VA secretary: Trump appointees in my office are working against me

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 02/16/18 07:49 AM EST

Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary David Shulkin accused political appointees in his department of trying to undermine him over policies he's attempting to pursue.

Shulkin told the New York Times that he was currently investigating some political appointees in the agency for misconduct and might have them removed, claiming they were “trying to undermine the department from within.”

“If there are people here who don’t want the VA to succeed, I want them out,” he told The Times.

Department officials told The Times that Shulkin had spoken with White House chief of staff John Kelly about his worries over the political appointees.

Read more: http://thehill.com/regulation/374171-va-secretary-trump-appointees-in-my-office-are-working-against-me

[UpInArms]

1. Of course they want the VA to fail

They capitalize on the failure of our country... they work for a pro-Russian failure

[Cobalt Violet]

3. government doesn't work, better privatize it.

[randr]

2. Trump has filled our government

With seeds of destruction. No enemy could do as much damage with all the military might at their disposal.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. poor baby

Shulkin's really upset because he got caught livin' high on the taxpayers' money.

Hope those fine front-line bureaucrats in the VA continue to try to do right in spite of that sleazebag.

[left-of-center2012]

5. Didn't he get caught flying everywhere first class?

And taxpayers paying for his wife to travel to Europe,
going to the tennis championship games at Wimbledon, etc ?

He's probably looking to fire who ratted him out.

[Shipwack]

6. An odd story

A Trump appointee (though originally an Obama appointee) is accusing other Trump appointees of working against him

I think left-of-center2012 might be right, that he wants to go after the ones that reported his abuse of the system (getting the government to pay for his wife’s travels).

Then again, there are previous stories of him butting heads with Trump, especially on the issue of privatizing VA health care, which Trump wants and he opposes. So maybe he is being undermined.

On the third hand, both things could be true. He could be a flawed individual, an onion like we all are. Not that we all engage in graft, but people can do both good and bad things.

[getagrip_already]

7. It's a politically run agency.. what is he talking about?

Trump controls the agency. The director is there at his pleasure. He is free to appoint anyone to any position within the agency, and as bad as it sounds, they are supposed to follow trump's policies (if legal), even if those are at odds with the director.

So wtf is this guy talking about? "I've decided to disobey the president, and these toads are frustrating me".

Sorry, but as long as we give the president UNLIMITED power when it comes to staffing and policy, this is just whining, even if the director is trying to serve the public and uphold his oath of office.

I don't like it, but people have to realize how toxic trump is to our system of government. Trump IS the problem. But in this case, the director is about to be replaced. And there is nothing we can do about it.

[magicarpet]

8. Are these nasty workers at the VA....

.... the same folks who hacked into his email accounts to make him look like a corrupt agency head who is out to ripoff the taxpayers with fraudulent and luxury government travel expenses ?

This man is on the up and up and certain individuals are just trying to smear him because he is such a hard, loyal and conscientious boss. Everything he does is honest and above board.

[jmowreader]

9. While Shulkin is a crook, there's more to this story

King Donald the Lascivious has installed minders in every Cabinet-level department. Trump doesn't trust his own Cabinet secretaries to tell him what he wants to hear, so he has created a Senior Advisor position at each department who reports only to Trump.

And that, folks, is how dysfunctional this maladministration is.

[Retrograde]

10. You say dysfunctional, I say Putinesque

and the practice may go back further than Vlad: the guy in charge can't trust his direct reports not to stage a coup - even a figurative one - so he has to have spies and moles everywhere so Mr. Big can undermine them when necessary.

[sakabatou]

11. Those appointed by Trump are trying to break the departments from the inside

That's the plan by Trump/Russia.