April 2, 2023 - Stew Peters Show
57:17
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| We'll be right back. | |
| We'll be right back. | |
| We were talking extensively about the VA Family Caregiver Program, a little bit about the Federal Advisory Committee, and three weeks ago we ended the show talking about just that and also a little bit about the lawsuit that veteran warriors placed upon the government. | |
| So my good friend Robin is back here with us. | |
| We're going to continue down that path, so stick with us. | |
| Don't go away. | |
| We start now. | |
| Hey everybody and welcome here to the next episode of the Richard Leonard Show. | |
| And I gotta tell you, I'm super pumped. | |
| My good friend Robin is here. | |
| We're gonna continue on talking about the advisory committee, the caregiver program. | |
| And all the debacle that is such program. | |
| But before we get started, as usual, I know that you won't mind me telling you about how this show is made possible. | |
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| Okay, so here we go guys. | |
| I want you to buckle up because There's gonna be some information, I feel, that's gonna get me pretty flustered, and I am gonna apologize early if there's any naughty words that come out of my mouth, but I think that it's important to go over all this stuff. | |
| So let me get Robin on here so that we can just get started. | |
| There she is. | |
| Hey, Robin, how are ya? | |
| I am doing well. | |
| How are you? | |
| I'm excited. | |
| I'm pumped. | |
| In fact, I think I stuttered a couple times on the intro, but I don't care. | |
| I just want us to get started here. | |
| So the last time you and I were together on the show was about three weeks ago. | |
| We ended talking about your and I's visit to the federal against the caregiver program that went to the Supreme Court. | |
| So why don't we just kind of pick up where we left off? | |
| Did I leave anything out about where we ended last time? | |
| No, I think you did well. | |
| Okay, thanks for your support. | |
| You're welcome. | |
| So last time, you know, we kind of learned that there might be some hidden agendas working against veterans and caregivers through the Dole Act. | |
| And, you know, we experienced the latest purge. | |
| And now everybody's just kind of in limbo while we wait for new regulations to be drafted. | |
| So I thought that while we wait for said regulations, we might share a little bit about the VA and Meg Cabot and the Federal Advisory Committee. | |
| Yes, well, I can't wait to dive in. | |
| I think that, folks, you are going to be really interested in hearing about this path that Meg Cabot took to power and research about her. | |
| You're going to be thinking, well, why her? | |
| But anyways, Robin, let's get started. | |
| What do you got for us? | |
| Juicy stuff. | |
| So we're going to jump back in the timeline a little bit. | |
| We're going to go to 2018. | |
| Okay. | |
| So Meg was the national caregiver, the national director of the caregiver program, and she attended the Elizabeth Dole Women in Leadership lecture, and a moderator asked her, how did you get your job at VA? Hmm. | |
| So Meg says, I got my job really because I've had a series of bosses who've sort of dragged me with them as they've moved up the chain of command. | |
| And really, I got a phone call. | |
| Someone said, I think you should take this job. | |
| And that's a lesson I learned early on to always be kind and thoughtful as you're switching jobs and other things because you never know where you'll end up. | |
| You know, I think it is extremely comical that she says that because two days prior to filming this lecture, She helped create her own job, the future job that she'll have, by ways of a federal advisory committee recommendation. | |
| Well, yeah, and not to mention, not to mention that her opening line was, people have dragged me along, but then somebody called and said, told me to take this job. | |
| I wonder if it was the people that were dragging her along. | |
| Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, right, type thing? | |
| I'd be curious to know who those bosses were that drug her along, too. | |
| We might find out later. | |
| Okay. | |
| So let's move into how Meg has thoughtfully found her way into her current position. | |
| So a little background. | |
| The Senior Advisor to Veterans, Families and Caregivers and Survivors is a first of its kind politically appointed position. | |
| So, excuse me, Elizabeth Dole recommended that the VA create this position. | |
| The Biden administration created it. | |
| This position came with a raise equal to thousands of dollars from Meg's old position as the national director. | |
| But it also came with a pile of resources and a lot more authority. | |
| So I thought we could dive into the FOIAs and look at some of the dialogue surrounding the creation of this brand new senior executive service position. | |
| Okay, let's do that. | |
| But let me ask you a question quickly. | |
| When you say... | |
| Thousands of dollars and a boatload of resources. | |
| That's interesting, but also she's kind of safe now, right? | |
| So like if this program fails or somebody finds out that all this egregious action is taking place, the secretary of the VA can't just fire her, right? | |
| She's a political appointee. | |
| Biden would have to fire her, correct? | |
| I believe so. | |
| If I'm understanding it correctly, it's also not performance-based. | |
| So like you said, it doesn't really matter how well she does at it. | |
| It's hers. | |
| So it's kind of just free reign to do whatever you want. | |
| If you screw over all these families and caregivers, no big deal. | |
| It's probably for the best because you're the boss and you know type thing. | |
| Yeah. | |
| Awesome. | |
| I wish I had a job like that. | |
| Right? | |
| So, you know, we're in these FOIAs, we're going to hear from Linda Davis, who, for those who don't know, she was the Chief Veterans Experience Officer. | |
| She was also the Federal Advisory Committee sponsor for the VA. And then Meg Cabot, and at the time of these emails, she was the National Director of the Caregiver Program. | |
| And we will hear from Steve Schwab. | |
| Who at the time of these FOIAs was either the executive director of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation or he was already the CEO. I believe that he'd already taken over the CEO position, but I'm not positive. | |
| Either way, he was in a position of pretty, you know, he was pretty powerful there. | |
| So there was a phone call that happened between these three individuals, Meg, Linda, and Steve. | |
| They are talking about the Federal Advisory Committee. | |
| And after the phone call, Linda says to Meg in an email, Meg, if there's something I'm not aware of, if you would like this new office, if it would help you help caregivers, and if you want to run it, let me know and I'll retire and hand it over. | |
| I think she's talking about the Veterans Experience Office is the position I was willing to give to her. | |
| I'm just trying to do something that works, and frankly, the recommendation is very prescriptive. | |
| All policy and operations in the new office, including for your programs, and I don't think feasible or best to achieve the desired goal. | |
| Thank you, Linda. | |
| Wow, how do you take that? | |
| Was that... | |
| Was that contradictory to what Meg was doing? | |
| Or was that in support? | |
| I mean, keep in mind, Robin, I'm an infantryman, so some of this stuff needs a little explanation. | |
| Was that like a snide, hey, if you think you can do it better, take the job? | |
| Or was that like, hey... | |
| That's how I'm reading it. | |
| That's how I'm reading it. | |
| So Meg Cabot... | |
| Emails Linda and says, Linda, I'm not sure how to respond to this. | |
| I'm sorry that you're taking this recommendation so personally. | |
| I think we successfully moved them away from being so prescriptive and will, in fact, help you to further your office. | |
| I had asked Steve to add a recommendation about my office, moving it into operations, ensuring it has the staff needed, etc. | |
| That recommendation did not make it in and was morphed into this new idea. | |
| I've been involved in many, many FACA recommendation discussions. | |
| We don't have to do any of them. | |
| We can shape them as we'd like. | |
| If I was asked by Mr. | |
| Wilkie how to respond, and Mr. | |
| Wilkie was Secretary Wilkie at the time, if I was asked by Mr. | |
| Wilkie how to respond to the recommendation, even as it was written, I would have focused on my office, moving it under operations and providing it with more resources and authority, as well as designate someone on the VBA side, the Veterans Benefits Administration side, to focus on families in general. | |
| Sincerely, Meg. | |
| So, like, she didn't seem to even want to take care of families back then. | |
| Right. | |
| So, it's not surprising that she doesn't seem to want to take care of them now. | |
| So, here's my question about this whole thing, because this all was in a FOIA, right? | |
| Yes. | |
| Okay. | |
| Yes. | |
| Did these people not understand that if they're going to be so blatant about I don't know. | |
| So, Linda Davis writes Meg. | |
| She responds back to her. | |
| She says, this is not personal. | |
| I just always want to make sure we are getting you what you need. | |
| I have no background as did the discussions with Steve, so I do not know what you are trying to achieve. | |
| I'm not sure how this language would affect your office. | |
| I'm at a stalemate. | |
| Perhaps you can tell me what you need in a way I can understand through my fuzzy head. | |
| Do you want to stay in VHA? Do you want operations to be under you? | |
| Is it less about structure and more about resources? | |
| Again, I was not aware that you and Steve were having side conversations, so I was not aware of the agenda or goals. | |
| Just trying to support. | |
| If that's not clear, my apologies. | |
| Wow. | |
| So how did this whole interaction end? | |
| This is what started the whole creation of Meg Cabot's position she's in now, correct? | |
| I think that at this point, they are... | |
| The Federal Advisor Committee is probably thinking about making this recommendation. | |
| Remember, Steve Schwab works for Elizabeth Dole, and she was the chair of this committee. | |
| And so I think Steve is talking with Meg and Linda about how they can make this recommendation work in Meg's favor. | |
| So to end it, Meg says, she emails Linda, and she says, Linda, one of the biggest struggles I have is that my office is not aligned under 10N. This has been a challenge from the start and continues to be a challenge. | |
| The caregiver support program needs to stay in Veterans Health Administration. | |
| I hope that helps clarify Meg. | |
| And so I wanted to take a second to talk about what 10N is. | |
| Okay, I was just going to ask you that. | |
| Yes. | |
| So 10N is under the Office of the Deputy Secretary for Health for Operations and Management. | |
| The purpose of moving Meg's office under 10N could be, just like she said, you know, to give herself access to more resources and authority for control and operations of the caregiver program. | |
| But I also think something else might have caught her eyes. | |
| So she would also be in charge of compiling all the data for Congress and speaking to them directly on behalf of the VA for the caregiver program. | |
| So essentially there would be no checks and balances. | |
| Right. | |
| Okay, like I mentioned earlier, I'm a pretty simple dude. | |
| I already see an issue that's way too much flexibility and power for one person to have. | |
| There's got to be some kind of ethical boundaries being crossed here. | |
| And as we discussed on prior shows, the ethics committee was disbanded. | |
| So that just takes away that whole checks and balances. | |
| But this is why I say, Robin, why Meg Cabot? | |
| What is it? | |
| Is she just... | |
| I hope we can figure it out in the next while because it seems like maybe she's just a good yes man and she'll do whatever she's told by whatever puppeteer is pulling her strings. | |
| Yeah, seems that way. | |
| So Linda Davis... | |
| Writes an email to Meg. | |
| She says, Meg, thank you for providing your input so we ensure that we meet your needs. | |
| Thank you, Linda. | |
| And so I'm only going to include a small snippet of the recommendation that they You know, had Meg provide input on. | |
| So the old states that the VA elevate the status of family caregivers and survivors by creating a secretary-level advisor office to oversee and drive the implementation of programs and policies supporting families, caregivers, and survivors across the entire VA system. | |
| They edited it to say that the VA ensure that the essential roles and relationships of veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors are incorporated into all relevant policy and programs by designating a single office. | |
| To oversee, develop, and implement the care benefits and memorial services for which fully respect, recognize, and resource their support for our veterans' needs and their legacy. | |
| And the second, the edited version has single office, bold. | |
| So they wanted to make sure that it was isolated. | |
| It was in charge of policy and program implementation. | |
| And that's why anybody ever says that Meg is not in control, she is in the office of the secretary. | |
| She has incorporated herself into all relevant policy and program implementation for veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors. | |
| I'm not quite sure how much higher you can get. | |
| Right. | |
| How can anybody say that she has no control? | |
| It's very clear. | |
| Well, Robin, people probably say that because they're not looking, right? | |
| They're not reading. | |
| They're not doing the research. | |
| Or they just can't follow it because, to be honest, there's a lot of stuff here. | |
| Yes, there's a lot. | |
| I'm thankful that you're here and that you can comprehend it. | |
| It's amazing to me. | |
| That when you explain it, and we're having this discussion, it seems like it's very, very clear how blatant all these actions are. | |
| And I think that the question is, is what is the end goal? | |
| And maybe we'll get there, maybe we'll get to the end of it and still not understand what the end goal is, but I have a feeling that we're going to find out, or at least come to the assumption, that it is about money, power, and control. | |
| And I think that it's similar to a lot of other things going on in our country. | |
| If you follow the money, you're going to find the problem. | |
| Maybe. | |
| Yeah, I think you're pretty spot on. | |
| It's all about the money. | |
| So, Linda writes an email to Meg, and this is a different email thread. | |
| Says, I understand you're busy. | |
| I guess it's not possible to talk, and I'm sorry about that. | |
| We'll schedule for another day very soon. | |
| I'm glad OEI and VHA are getting you what you need. | |
| Those are different departments. | |
| Unfortunately, I do not fully understand what that is right now, so it's hard for me to help. | |
| If the language you and Steve have discussed will be beneficial to you, then that's a way forward. | |
| With or without the Federal Advisory Committee recommendations, I will be making changes to the structure and focus of the Veterans Experience Office anyway. | |
| None will intrude on your leadership for caregiving. | |
| Thank you, Meg. | |
| See, now it almost seems like Ms. | |
| Davis is just kind of Moving out of her way and bowing to Meg Cabot to give her whatever it is that she may want. | |
| Or what everybody else wants too. | |
| I think they might have figured out how to make their goal happen. | |
| So they want to use this language. | |
| That will be beneficial to Meg. | |
| But I don't think, you know, I don't think it's very beneficial to the veterans and caregivers. | |
| But at this point, it's not harming anybody because it's still just language. | |
| It's just a recommendation. | |
| So it was edited by Meg, Lynn, and Steve, and then it was presented at a federal advisory committee meeting. | |
| So if they want this recommendation to go anywhere, they need to get the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on board. | |
| Because ultimately, the Secretary, with the help of his senior advisors, accept these recommendations. | |
| Which Meg is one of, right? | |
| Meg is one now! | |
| By means of this Federal Advisory Committee. | |
| Okay. | |
| But at the time, she was the national director of the caregiver program at the Veterans Health Administration. | |
| And now she is the senior advisor at the Department of Veterans Affairs. | |
| So they're two different entities. | |
| Mm-hmm. | |
| So I thought we would look into how Meg and her friends, you know, potentially got the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Wilkie, Secretary Wilkie, at the time, on board with approving this recommendation. | |
| Okay, before we get there, let me ask you a question. | |
| We got about five minutes left in the segment. | |
| Is it fair to say that even though at that time, Meg Cabot was not a senior advisor to the secretary, but as the top brass in the caregiver program, It's plausible that she carried some weight as it relates to what these senior advisors are going to tell the secretary. | |
| I mean, I don't think that it's possible at all that these advisors are talking to the secretary. | |
| They're not talking to her. | |
| They're not taking any of her recommendations and putting them forward to the secretary, right? | |
| I think I would be more concerned with if... | |
| Elizabeth Dole might have been friends with the secretaries or the senior advisors that were in place then. | |
| Do we know who those advisors were? | |
| I haven't looked into them, no. | |
| Okay. | |
| Well, if I were a betting man, Robin, I would say that everything that we've learned up until this point, which we really haven't touched on Elizabeth Dole and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation all that much, I would still venture to say that she's had her fingers in this thing. | |
| The whole time. | |
| And she's been around politics and the government as well as her husband was for many, many, many years. | |
| And it's got to be, in my opinion, impossible for her not to have any relationships with these people. | |
| So I just kind of find it weird that these are the people that are advising the secretary about what to do. | |
| But yet, people like Elizabeth Dole and Meg Cabot don't have their fingers in it. | |
| I just don't, I don't believe that that's even possible. | |
| She's been, Elizabeth Dole's been heavily criticized for decades for, you know, mixing policies and politics and non-profits. | |
| And I think I think Nancy Pelosi said one time, when Senator Dool asks, you just do what she says. | |
| I think a lot of people have that stance. | |
| I don't. | |
| Well, how did she get that much power? | |
| I mean, it was only recently, maybe in the last eight years, that I started following politics of any kind. | |
| But I never heard her name, except for when her husband died. | |
| So, she goes way back. | |
| I don't know if it was Reagan or Nixon, but she goes all the way back to, she was the Secretary of Transportation. | |
| She was the President of the Red Cross all through the 90s. | |
| She got some heat one time for saying she was going to donate her salary, and then she didn't. | |
| And she blamed it on her accountant. | |
| And then when she finally did come up and donate her earnings, she donated them to the Red Cross. | |
| Oh my God. | |
| Yeah. | |
| It's very, very Amber Heard-like when she said she was going to donate her salary or whatever and never did it and then got scrutinized for it. | |
| But that's neither here nor there. | |
| Man, it's just, folks, the folks that are watching or listening to this, I hope that you can see how just blatant and egregious this whole thing has become. | |
| And in the meantime, what's really important about all of this is that in all these discussions that we're talking about, and all the things that have been happening outside of Of the information we put out about the actual program, about re-evaluations and the money spent, but all this stuff that we've been talking about, none of them ever mention what is best for the veterans that are in this program. | |
| What is best for the caregivers? | |
| What is best for the survivors and the families? | |
| It's all about, hey, if you want this, I can move out of the way. | |
| Why is there no conversation about the people that are supposed to be taken care of? | |
| Because they don't want what's best for veterans and caregivers. | |
| If they wanted us in the PCFC Caregiver Program, where's the client base for their commercial caregivers? | |
| Yeah, good question. | |
| So with us discharged, now they have a whole cohort of veterans that need caregivers, and they've got access to commercial caregivers. | |
| Right, right. | |
| And the ability, apparently, to just ask for money and have it printed for them. | |
| And again, so now this goes back to the whole idea that This is not the way that, from what I understand, not the way the program was designed to run. | |
| These veterans have chosen to be part of this program. | |
| They weren't thrust into it. | |
| They weren't forced. | |
| They chose to be part of this program because this is where they're going to be the most comfortable and hopefully move upward and onward. | |
| And if not, well, that's okay. | |
| At least you're comfortable being taken care of at home. | |
| And so that's the real concern that I have. | |
| But anyway, we've run out of time on this segment. | |
| Stick with us, folks. | |
| We've got a whole lot more to talk about. | |
| Hey folks, thanks for joining us tonight. | |
| Lots of good information to put out to you, and we got a lot more coming. | |
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| Hey folks, welcome back here. | |
| At the end of the last segment, we were talking about how the wonderful, illustrious Meg Cabot had created her own position that she now sits in. | |
| I went on my little soapbox, as I usually do. | |
| Robin, let's pick up where we left off. | |
| What's coming next? | |
| So I wanted to look into how Meg and her Federal Advisory Committee friends potentially got Secretary Wilkie on board with approving this recommendation. | |
| Okay. | |
| So I'm going to introduce quite a few people. | |
| Bear with me. | |
| If you don't recognize a name, say something if I forget to introduce them. | |
| So we have Molly Ramsey. | |
| So she is programs coordinator for what was the programs coordinator for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. | |
| Remember, this is where in 2019 now. | |
| Mm-hmm. | |
| So she says, Hi, Betty. | |
| And Betty is Betty Moseley Brown. | |
| She is in charge of administrative duties for the Federal Advisory Committee. | |
| She says, Hi, Betty. | |
| I apologize for the multiple emails, but we're FACA-focused this week at the foundation. | |
| Senator Dole would like to host a dinner for the committee and VA leadership at her home the evening of March 26th. | |
| Do you have any suggestions on how to notify the committee and the VA leadership she would like to invite? | |
| We thought an email from her would be best, but we're open to suggestions. | |
| Best, Molly. | |
| Treacherly afoot already. | |
| Linda Davis writes, Thank you for the Senator's gracious hospitality. | |
| In the past, the invitation has been integrated into the advance notice about the committee meeting. | |
| The VA can do this to provide a separate RSVP number. | |
| Also, the VA leaders appropriate to invite would be the Secretary, the Deputy, and the Chief of Staff. | |
| We can extend the invitation on the Senator's behalf also. | |
| Appreciatively, Linda. | |
| To which Molly Ramsey responds, Hi, Dr. | |
| Davis and Betty. | |
| I apologize for the multiple emails, but Senator Dole would like for Betty to send the invitations to the dinner on the 26th. | |
| There will be two notes, one for the FACA members and one to VA leadership. | |
| Attached is the document with the two different notes that she would like to have sent and the corresponding emails. | |
| Please let me know if you have any questions. | |
| Best, Molly. | |
| I'm not... | |
| I'm not going to include the two different notes, but they're separate, which leads me to believe, like, did they have to follow different ethics guidance for one versus the other? | |
| Well, absolutely. | |
| Absolutely, they did. | |
| And I would ask this question, Robin. | |
| If, not if, why, Why would it be acceptable for Elizabeth Dole or the Foundation or whoever to invite the whole committee to her house for a dinner? | |
| And senior VA leaders. | |
| Right. | |
| Okay. | |
| And senior VA leaders. | |
| Is it possible that on her agenda, that of course probably didn't go out, that Elizabeth Dole, and I'm sure Meg Cabot in some form or another, Want to talk about what are the recommendations for day two of the committee hearing going to be? | |
| And maybe not even talk about it, but is she, Elizabeth Dole, going to tell the committee, here are the recommendations you need to put up? | |
| It's plausible, right? | |
| Wasn't invited to the dinner, but it's definitely plausible. | |
| Okay. | |
| So, Betty Mosley Brown says, Hi, Molly. | |
| We are double-checking on our ability to attend this very kind invitation. | |
| Hopefully, we'll have a response shortly today. | |
| Many thanks. | |
| To which Steve Schwab chimes in and says, She's done this for the FACA before. | |
| What's the new issue? | |
| And then, so we have an email here, which it's in the same thread, and I don't really know who sent it. | |
| I think Betty Moseley Brown sent it, but it's redacted. | |
| It's hidden, so I can't be certain, but it says, Steve, I understand just confirming that I can send out the invitations, confirming that government staff can attend, and confirming special government employees can attend. | |
| Respectfully. | |
| So whoever that was, was trying to make sure that they didn't cross any ethical boundaries is what it sounded like to me. | |
| Definitely. | |
| Okay. | |
| She says, placeholder invitations for all VA officials have been sent and final approval by general counsel is expected today, so we can send them to the Federal Advisory Committee members today. | |
| For your information, given that this will be one of the last public functions for Meg Cabot in her official VA capacity, Would you want to consider adding her supervisor, Lisa Pape, who will be working closely with and or her number two, Elise Kaplan, to the dinner? | |
| Just wondering, Linda. | |
| Unbelievable. | |
| I wanted to take a look at general counsel's guidance for these dinners that they have had over the years. | |
| um so here we have um senator dole invite to her home general counsel laws code number 124789 linda because it's emailed to linda davis i have confirmed that we are treating senator dole's invitation to have dinner lunch at her home to other members of the committee she chairs and certain va senior officials as a gift between employees Standards of ethical conduct governing gifts between employees | |
| generally prohibit employees from accepting a gift from an employee paid less than them unless there is no superior subordinate relationship and, two, there is a personal relationship justifying the gift. | |
| There is an exemption for personal hospitality provided at a residence, which is a type and value customarily provided by the employee to personal friends. | |
| We have been relying on this exception in allowing senior VA employees to accept Senator Dole's invitation to her home. | |
| Again, subject to the caveat that no committee business is discussed. | |
| Jonathan. | |
| Well, we know good and gosh darn well that there was committee business discussed. | |
| I would be very surprised, Robin, if Elizabeth Dole was close personal friends with everybody on that committee. | |
| And could prove it. | |
| Yeah. | |
| Well, they're all partners. | |
| Well, yeah, but I mean, that is, I mean, it's black and white. | |
| There's no way that this should have been happening. | |
| Well, Linda Davis said VA employees, I mean, specifically Meg Cabot, was attending the dinner in her official capacity. | |
| So how are we extending ethics guidance based on personal hospitality offered to personal friends? | |
| Well... | |
| I mean, it's right there. | |
| There's no getting around that. | |
| You know, and following ethics guidance is extremely important. | |
| You know, we want to avoid criminal situations at all costs, but we also, you know, it's important for government employees, especially of the executive branch, to avoid the appearance, just the appearance of a conflict of interest. | |
| And, you know, any person with a reasonable amount of information about this situation Kind of conclude that maybe Dole invited the senior leaders of the VA to dine with federal advisory committee members where they had a closed-door meeting. | |
| It's not rocket science. | |
| Anybody could look at this situation and say, This is bad. | |
| I want away from this. | |
| This is bad news. | |
| Well, right. | |
| And here's the thing. | |
| You had just said, even if it appears that there's an ethics violation happening, it means you probably should steer clear. | |
| Yeah. | |
| So let's just say then, for conversation's sake, Robin, that... | |
| All these people are close personal friends. | |
| They play cricket with each other and they drink gimlets on the south lawn of some mansion on their off time. | |
| And they get their families together at Christmas and all this other crap. | |
| Okay, so even if that's the thing, it still appears to be an ethics violation. | |
| The common person that's going to look into this, such as you have and many others, are going to say, whoa, whoa, whoa. | |
| This is ridiculous. | |
| There's no way that this is ethical. | |
| My question is, when they went through and did it, because I'm assuming that they just didn't care about the ethics guidance and they went to dinner at Elizabeth Dole's house, who then, at that point, said, well, why'd you guys do this? | |
| We told you you shouldn't. | |
| It appears to be an ethics violation. | |
| What was the consequence for disregarding the guidance and doing it anyway? | |
| I don't think that there's, I think that there's a law, and don't quote me, I think the policy of the safe haven law at the VA, where if you special, if you speak, seek out ethics guidance from their attorneys and you find out to have participated in criminal activity or any kind of, you know, ethics violation, you're not going to be prosecuted. | |
| What? | |
| Excuse me? | |
| So you're saying... | |
| I'm not an attorney, but that's how the policy sounds when you read it. | |
| Okay, so... | |
| Well, yes. | |
| Let's just assume that neither one of us are extremely smart about this stuff. | |
| But we can read. | |
| And we can comprehend. | |
| You're saying that it's possible that if any VA employee violates the ethics standards put forward... | |
| If they say, well, man, I really screwed up. | |
| I screwed up today. | |
| When I get to work tomorrow or on Monday morning, I'm going to go talk to the ethics people. | |
| I'm going to let it all out. | |
| I'm going to tell them everything. | |
| And if the ethics personnel finds that there was an ethics violation and this was an egregious action and it shouldn't have taken place, There's no consequence. | |
| They just kind of sweep it under the rug and they slap them on the hand and say, don't do that again. | |
| That was naughty, like you do to your toddler when they do something stupidly. | |
| When do you ever see VA be held accountable? | |
| I've never seen anybody be accountable at the VA. Well, to be held accountable by the government? | |
| Probably never. | |
| But we're holding them accountable. | |
| The show is holding them accountable. | |
| And it may never come to nothing, but now it's out there. | |
| This stuff is happening, and nobody's doing anything about it. | |
| And the reason why I believe that it's important for everybody to know, Robin, and correct me if I'm wrong, is because the things that come out of this bullshit meeting that Elizabeth Dole holds with all these people is that they stuff each other's pockets, they come up with contracts, they come up with agreements, they come up with... | |
| Recommendations. | |
| Recommendations that aren't going to help you, they're not going to help your husband, and they're not going to help anybody else that's a part of this program. | |
| And all the while, hundreds of thousands and millions, maybe even up close to billions of taxpayer dollars are spent and given out for what? | |
| For what? | |
| And maybe you're wrong, maybe I'm wrong, Robin, but I would certainly love for any of these people that you named or that are complicit in this to come out and go public and explain why this was acceptable and explain what the hell are they really doing for families such as yours. | |
| Why this appearance of all these ethics violations are there. | |
| Right, and then nothing happening. | |
| I think that Meg, you know, she eventually got the new job in the Office of the Secretary through this Federal Advisory Committee recommendation because it seems like she was put there to approve, you know, the Federal Advisory Committee recommendations and, | |
| you know, Dole recommended that Meg get the position and then now, as we've seen at the last Federal Advisory Committee, Elizabeth Dole has funding opportunities through research from the Federal Advisory Committee. | |
| And I think Everyone talks about complaints that the Federal Advisory Committee is so data-focused. | |
| And I think the reason why is because without research, you don't have data. | |
| So if you want data, you've got to research. | |
| And if you research, you've got to have a little bit of funding. | |
| And I'm sharing right now, we have a funding disclosure slide from the VA for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. | |
| I mean, what would you say to that, Richard? | |
| Well, I'd say let's take a look. | |
| It just kind of proves everything we just talked about. | |
| Here's funding disclosure. | |
| Here's taxpayer dollars going out for what service? | |
| And for whatever this service is, I would love to see the results. | |
| If we're going to be doing a bunch of research on the taxpayer's dime and we're going to be implementing new regulations and new programs brought to you by non-profits and other big corporations, what are the results of all this stuff? | |
| And furthermore, Robin, why is any of this better than... | |
| Just coming to us and asking us? | |
| Well, coming to you and asking, but why is any of it better than what is currently going on or was going on when the program was running well? | |
| Why is any of this better than Robin Stitt being at home, taking care of her husband the way that he would like it done, the way that's best for him? | |
| Why is it better? | |
| It's certainly going to be more expensive, absolutely more expensive. | |
| And it's our money. | |
| It's our money. | |
| You work your ass off, Robin. | |
| I have worked my ass off over my 41 years of life. | |
| Everybody else that contributes to the government funds works their ass off. | |
| So why are we always left in the dark about where our taxpayer dollars are? | |
| And not just in the VA, but all over. | |
| But for the purposes of this conversation, if all this money is being shelled out to programs and to nonprofits and to people that are claiming they're going to help you and help your husband live comfortably, let's see the results. | |
| And if at the end of the day, Robin Stitt and Richard Leonard are dead wrong, I don't know about you, but I will certainly come on this show like I do every week and I will issue an apology. | |
| Of course, yes. | |
| I just want somebody to take this serious enough. | |
| And if I am wrong, then I will say I'm wrong. | |
| But until someone actually looks into this and tells me that I'm wrong, I'm going to firmly stand by what these internal emails tell me. | |
| Right, right. | |
| And not only tell us we're wrong, but prove that we're wrong. | |
| Because it's my opinion that you have provided more than enough to support your argument. | |
| And as we know, the rule of law, right, is that you're innocent until proven guilty. | |
| And if you're guilty, there has to be evidence to show that you're guilty. | |
| Well, if Robin Stitt and Richard Leonard are guilty of being wrong about the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, the Caregiver Program, Steve Schwab and his skiing adventures, if we're wrong about all these things, prove it. | |
| And I will put my head on the chopping block. | |
| I got no problem with that. | |
| Because if there's one thing that I learned in my almost 19 years in the military was to have some god dang integrity. | |
| And is it too much to ask that the people that are spending our money on bullshit programs have some integrity? | |
| Right. | |
| I don't know that there's anything wrong with that. | |
| There's not. | |
| So... | |
| Sorry, Rob. | |
| You're fine. | |
| Linda Davis writes Steve Schwab and says, All invitations have gone out to VA staff who are excited and thrilled. | |
| I expect to have more yes-yaz early next week. | |
| Invitations to the Federal Advisory Committee should be approved by General Counsel and be ready to send this week or Monday. | |
| Let the cooking begin. | |
| So... | |
| It's kind of an interesting phrase, let the cooking begin. | |
| So I don't have a whole lot of time to go into this, but there is a cookbook that the Veterans Experience Office created. | |
| Linda Davis created this. | |
| The ingredients are VA employees with favorable budget determinations, and the recipe is customer service. | |
| The dish, you may ask, is staff bonuses. | |
| So when the staff participate in customer experience initiatives and they make the veterans and the caregivers happy, they get staff bonuses. | |
| And they measure this through that surveillance system called vSignals. | |
| I don't have any more time to go over that today. | |
| Well, hold on. | |
| We can just fast forward past that. | |
| Staff bonuses. | |
| Are we talking about like monetary staff bonuses or like extra time off staff bonuses? | |
| I think both. | |
| The cookbook talks about funding is extremely competitive and to grab that up to reward the staff. | |
| And it doesn't really matter what program it comes from because it's competitive. | |
| You take what you can get. | |
| Unbelievable. | |
| Well, you're right. | |
| This is vSignals and the cookbook is probably for another day. | |
| It is for another day. | |
| Holy cow. | |
| Maybe for someone a little more educated than me. | |
| So Gia Colombrero, which I believe is, or was, I'm not sure, Senator Dole's personal assistant. | |
| And this baffles me, absolutely baffles me, that Steve Schwab and Gia Colombrero are messaging VA officials about Federal Advisory Committee matters to begin with, because they're not paid, nor should they be privy to this information. | |
| I'm not. | |
| I'm a member of the public, just like Steve Schwab. | |
| Why does he have access? | |
| And I don't. | |
| I want to know that answer. | |
| I probably won't stop till I get it. | |
| Fair enough. | |
| Sorry. | |
| So, for planning purposes, I need to get this invite issued. | |
| She's basically saying, have the invites been issued? | |
| Betty Mosley Brown says, Hi, Gia. | |
| I should have copied everyone. | |
| Yes, Dr. | |
| Davis sent out invites. | |
| She confirmed on March 8th. | |
| I'll await her guidance on next steps to ensure RSVPs are received. | |
| And Steve Schwab, bless his heart, chimes in, we're not copied on these invites as was requested. | |
| How did that not happen? | |
| Oh, shut up. | |
| Shut the hell up, Steve Schwab. | |
| You know what? | |
| I digress. | |
| Let me... | |
| Linda Davis says, again, Steve, I sent it out to internal staff, usually their assistants. | |
| I'm sorry that I failed you in this effort. | |
| It's my responsibility. | |
| Guess I had to choose triage between invitations in the Federal Advisory Committee recommendations, both of which require general counsel approval. | |
| I'm glad you all will be rescinding the invitations to the internal guests now that we have That was in the email? | |
| That's in the email. | |
| See, somebody's smart. | |
| Somebody's smart. | |
| They know that this stuff is accessible. | |
| Wow. | |
| Betty will send out the invitations to the Federal Advisory Committee members unless you direct her to do directly to do otherwise now. | |
| Thank you all, Linda. | |
| So I'm not quite sure why the sponsoring agency, like Linda Davis, is asking a member of the public, because that's all Steve Schwab is, well, was at the time, was a member of the public. | |
| Like, why has he been afforded this access? | |
| And why is he telling the designated federal officer what to do? | |
| Why is he giving her any kind of guidance? | |
| Well, you weren't CC'd on it, Steve Schwab, because you're not able. | |
| It's not acceptable for you to be CC'd on it. | |
| It's not rocket science. | |
| Oh, man. | |
| And the idea that he has this false sense of entitlement, I'll call it, that he should be He sounds like a brat. | |
| Like, he sounds like my kids when they are not getting what they want. | |
| Yes, exactly. | |
| Wouldn't that be a fair assessment, wouldn't you think? | |
| Sounds like a toddler. | |
| Why did Robin get it and I didn't? | |
| So Steve says, we spoke to a couple internal folks and they didn't know about the dinner, so maybe we could resend. | |
| Thanks. | |
| To which Linda Davis writes, I'm following up with a formal invitation again to all internal stakeholders now, unless you would like to. | |
| If I send them again, I will copy Gia for the RSVP. Betty has approval to send invitations to the committee whose members are less likely to have other schedule conflicts, given that they are from out of town. | |
| So that's kind of the end of that thread right there. | |
| But I do want to point out that this dinner happened the night of the federal advisory, the first day of the federal advisory committee. | |
| And I know that because they've told me what day this happened. | |
| And if you go to the federal register, you can see what day the public notice shows that the committee meetings took place. | |
| So they have their dinner the next day. | |
| Or so they have their dinner and then, you know, they drink cocktails and they rub ashy elbows. | |
| That's gross. | |
| Sorry. | |
| And so the next day they all go back to the VA and act like they didn't party last night. | |
| And then guess what? | |
| Two days later, the Federal Advisory Committee had, or Elizabeth Dole had publicized that the VA concurred with all her recommendations. | |
| Weird. | |
| Weird. | |
| So here's what happens, right? | |
| Just to break it down in layman's terms. | |
| They unethically invite all these people to an event which they're not supposed to talk about committee business. | |
| They go ahead and talk about committee business. | |
| Elizabeth Dole and her turds, like Steve Schwab, tell the committee what it is they're going to make for recommendations. | |
| And then let's get them tipsy. | |
| Let's sauce them up. | |
| Let's fill their bellies and then send them on their way now that they've been given marching orders. | |
| Then they walk in the second day, they put this bullshit up on the screen as far as recommendations are concerned, and then just magically They're approved later. | |
| And probably because senior VA leadership was at the same place, rubbing the same ashy elbows with all these people, and they already know. | |
| So they're just playing the waiting game. | |
| So yeah, we'll do that. | |
| Elizabeth Dole, don't worry. | |
| We got your back. | |
| Thanks for the scotch and the steak. | |
| You got it. | |
| No problem. | |
| Robin, this is absolutely ridiculous. | |
| I wonder what they talked about at the last Federal Advisory Committee meetings dinner. | |
| I'm guessing it was about you and me and the other folks that spoke. | |
| Folks, we'll be right back. | |
| Don't go away. | |
| Hey folks and welcome back here. | |
| We got about five minutes left in the show. | |
| Robin, I want to give you, as usual, some time here in the last five minutes to have the floor. | |
| I think it's been working out really good that we do sort of a call to action at the end of all these episodes because all this information is so frustrating. | |
| So let's let the people know what it is that they can do or talk about. | |
| Yeah, so if you guys haven't made contact with your congressional representatives, reach out today. | |
| Send them a link from the Veteran Warriors page found in the description below and ask them to support the efforts to fix the caregiver program. | |
| Remind them to vote no for the Dole Act. | |
| It will gut PCAFC. It'll kill the caregiver program. | |
| And as for what we've covered tonight, so there are years worth of emails between Steve Schwab and senior VA officials where, as the CEO of a non-profit, He seems to interfere and influence the Federal Advisory Committee recommendations and the Federal Advisory Committee meetings. | |
| It seems that he is not abiding by FACA laws that kind of say you can't do these things. | |
| One could say that it appears even that the Dole Foundation has indeed flourished from their partnership with the VA through research funding opportunities granted by the Federal Advisory Committee that former Senator Dole chaired. | |
| All while recommending policy changes that greatly benefit nonprofit partnerships, yet have a negative effect on veterans and caregivers for years to come. | |
| You can all help by sharing the link to this video, to this show, with any and everyone you can think of. | |
| If we can bring enough attention to this, someone is bound to step in and investigate this properly. | |
| Accountability would be beneficial to our community. | |
| Guys, it would remove the problematic leaders that prevent positive change. | |
| Because until these self-serving individuals are removed from their position of power, we're going to continue to see access to care blocked. | |
| We're going to continue to see your tax dollars going into the elite nonprofit partnerships pockets while the VA budget climbs. | |
| It's time for each one of you guys to reach out to your representatives. | |
| You guys are going to have to demand change and accountability. | |
| I can't do this by myself. | |
| I need your help. | |
| I believe that we could save the caregiver program and countless veterans lives if we all just picked the phone or wrote that email and stop. | |
| Well, there's no secret that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. | |
| And I want to make sure that we point out, Robin, that after all this information that we've put out this evening, it's also important to remember, guys, that this program... | |
| And forgive me, Robin, for saying it, but this program is not just about the caregivers. | |
| It's not about the survivors. | |
| It's not about the families as much as it is about taking care of the men and women that signed the blank check to defend this country. | |
| And whether you agree with it or not, because there's many people out there that think and will agree with each other that veterans get too much as it is. | |
| But I'm here to tell you that this program is extremely important to the welfare of the veterans that are in it. | |
| And things like the Dole Act and things like Steve Schwab and his little group of cronies and Elizabeth Dole and Meg Cabot, who have no concern, in my opinion, about what's really best for the veterans that are taking part in this program. | |
| Maybe at one time they did. | |
| But I believe that it's clear that their vision has been clouded by power, control, and money. | |
| And so, for us to just sit back and say nothing is like asking for a kick in the pants. | |
| So, do something. | |
| Say something. | |
| Share this. | |
| And you're right, Robin. | |
| There needs to be an investigation. | |
| No doubt about it. | |
| And it needs to be done by a third party that is neutral. | |
| It's clear that any questions that have been asked, any calls for investigation have been shut down by Meg Cabot. | |
| I mean, you asked for an investigation to be done through the Inspector General. | |
| Nothing has happened with that. | |
| And I'd venture to say that nothing will happen with that. | |
| So, this is the time. | |
| As we've said in the shows prior, Stand up. | |
| Stand up for yourselves. | |
| Stand up for each other. | |
| We need to make sure that our veterans are being taken care of. | |
| And the best way to do that is to be the loudest wheel. | |
| So let's do that. | |
| Thank you very much for joining us this evening. | |
| Robin will be back with us next week. | |
| Robin, thank you for your time. | |
| We really appreciate it. | |
| And we will see you all next week. |
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