Lawmakers keep VA failures front and center
As a recent spate of news about neglect and fraud in the federal Department of Veterans Affairs continues to develop, a handful of Alabama Congressional delegates are continuing to keep VA issues on the front burner. “I am outraged that our veterans are still being made to wait for medical care,” U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell recently told Alabama Today. “Providing high-quality care and benefits to our nation’s veterans is one of our most fundamental obligations, and we must do more to live up to that promise. I proudly sponsored the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, which President Obama signed into law. “This new law has helped VA medical centers across the country hire more physicians and enabled some veterans to seek private care, yet problems still persist at underperforming facilities like the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System in Montgomery and Tuskegee, Alabama. “We heard more than enough excuses. Our nation’s heroes should not be made to wait for quality care, and to ask them to do so violates our core principles. We need a permanent director who is ready – and willing – to do more for our veterans.” Congressman Bradley Byrne has also taken action to rectify much longer than average wait times at the Central Alabama VA. He recently introduced legislation that would create a new clinic in Mobile to ease the long backlogs currently on the books at VA providers, but has also said the problems run deep and deserve a thorough remediation at the administrative level. “Our veterans have waited far too long for a new VA clinic in Mobile, and it is past time the VA moves the process forward,” Byrne said in a prepared statement last week. “The current Mobile clinic is outdated and too small to adequately meet the needs of our area’s veterans. Years ago the VA committed to the construction of a new clinic in Mobile, but bureaucratic obstacles continue to hold the process up.” Sen. Richard Shelby also spoke with Alabama Today on the matter, indicating that VA scrutiny is a concern in the upper chamber of Congress as well. “It is extremely disappointing and unacceptable that long wait times continue to plague the Central Alabama VA,” said Shelby in a statement special to Alabama Today. “Our veterans in Alabama and across the country deserve better, which is why I will continue to press the VA to correct these issues and fight to ensure that our veterans receive timely and effective health care services.” U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Calhoun County in Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District is working on the issue from his position on the coveted House Armed Services Committee. He says he is displeased to say the least about the way Alabama vets are receiving short shrift from those whose job is to serve them. “The mistreatment at these VA facilities, including in Alabama, of our men and women who have served our country in uniform is unconscionable to me,” told Alabama Today. “Our Veterans deserve the very best at these facilities and I hope these wrongs will be made right.” Last week we chronicled U.S. Rep. Martha Roby‘s efforts on VA care access. She was one of the first high-ranking Alabama officials to speak with whistleblower Richard Tremaine, who recently testified before Congress about a years-long pattern of cover ups and denial of responsibility on the part of the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System where he is associate director. “That culture has festered at Central Alabama for years,” Roby said. “It has carried over through multiple directors, and it isn’t going to change until Secretary McDonald gets serious and puts leadership in place that will clean house. “We need a permanent system director who is empowered and willing to change the lousy culture and turn the place around. I’ll take that message back to Washington … where improving care for veterans remains my top priority.”
U.S. Reps. Martha Roby, Bradley Byrne step up efforts to reform Alabama VA
Amid a growing fervor over reports alleging mistreatment of military veterans in Alabama’s VA system — and a purported campaign to cover up and retaliate against whistleblowers — two Alabama members of Congress have stepped up their efforts to reform the deeply entrenched culture that they say led to a pattern of abuse. U.S. Rep. Martha Roby first spoke to whistleblower and associate director at the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System Richard Tremaine in June 2014. That’s when he told her of his grave concerns observing fraud and the mishandling of records on the part of his superiors and, afterward, a culture of retaliation and exclusion. Roby helped introduce Tremaine this month when he testified before Congress. “I speak with you today, with a heavy heart,” Tremaine told the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “Disgusted by continued cover-ups, a discrediting campaign through open-ended investigations, and the attempted destruction of my career, by the very VA I have always loved being part of.” Roby joined with Tremaine in expressing outrage over the VA’s failures in central Alabama. She said she is tired of asking nicely for the federal VA to get a hold on the situation The congressman from Alabama’s 1st District, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, has been outspoken on the issue as well. On Tuesday, he called for a new VA clinic in Mobile. “Our veterans have waited far too long for a new VA clinic in Mobile, and it is past time the VA moves the process forward,” Byrne said in a prepared statement. “The current Mobile clinic is outdated and too small to adequately meet the needs of our area’s veterans. Years ago the VA committed to the construction of a new clinic in Mobile, but bureaucratic obstacles continue to hold the process up.” Byrne has also co-sponsored legislation to grant veterans improved access to private care, in the midst of so many obstacles to quality public services in central Alabama. Byrne said in a prepared statement Tuesday: “[T]he VA’s bureaucratic delays aren’t just hurting our veterans, but they are adding additional costs to the American taxpayer. I understand the unique challenges facing the VA as they undergo reforms, but they can’t lose sight of their number one responsibility: to adequately care for our veterans.” The pair faces a difficult challenge to be sure, as news circulates that Alabamian veterans continue to face far longer wait times than their counterparts elsewhere. Both pledge to continue to fight for improved local VA institutions. Said Roby to Yellowhammer News regarding the wait-time reports: “There are a lot of good people at the VA who deeply care for our veterans and work hard to give them care. But, the truth is, there are also those that aren’t doing the job and who don’t have the best interests of our veterans in mind. “That culture has festered at Central Alabama for years,” she said. “It has carried over through multiple directors, and it isn’t going to change until Secretary McDonald gets serious and puts leadership in place that will clean house. “We need a permanent system director who is empowered and willing to change the lousy culture and turn the place around. I’ll take that message back to Washington … where improving care for veterans remains my top priority.” Byrne echoed that Tuesday via a news release: “Veterans in southwest Alabama deserve better than their current facility, and I plan to do all I can ensure our veterans are treated fairly.”
Congresswoman Martha Roby ‘Leans In,’ discusses return to her native Alabama
Republican Congresswoman from Alabama and working mom Martha Roby now appears like she was always destined to be a leading Yellowhammer woman, but that wasn’t always the case. In a personal op-ed appearing on the pro-ambitious woman website Lean In, she talks about how she was as tempted as anyone to leave her home state for fame and fortune elsewhere. “I was 23 years old, a third-year law student ready to embark on my dream career in the music industry. Having completed a music business degree at NYU, I felt more than ready to make things happen. My boyfriend (now husband) Riley and I were home for my brother’s graduation ceremony. We were both almost finished with law school and had already talked about the possibility of getting married. Our plans included an out-of-state move to Nashville, where I would pursue a career on Music Row.” But of course, circumstances change. Or as Roby puts it, “We plan and God chuckles”: “He challenged the graduates not to contribute to Alabama’s “brain drain,” a long-existing problem in which young, talented Alabamians leave the state to follow their ambitions elsewhere. “Invest in Alabama,” he said. “Chase your dreams, but whenever possible, contribute to building up your home and making it a better place.” I don’t know if the graduates were listening, but I sure was. And so was Riley. How many bright, talented individuals had we seen leave the state to pursue careers in so-called greener pastures? Montgomery and the State of Alabama had hard-to-fix problems. Would it make the difference if Riley and I, who care deeply about our home, put down roots? Ambition to follow one’s dreams is admirable, I thought, but so is realizing a responsibility to stay and help lift up a community. If we didn’t, who would? At 23, I didn’t know what I had to offer. Possibilities raced through my mind. Maybe I could practice law in Montgomery. Maybe I could volunteer and become a civic leader. Maybe I could get more involved at church or in local schools. Whatever my decision, I knew – along with Riley – I felt a sudden and certain calling to stay in Montgomery and help my community and state become a better place. A few short years later, our local city council member announced her retirement. Watching the story on the evening news, I elbowed Riley and he shot me a knowing look. Though young and inexperienced, I worked hard and won that council race. Years later, I entered an equally-unlikely race for Congress and won it as well. Now, beginning a second term in Congress, I realize I’m just scratching the surface of what I can do to help solve Alabama’s hard-to-fix problems.” The 38-year-old Roby represents Alabama’s 2nd district, based in Wiregrass and parts of the Montgomery metro area. She was elected a member of the 112th Congress in 2010.
As Becky Gerritson mulls Tea Party primary challenge, Rep. Martha Roby responds to attacks
It’s no secret that Wetumpka Tea Party leader Becky Gerritson is contemplating a primary challenge to Republican Congresswoman Martha Roby, but things seem to be heating up in the GOP primary for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District as Gerritson and Roby exchanged public barbs earlier this week. “Rep. Martha Roby is totally out of touch with her constituents,” Gerritson told AL.com on Thursday. “District 2 is a very conservative district yet her lifetime average score from Heritage Action is a measly 51 percent. That is unacceptable. She is distancing herself from her constituents more and more.” Gerritson’s name-drop of the electioneering and advocacy wing of the conservative Washington-based Heritage Foundation augers a possibly long and acrimonious primary process for Roby’s Watercress and Montgomery metro area-based district, which skews Republican by about 2-to-1. “To me, staying true to conservative principles is more important than any political party. If politicians would start thinking this way then maybe we could move this country in the right direction,” she said to Leada Gore, clearly signaling that the intra-GOP battle could become a conservative purity test, focusing on value issues like abortion and same-sex marriage as well as pro-business credentials. For Roby’s part, her office issued the following dismissal of Gerritson’s provocations: “Rep. Roby is a fierce supporter of the 20-week abortion ban, and has fought to make it stronger, not weaker,” spokesperson Todd Stacy said in response to one charge among many by Gerritson. “We’ll deal with the rest of these nonsense talking points if [Gerritson] actually decides to run. Right now, Rep. Roby is working to get results on issues that matter to her constituents: fighting dangerous military cuts, reforming the VA, and stopping President Obama’s overreach on illegal immigration,” Stacy added. The winner of this contest is all but certain to hold the House seat. A Democrat has not gained more than than 37 percent of the vote there since Blue Dog Democratic Rep. Bobby Bright was defeated by Roby, then a Montgomery City Councilwoman, during the Tea Party wave that prevailed in the 2010 midterms.
Democrat Erick Wright faces two-term GOP Rep. Martha Roby in CD 2
First-time Democratic candidate Erick Wright is looking to bring compromise to a “do nothing” Congress if he is chosen to represent Alabama’s Second Congressional District. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Martha Roby focuses on her accomplishments, according to AL.com, which includes protecting military bases in the district, restricting federal regulations and demanding federal action on the scandal at the Veterans Administration. A former Troy University football player, the 31-year-old Wright is a political newcomer, facing Roby, a Republican seeking a third term. Neither candidate had a primary opponent for the district covering the Montgomery area through the southeast part of the state. Wright worked for seven years in the insurance industry before receiving a bachelor’s degree in risk management in 2004. He left his insurance business Jan. 1 to run for Roby’s Congressional seat. Wright supports raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. “If you work 40 hours a week you shouldn’t have to beg for assistance or give up your dignity for food stamps,” he told reporter Mike Cason of AL.com. To bet the GOP on board for wage hikes, Wright is willing to offer a tradeoff, such as lowering taxes on business. He blames Roby for not standing firm on civil liberties on legislation like the Patriot Act. The need is for a fundamental change of approach in Congress, Wright says, from reactive to proactive. During the campaign, Wright called for debates with Roby and attended candidate forums in Troy, Dothan and Montgomery. Roby did not. Roby was busy doing her job, she says, working for her constituents, “to be their conscience in Washington.” Roby is a 38-year-old attorney and served on the Montgomery City Council, before elected to Congress in 2010. Roby spearheaded Alabama’s Congressional delegation to the Air Force from relocating seven C-130 aircraft out of Maxwell Air Force Base, which could have cost hundreds of jobs. She is also a severe critic of the Veterans Administration scandal, which resulted in delayed care, false records and other problems. After calling for changes at Montgomery’s Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System, where some of the most severe problems occurred, the facility’s director was removed. The need for improvement in veterans’ care remains, Roby says. “I’m not going to allow that issue to be swept under the rug,” she adds. Roby understands Wright’s concerns over civil liberties in the search for terrorists, but she believes Congress so far struck the right balance.
