WASHINGTON D.C. (WTAQ) – U.S. Senate Democrat Tammy Baldwin now admits she could have done more to seek federal action involving the over-prescription of painkillers at the VA Medical Center in Tomah.
In a column submitted to Wisconsin newspapers, Baldwin said her office should have done a better job “listening to and communicating with” a second constituent whom her office was working with on problems at Tomah.
Whistleblower Ryan Honl said he tried working with Baldwin’s office, after learning that she stayed publicly silent on a report from the VA last August that responded to a complaint about the Tomah drug matter as early as last March.
Monday morning, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Baldwin fired her Number-two Wisconsin staffer after Honl reportedly asked him not to expose the matter publicly for fear that she’d get fired.
Baldwin defended part of her actions, saying the VA had not revealed in April or June that its Inspector General’s office had uncovered similar problems.
She never sought a Senate committee investigation until after the Center for Investigative Reporting recently uncovered that the numbers of prescription painkillers at Tomah rose 500 percent from 2004 through 2012, even with fewer patients.
The center also said a veteran died from an over-prescription.
Baldwin said she has spoken with U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald — and he plans to launch a new investigation into the Tomah facility.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
