VA Way Out of Control: $20 Million Spent on Art by the Agency, While Vets Languished Without Care
There���s more evidence���like you needed any���that the Veterans Administration has essentially been operating for many years as a rogue agency in our midst.
According to a report complied jointly by the taxpayer advocacy group Open the Books and COX Media Washington, DC, the VA spent $20 million on expensive artwork between 2004 and 2014, all while care for our nation���s veterans by the agency had been getting progressively worse.
In an editorial penned for Forbes in which he describes the report���s findings, Open the Books founder and CEO Adam Andrzejewski wrote, ���In the now-infamous VA scandal of 2012-2015, the nation was appalled to learn that 1,000 veterans died while waiting to see a doctor. Tragically, many calls to the suicide assistance hotline were answered by voicemail. The health claim appeals process was known as ���the hamster wheel��� and the appointment books were cooked in seven of every ten clinics.���
���Yet, in the midst of these horrific failings the VA managed to spend $20 million on high-end art over the last ten years���with $16 million spent during the Obama years.���
How about this for prudent VA expenditures?
$21,000 for a fake Christmas tree.
$330,000 for glass art.
$115,600 for art consultants at the Palo Alto, CA VA facility.
$670,000 on two sculptures at the VA���s Palo Alto center for blind vets.
You read that last one correctly - the VA spent well over a half-million dollars on art at a facility where none of the patients can see it.
Andrzejewski summarizes that pathetic irony perfectly:
���In an ironic vignette, at a healthcare facility dedicated to serving blind veterans���the new Palo Alto Polytrauma and Blind Rehabilitation Center���the agency wasted $670,000 on two sculptures no blind veteran can even see. The ���Helmick Sculpture��� cost $385,000 (2014) and a parking garage exterior wall fa��ade by King Ray Studio for the ���design, fabrication, and installation of the public artwork��� cost $285,000 (2014).���
���Blind veterans can���t see fancy sculptures, and all veterans would be happier if they could just see a doctor.���
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
