where more Dems than republicans on some committee or something were calling for resignation than Republicans.
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it was like 12 of 15 Democrats were doing so... and the 12 were up for re-election.
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fewer Republicans and less were up for re-election.
I hope someone posts the actual numbers and such... it was CBS this morning and it went by fast.

edit: maybe it was 9 of 12.

[n2doc]

8. They got him n/t

[MineralMan]

9. Moot Point, Now...