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April 16, 2023 - Stew Peters Show
58:35
The Richard Leonard Show: The VA Caregiver Program: “Contributors” or Thieves?
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We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
For seven shows, Robin and I have discussed the VA caregiver program.
Last week, we had got through the whole timeline and finished all the information on the surface.
Believe it or not, all that information was just the surface of the program and the surface of the problems of the program.
Today we're going to transition into what could be described as the key contributor or the key face of the program other than the VA and that's the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
Some would argue that they're not even a contributor.
They don't contribute nothing.
But they are the key face outside of the VA. So Robin and I are going to discuss that a little bit today.
So stick with us.
Don't go away.
we start now.
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Okay, so as I said in the intro today, we are going to discuss a little bit about the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
And folks, I want to point out that the seven shows that Robin and I have done together are, like I said, the surface of this deep bordello of BS. We just don't have all the time to go deeper.
Maybe we will sometime in the future, but...
You have what you have for now.
So let's get Robin on and we will get to Elizabeth Dole and her little foundation.
Hello, Robin.
How are you?
Welcome back.
Hey, thanks for having me.
Absolutely.
Well, it's almost like this is your home a little bit now.
I mean, you've been on enough.
Okay, so let's dive on in.
Today we're discussing Elizabeth Dole and some shenanigans of her foundation.
So where are we going to start?
So we're going to start by breaking down the VA and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation's partnership today.
Okay, perfect.
Elizabeth Dole was the Federal Advisory Committee Chair for the VA, and the VA wanted to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding.
A Memorandum of Understanding is more than a handshake, but it's less than a contract.
And the Office of General Counsel, which are the VA attorneys, had some concerns about this.
I think you actually covered this a little bit last summer.
Today we have the MOU to put with that, though.
Perfect.
Yes.
So their concerns were pretty valid because she could make federal advisory committee recommendations that, you know, could potentially affect her foundation.
So I thought that we could look at the ethics guidance for that.
Okay.
We like ethics on this show.
Yes, so I've got some FOIAs today.
So the Office of General Counsel was sent an email, and the...
They were telling Linda Davis that there was significant overlap between the MOU and the Federal Advisory Committee's charter, which is kind of like their purpose, what the advisory committee is tasked to do.
It said that the VA shouldn't enter into a memorandum of understanding unless Senator Dole's actually going to recuse herself, which means she's going to step away from any meeting that could affect her foundation.
And Linda Davis says, She can't recuse herself.
She just can't.
So what we're going to do is we're going to eliminate any overlap that the Memorandum of Understanding may have with the Federal Advisory Committee's charter.
So they went back and they rewrote the MOU, I think with the Federal Advisory Committee team, and they bring it back.
And the ethics department says, or sorry, office general counsel says they still think that the VA entering into this MOU is, it's not appropriate.
You know, Ms.
Dole Chairs this Federal Advisory Committee, she's the leader of it, and they further explained that they would have these same exact concerns over any other Federal Advisory Committee member that has a non-profit with an MOU with the VA, or one that they're going to seek an MOU with.
So the problem with that is that I mean, I think there's six or seven federal advisory committee members that have nonprofits that have with the VA. So we've got Sherman Gillums, Jr.
He's the co-chair and he had American Warriors partnership.
He was a board director there.
Sarah Verardo, she was the Independence Fund CEO. Melissa Como, she's the Red Cross Military Veteran Caregiver Director.
I mean, the list goes on and on.
You got Bonnie Carroll, Bob Kaufman.
Mike Lennington's a FACT member.
He's the Wounded Warrior Project CEO. And I know that they have these memorandums of understanding because Government Accountability Office issued a report last year, and they said that the VA doesn't track these memorandums of understanding.
They don't even know where half of them are.
They don't check them annually.
But I guarantee you that if caregivers didn't show up annually, I mean, we're tracked down every four months, like we're parolees.
And interrogated.
Do you still need your address?
So, like, why aren't we, I guarantee you these caregivers probably aren't costing near as much as these memorandums of understanding are.
So let me ask you something really quick, Robin.
All of these CEOs and organizations that you just named, do we know how many, if any of them, are in bed, so to speak, with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, other than being part of the Federal Advisory Committee?
Yeah.
So if you look at their individual websites, you can see that they are partners with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
Some of them sponsor Elizabeth Dole.
There's a lot of commingling, yes.
So would it be fair to say that it's possible Very highly, extremely possible that when, like we discussed last week, they have their little dinner galas after committee meetings at her place.
Is it possible that there is business going on behind closed doors with these Nonprofits and these CEOs and Elizabeth Dole to provide services or referrals or whatever it is they do back and forth to be able to kind of share money maybe or dominate an industry in one way or the other, whatever the case may be.
Is that possible?
It's my belief that that is what they do.
I believe that when they...
Because remember, when we talked about the dinner at the Dole's, the Federal Advisory Committee members weren't actually...
Referenced as being invited, it was just kind of a banner the Federal Advisory Committee members are invited, but the committee members were Mike Lennington, Bob Kaufman, Bonnie Carroll, Melissa Como, Sarah Verardo, Sherman Gilliams Jr.
So yes, I do believe that it was not a purely social evening in which no business was going to be discussed.
I mean, what would you think?
Well, I mean, I agree with you a thousand percent, and to be quite transparent with you, Robin, it was kind of a loaded question.
I think I knew what you were going to say.
But what I wonder is, how does nobody...
Ask any questions about this.
And maybe this is a topic that we don't want to get into, but is Elizabeth Dole that scary to people?
That she's going to just, hey, you're going to come sit on this committee.
You're going to come to meetings.
You're going to come to dinner.
I'm going to tell you what to do.
We're going to make each other boatloads of money off the government's dime, but more importantly, off the backs of the veterans in which you claim that you're going to serve, and everything will be good.
I think that's very well said and I would agree that she probably is that scary to somebody that holds, that requires any kind of funding to operate.
That's why I love Veteran Warriors so much because they don't have any funding.
They do what they do to help people.
There's no back, you know, handshakes where they're getting, you know, their plates full.
They just help.
And I can't say the same for these other organizations.
I really can't.
Well, and it's probably because they just got too big.
I mean, organizations like the Wounded Warrior Project, for example.
And I will tell you with full transparency that I've used their services in the past.
I've reaped the benefits of the things that they offer.
But I think we all remember that they got into some hot water some years ago, all about money and salaries and this and that and the other thing.
And so to see them pop up at something like the Caregiver Federal Advisory Committee with all this other questionable stuff going on and Possible ethics, extreme ethics violations going on.
It makes me wonder, you know, did they just shift fire and decide to, you know, rein in boatloads of money another way?
You know, so there's just a lot of questions, and I think that at some point down the road, maybe we can get back together and talk about the Federal Advisory Committee, but...
It all just seems very fishy to me and I think that there certainly is some treachery afoot.
Oh yeah.
So let's peek at the MOU and we can kind of see how brave they've gotten over the years.
So in 2022, so I have the 2022 Elizabeth Dole Foundation MOU and I will share that with you.
I will also share the 2017 MOU as well.
So we're going to kind of do a little bit of compare and contrast.
We have in the 2022 Memorandum of Understanding It has stated, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and his delegates have been given authority to accept gifts from the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
That was not included in the 2017 MOU. Gift giving is a pretty big deal in the executive branch or even in government in general.
So they have some pretty strict laws about that.
But don't forget about gifts.
We'll go over some pretty lavish gifts in the second segment.
So, but we'll move on for right now.
So, in 2022, and I think that you went over this this summer a little bit.
In 2022, the 2022 MOU, the VA has been, has given the Elizabeth Dole Foundation the authority to use the VA seal.
Yes, we did go over that.
And that's how ridiculous.
So they can put that on their signage, any promotional materials, and the public can look at that and say, oh, the VA said that.
Great.
But in actuality, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation said that.
And I still think that it's a pretty big deal because we don't, you know, government agencies should never be seen as...
Sanctioning any sort of private or non-profit or public anything.
Right.
But so then this memorandum of understanding, together with the VA and the Caregiver Support Program, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation will implement the Campaign for Inclusive Care.
The problem is that this campaign has been being piloted since 2017.
Hold on.
Piloted for all these years?
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Five or six years?
That's one hell of a pilot program.
So, yeah.
Well, so, maybe we don't have time to dive into that because I think that would be interesting.
We...
So I'm not going to talk about my stories.
I've got some pretty horror stories about Elizabeth Dole's late husband's namesake hospital.
I can tell you inclusive care doesn't exist.
Explain to us real quick what inclusive care is for people watching.
Okay, sorry.
The Campaign for Inclusive Care is a campaign to raise awareness of the struggles that veterans have and how their caregivers can help that, and including them in the health care models, and there's an academy that's supposed to train the health care providers.
It just doesn't exist, and it doesn't exist To the point that Sean Moore, who is the financial wellness program manager for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, even tweeted about it in June of this last year.
And she called the Secretary of Veterans Affairs out himself and said, your system of care sucks.
You don't include the caregiver.
So...
I mean, when you've got the Elizabeth Dole Foundation saying that there's no campaign of inclusive care, you kind of have a little bit of a problem, I think.
Well, but let me ask you this.
Last time you and I, we were talking offline, and one of the things that you had mentioned, and I hope you don't mind me saying this, that you liked about the program was that you got the opportunity to be the yes or no person in your family's care plan.
And that they can't tell you you can't be in an appointment and things like that because your job is to see to the best care possible for your loved one.
Is that part of inclusive care or no?
That's part of the caregiver program.
I've earned that authority by being a VA-appointed caregiver.
The Elizabeth Dole Foundation's Campaign for Inclusive Care is strictly to train the doctors and educate them on caregiver culture and the things that we do to assist our veterans.
And you can ask any caregiver and they'll tell you, yeah, I've been treated pretty poorly by the providers.
They don't listen to me.
It's a struggle.
It's a struggle.
And there's times where providers don't want to listen.
There's times where providers tell caregivers they can't go in.
And so you have to pull out the directive and you have to call the hospital and you have to say, you're required to let me do this.
And then you have to advocate for yourself.
Because like I said, the Campaign for Inclusive Care doesn't exist.
It's heavily funded.
It just doesn't exist.
So again, here we are again talking about programs that are heavily...
It seems like all these programs are very heavily funded and that probably doesn't come to a surprise to anybody.
And so the question then becomes, once again, Robin, where in the hell is all this money going?
And I'm not expecting you to answer it.
It's a rhetorical question.
But it's like every time that we talk about not just the caregiver program, but something that's supposed to complement it and make it run a little more smoothly and just make the burden on everybody, including the provider, a little easier to The discussion goes to how much money it is to run it,
to fund it, and then we talk about how little of the actual program gets utilized or even put out to be utilized.
It's just like this perpetual circle of bullshit.
You asked where the funding goes.
I might have a little bit of a hint.
I don't have enough time to go over it today.
I'm just gonna kind of throw this in there.
So the Academy for Inclusive Care.
So I think that's piloted from 2017 to present.
That's run There's a training module made by PsychArmor, which is Steve Schwab's, one of his companies, non-profits, excuse me.
And they have trainers that are designated to train these doctors that deal in veteran culture, and one of their trainers is Meg Cabot.
Unbelievable.
But we've got to move on.
So...
Crusty Cabot strikes again.
Unreal.
Okay, so I can't believe that.
So...
Yikes.
In 2017, the memorandum states that VA will participate in events with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation where it's appropriate and in accordance with federal law and applicable regulations, including the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
In 2022, the VA removed that language.
And it's kind of a caregiver program where they redefined, just like, made up new definitions for things.
And the definitions didn't even make sense, according to, you know, the Federal Circuit.
But they just like, oh, well, the laws don't apply because we removed them from this piece of paper.
Like, why did they leave out the law?
Well, I think that once again, you need to, much like the last week when we were talking about research, right?
Who benefits the most from the law being removed?
And I think that we'll find almost every time that the people that benefit the most from things like this are not the veterans that serve this country.
Right.
And they're stepping on their caregivers to get what they want.
They're stepping veterans and their caregivers.
So the VA So there's a list of what the Elizabeth Dole Foundation is going to do, and there's a list of what the VA is going to do.
The VA says that they will facilitate contact and collaboration between other offices in VA and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation to include, but not limited to, the VA Office of Caregiver Support, Geriatric Services, Chaplain Services, Prevents Task Force, Veterans Benefits Administration, and Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs.
So I'm not quite sure what business Elizabeth Dole Foundation has at the Veterans Benefits Administration.
But they do.
They have access to it.
Robin, Robin, what was that one?
I'm sorry.
The Office of Inter-what?
Of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs.
I would love to be a fly on the wall in that shit show of an office.
Are you serious?
I am dead serious.
Intergovernment affairs?
They have had that, and don't quote me because I don't have it pulled up on my screen, but they, I believe, have had this same reach within VA since 2017.
This isn't something brand new.
This is something that they've had access to all of these programs and departments, and they could have done Wonderful things.
I bet.
They chose to line, in my opinion, line their pockets.
Not surprised.
Can you imagine?
If they gave me access to those departments in one week, I'd have that turned around with some common sense.
Yeah, so...
Can you imagine the conversations and the BS... That it's come up with in that office.
Oh, yeah.
Ah.
Unreal.
I wish I could be a fly on the wall just at one federal advisory committee dinner party.
Yes.
I'd love to be a fly there.
But you know what?
I wasn't invited.
I don't know if I'll ever...
Maybe they'll invite me someday.
There's hope.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, Robin, and say that you should probably not hold your breath because that invitation is...
I better buy some Chick-fil-A because I'll probably go hungry.
Absolutely.
So...
In the 2017 and the 2022 MOU, there's some pretty harsh verbiage in there pertaining to fundraising.
It says the Elizabeth Dole Foundation will not use this memorandum of understanding or its partnership with VA in connection with fundraising.
And we have, in 2017, Elizabeth Dole signed it and agreed that she would not fundraise.
And former Secretary Shulkin signed and agreed that he would not fundraise.
And in 2022, Stephen Schwab signed and agreed that he will not fundraise with the VA. And John Bolsler, the current Chief Veterans Experience Officer, has agreed that they will not fundraise.
Let me guess.
Let me guess.
I'm raising my hand.
They did it anyway.
They did it anyway.
Well, I can't say John Bulsler has, because I don't know whether or not he's attended any kind of fundraiser.
I know that they're scheduled for a Hero and History Makers gala this coming fall, but I do know that Steve Schwab led the 2018 one, and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, I think that they coined it, spend a night with Elizabeth and Bob Dole.
Oh, fun.
Yeah, fun, fun, fun.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
So that's about all I have to say about that.
I wonder...
I lost for words.
Because...
Okay, so maybe John Boesler didn't fundraise.
We can't prove that.
But the fact that...
The others did after signing this document that says, nope.
Well, Secretary Shulkin didn't because, remember, he was asked to resign over taking a fancy trip to Europe with his wife and going to a Wimbledon game.
And if I remember right, his acting undersecretary that went with him and actually resigned as well She went with him.
So she went with him, but she was the one that signed all these terrible, nasty caregiver directives that put us in this purge mess to begin with.
And her name was Kunamali, I believe.
I probably said that wrong.
Well, I'm referring mostly to Elizabeth Dole and Mr.
Steve Schwab.
Yes, they did.
Yes, sir.
And so I wonder, and folks, think about this.
I wonder where they get off thinking that they can...
I mean, clearly they know they can do whatever they want because they never have to answer for any of it.
But when you are claiming that you're doing the best you can for veterans...
And then you're doing things like this.
It doesn't help anybody to trust that you're doing the right thing and that you're going to do what you say you're going to do and that veterans are actually going to get the care and assistance that they need along with the caregivers.
It's just absolutely a violation of the public trust, in my opinion.
But stick with us, folks.
We'll be right back.
Everybody, thank you again for joining us.
We really appreciate it.
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Hey folks, welcome back here to the second segment of the show.
We're just going to get right back into it.
In the last segment, Robin, you mentioned something called the Heroes and History Makers Gala put on by Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
Can you take a minute, please, and explain to us what this potential fiasco is all about?
Yes, yes.
It's the annual Elizabeth Dole Foundation fundraiser.
I think that I've traced it back to 2018, I think is the first year that they did it.
We had the ethics guidance on that first event.
And it's They get together and they have celebrities and they have people from all different areas and walks of life come and they raise a bunch of money and they pat the Elizabeth Doyle Foundation on the back.
So the MOU we just discussed said you cannot The Elizabeth Dole Foundation cannot fundraise with the VA under any circumstances.
But I have emails where senior VA leaders were invited.
So I thought that we could look at the ethics guidance for the fundraiser and what it cost to spend a night rubbing elbows with Elizabeth Dole.
Can I take a guess at how much it cost?
Yeah, you can take a guess.
I'm going to say it's about $1,500 a plate.
Or somewhere in that ballpark.
Yeah, yeah.
I think you'd be pretty, you might be a little bit high, but yeah, I think that's about right.
Well, are you, Elizabeth Dole has a cap?
Oh my goodness.
So, Lisa Pape, who was Meg Cabot's boss, sent an email to Jonathan Gerland.
And so, if you guys remember, the Dinner with the Dole's Ethics and Guidance was also authored by Jonathan Gerland.
So he's dealing with the Hero and History Makers fundraiser.
And Lisa Pape sends an email that says, "Jonathan, a number of us will be invited to the Below event, and I wanted to know what the process is to ensure that we are okay to go to the gala.
Tickets are kind of expensive.
I think $1,000.
Yeah, so the tickets to get in cost $1,000.
So the senior ethics attorney says, acceptance of free attendance would only be permissible pursuant to a widely attended gathering determination signed by an agency designee.
As I anticipate that senior officials from various administrations and staff offices may be invited, that agency designee would need to be the chief of staff.
And then so, Meg Cabot, she jumps in and she says she's adding Linda Davis for her awareness.
She says, I've received the following responses from the Dole Foundation and have attached the list of individuals who have been invited from the VA as well.
And so Jonathan Gerlin wants to know approximately how many will be in attendance and what sectors they'll represent.
And the Elizabeth Dole Foundation says that they're expecting 450 to 500 guests.
And they're going to have representation from, you know, corporate America, the executive branch, members of Congress, VSOs, military and defense, military and veteran caregivers, veterans, and other non-profits.
And then Jonathan Gerlin wants to know, what's the value of food and refreshments to be served?
I understand that the ticket cost is a thousand, which is different.
And so I think I want to point that out right now.
I think that the The tickets were gifted to the VA. I think that the Elizabeth Dole Foundation gifted those tickets.
Remember, in the MOU, we found where the secretary is allowed to accept gifts now.
But I do think that the VA paid.
It's my belief that they paid for those dinner plates at $200 per person.
So Jonathan Gerland asks, will a majority of those in attendance be with a spouse or guest?
The Dole Foundation says yes.
Jonathan Gerland says, Are the VA invitees invited with a guest?
To which the Dole Foundation says, Acting Deputy Secretary James Byrne, Pamela Powers, Dr.
Richard Stone, Dr.
Linda Davis, and Meg Cabot are all invited to attend with a guest.
We are not able to extend invitations to a guest for the other VA invitees at this time.
So what I took away from that was basically before the VA could Except these $1,000 per, you know, ticket gifts, the chief of staff would need to make a determination as to whether this event was going to be a widely attended gathering.
The problem is, is that Pamela Powers was the chief of staff.
And as we just found out, she was invited as well with a guest.
Well, of course, so then, of course, it's okay.
Of course it is.
Right?
So these thousand dollar tickets, so I don't think, and I'm not super, you know, I'm not sure if the VA paid for these tickets or if they were gifted.
But either way, we're spending, we're either spending taxpayer money that was appropriated to the VA for these tickets, or the alternative is that the Elizabeth Dole Foundation is using grandma down the street that donated, they're using her funds.
To purchase tickets to a black tie event for senior VA officials.
Like, she donated that money thinking that a caregiver was going to be helped.
But no.
Either way, it's shady as hell.
Right?
So...
Let me ask you.
It's $1,000 to get into the thing?
Mm-hmm, yes.
Well...
What caregiver can afford that?
Well, no caregiver probably can afford that on the stipend you guys get and all that other stuff, but what if we were able to get donations?
Could we go?
Could I pay $1,000 to some crooked-ass foundation and go to their gala?
I'll wear a tie.
I don't like ties, but I'll wear one.
I don't know.
From what I gather, anybody can purchase a ticket.
Interesting.
It is interesting.
That might be a good event to go have some overcooked chicken and some soggy broccoli and watch the Krusty Cabots eat dinner with each other and all these other...
I digress because I'm going to say something that's going to get me in trouble.
Let's continue.
So, at this point, you know, not only does it seem that she's violated the memorandum of understanding by fundraising with the VA, there's extremely strict ethic laws.
You know, Ms.
Dole was a special government employee and all these VA employees are her superiors.
You can't just give out gifts to your superiors.
Like, that's not how that works.
But once again, you know, these are ethics violations and ethics violations are handled, you know, By the VA. So the VA governs the VA. So unless they're upset about it, nothing would ever really happen.
Because like you've said prior, like you've said before, any kind of investigation, any kind of complaint is looked into or investigated by the VA. So that, in my opinion right there, is a conflict of interest.
Of course.
Of course the VA is not going to launch this investigation and then give their own organization a black eye, especially when the people that are put in charge to have the checks and balances and perform those duties are also going to the gala.
You know, if Elizabeth Dole is one thing other than a crooked old lady, she's kind of smart, you know?
I mean, why not rake in the people that can put me down?
Let's get them on the take.
Yeah.
She should be a mob boss.
So we're going to look at the invite list.
So we're discussing the 2018 fundraiser right now.
So these are the emails that I have access to.
I don't know who attended to any of the other ones, other fundraisers.
But so for the 2018, we have an invite list of Secretary Robert Wilkie.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs himself was invited.
Pamela Powers was the Chief of Staff.
She was invited.
The Undersecretary for Benefits was invited.
Linda Davis and Lisa Pape and Meg Cabot.
Elise Kaplan.
We've got Dr.
Lucy Lake.
She's the VA Dole Center of Excellence researcher.
She's in charge of that.
And then we've got, well, before we move on to the three important people I wanted to talk about, we've got Leah Christensen.
Hi, Leah, our good friend!
She's the lady that made that as atrocious graduation training modules that initially started the purges.
And now we see her as a caregiver support coordinator, one of the lowest people on the totem pole in the caregiver program attending.
A gala that costs $1,000 plus a $200 dinner plate.
So it kind of makes you wonder where her loyalties lie.
So then we have three people from the Secretary's Center for Strategic Partnerships.
Yeah, so I'm going to actually read you a little bit about this.
It says, this is a federal health IT article.
It says, VA's Secretary's Center for Strategic Partnerships, VA's gateway to the private sector, increasing access and improving outcomes.
So the Secretary's Center for Strategic Partnerships builds multi-million dollar programs with external partners that support the VA Secretary's highest priority initiatives to significantly improve veterans' lives.
The Secretary's Center for Strategic Partnerships is a non-contracting office in which senior leadership routinely uses their delegated authority from the Secretary to proactively solicit new programs, expertise, and resource the private and non-profit sectors.
So it kind of makes you wonder what they were doing.
Are they bringing money to the table to this fundraiser in more ways than one?
Well, either they're bringing money to the table, Robin, or they're being persuaded or directed to turn their head to other money brought to the table.
I think the second one, I think that when they get the...
Well, we'll get into that in a bit.
I'd like to think that they're not that stupid, that they're going to also be bringing money to the table, so to speak.
But it would be advantageous for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation to have these people on board so that when questionable things come up, you know, all of a sudden they got to go to lunch or they got to go poop or they got to do something other than...
You know, run checks and balances on this stuff.
Right.
So, back to the gifting of the tickets.
I get a little aggravated with the gifting of the tickets when we look at who all sponsors this event.
I'm not quite sure why we even have this big event to begin with.
I say we, but why the Elizabeth Dole Foundation has this big event?
Because they're sponsored and funded heavily by all sorts of different organizations.
You've got Cerner, you've got Atlas Research, you've got Philips, you've got Comcast.
Their list of sponsorship is enormous.
They raise millions at this event.
But let's look at Cerner for just a minute, because for those of you who don't know, Cerner received a $10 billion no-bid contract to modernize the VA electronic health record system.
Well, hold on.
No bid?
If all of the news articles and press releases about the Cerner contract are true, yes, it was a $10 billion no-bid contract.
$10 billion.
No competition.
It actually ended up costing significantly more.
I think that they initially estimated $10 billion, but now it's up to anywhere from, I think, 39 billion, 40 billion, 50 billion, somewhere in that area is what they're estimating that this is going to cost over 10 years, if I'm not mistaken on those numbers.
But yeah, it's astronomical what it costs.
Okay, well, I'm not the nation's leading expert on government contracts.
I know that for sure.
But I know a little bit about it.
I would...
I would be very surprised if something of that magnitude, $10 billion at the time, was just given to some other company without anybody else being able to bid to have their hands in that project.
That would make me ask a lot of questions, especially if I owned a business that could do the same work or a competitor to these people.
If I was a competitor of Cerner, I'd be super pissed off that I didn't get an opportunity to have that project.
So you're asking these questions, how they got a $10 billion contract.
And there's many people right now asking Secretary McDonough, why doesn't this electronic health record system even work?
I mean, it's been, I think on March 15th, they announced that it was the Cerner or Oracle Cerner health record system was responsible for four veterans' deaths.
And it's harmed, it's catastrophically harmed six and has killed four of those six people, veterans.
And I have the same question, Secretary.
Why doesn't the electronic health record system work?
It makes me wonder if maybe that Cerner got a no-bid contract awarded because they had access to senior leaders at this fancy fundraiser.
Travis Dalton is a board director at both Elizabeth Dole Foundation that put on this event, and he's also a board director at Cerner.
I mean, is this a job fair?
Well, that's not a conflict of interest at all, is it?
Right?
Can you, I mean, from what you know, can you tell us a little bit quickly about these four veterans that have passed away because of this failing system?
What happened?
I mean, it's a records management system.
How did that...
I haven't had a chance to really dig in and see.
I can remember vaguely reading about a veteran, I think, in the Northwest, the Pacific region, that had not received the proper medication because the electronic health record system did not alert the provider.
I'm not positive, but I do know that there's There's been four documented deaths, and that's four too many.
So it's something along the lines of, my doctor went to put in medication A, which I'm allergic to.
The system didn't tell him, hey, you can't give that to Richard because he's allergic.
Try option B, C, or D. And this veteran took option A and...
It was extremely, well, it was fatal to him.
That is correct, yes.
And I'm not sure if it's legislation or if it's petition or exactly what, but there are a lot of people in government, in Congress, and they're saying, hey, walk away.
Walk away from this contract with Cerner.
It's bad news.
Walk away.
And I don't know if they will or if they won't, Well, they would love to.
Cerner would love for the government to walk away.
They still get to keep the billions of dollars, I would imagine.
Yeah, go ahead, walk away.
We suck.
You gave us $10 billion plus, but we suck.
Go ahead, walk away.
They'd love it.
Right?
I know they would.
You know, and the same goes, this same exact scenario goes with Atlas Research.
So, Atlas sponsors this fundraiser.
Yeah.
Senior VA leaders have been invited.
Atlas gets a contract with the VA. You know, surely those contracts didn't have anything to do with Robin Portman being a board director at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and a board director at Atlas Research, where Meg Cabot went to.
And did her research.
You know, they've received millions and they even got a $1 billion contract with somebody else to work on something for the VA. And Atlas Research's consulting services were actually used by the Federal Advisory Committee that Elizabeth Dole chaired.
So they were the ones that made the recommendations.
They reviewed and made the recommendations to VA as a consulting firm.
And Those recommendations were along the lines of the make Meg or create the position that Meg Cabot now holds, but there was also let's fund and spread and disseminate nonprofit innovations throughout and and let's do research and It just never ends.
Well, here's the thing, and some people might disagree with this logic.
I agree that all these things are probably ethically unsound.
They're violations.
They're shady, and it raises eyebrows.
At the end of the day, if these programs and these systems were working properly, because again, Robin, all of this stuff comes back to the fact that That this program, the VA in general, is meant to see to the well-being of the men and women that fought for this country.
And I don't want anybody to lose sight of that because at the core of all these issues and all this soapbox bitching that I do and all these conversations that we have, it's all about taking care of the men and women that served us.
And so if these programs were working as intended and veterans were getting help, the caregivers were being taken care of so that they can provide the best care to the veterans possible, and all that stuff was working even remotely well, it would probably be less of an issue for me in general.
But it seems as though, as we've gone through all this information over, we've got eight hours that we've talked about all of this stuff.
And there's not a whole lot of positivity coming out of the Caregiver Program, coming out of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, coming out of Meg Cabot and Steve Schwab and the Federal Advisory Committee.
Anything, it's just like anything else, Robin.
If you do 500 things extremely well, but you screw up and you hurt people and you ruin lives or whatever you want to call it a hundred times, that speaks a whole lot louder than your 500 people that you've helped and those successes have.
And so I guess I went around the block to go across the street and just say that if these things were working as intended, for me, it might be less of an issue.
And it's all just so out in the open and it's all there.
All this crap and all this...
It's all lies.
It's all lies.
That's the problem I take with this, is that...
I wouldn't, I can't say I wouldn't care if they were doing things that they weren't supposed to be doing and they were getting contracts where they potentially weren't supposed to, but they're stepping on the backs of people like me and my husband and they're stepping on my peers and nobody seems to care.
That is a big problem to me.
I live this life.
We do the best that we can, and it is extremely hard to provide the services that I provide and that many other caregivers provide when we're constantly trying to fight back against not only the bureaucracy of the VA, but now we've got the non-profits that were sworn to help us harming us.
It's...
It's very disheartening.
And like I said, I think it was in the second episode, I didn't like talking about this.
I messaged you later that night or that morning and I was just like, this doesn't feel good.
I don't like doing this.
Because it didn't feel good.
I don't like talking about this negativity.
If somebody could just make the negativity stop, we wouldn't have to talk about it.
What happened to taking care of veterans and their caregivers?
They have one job.
The VA has one job.
And they're well-funded.
So why are these supports and these services and these funds being diverted into other programs and other things?
Why has our choice been taken away?
And at the end of the day, if it all went away, Robin, but you and all the other caregivers, whoever wanted a seat at the table to be part of the discussion were there and there was a discussion had and it was open and honest and all these things.
That would even be better than the way that things are going down now.
Because I believe that your husband, you, every other veteran, and every other caregiver in this program should have the ability and the right to have a say.
Not like direct the program, but have a say in what's happening and provide feedback.
Because all these other people, Meg Cabot, Steve Schwab, Elizabeth Dole, you know, person A, B, C, D, E, and F, and G, they don't live it every day.
You guys live it every day.
And so how can any of them say, nope, this is what's best for the veteran, this is what's best for the caregivers, and this is what we're going to do?
Without even having a discussion.
Instead, they dismiss you.
That's accurate.
And that is the, for me, is the worst part about all of it.
And then when we get to these nonprofits, there's nothing that pisses me off more than people starting organizations or nonprofits, and they get super big, and all these folks are getting filthy rich on the backs of veterans.
Some of them go away, never to be seen from again, and they have nothing to answer to.
And then, you know what?
They get to keep all this money.
They go live lavish lifestyles.
And nobody gives a shit.
Nobody's none the wiser.
And so the combination of the two is just absolutely atrocious to me.
And I apologize, Robin.
I don't want to cut you off, but we got to take a break.
We'll be right back.
Hey folks, welcome back here for the end of the show.
As always, Robin, it seems to be a trend that you and I have started to do the last four or five minutes as like a call to action and a reflection of the hour that we've spent together.
So we got about four minutes and 20 seconds, so take as much time as you need.
Go ahead.
So tonight we talked about the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and that they violated the terms of the MOU by fundraising with VA employees.
So I made a formal complaint to the VA Office of Inspector General about not only the Elizabeth Dole Foundation's fundraising violations, but also about Federal Advisory Committee Act violations and the caregiver program social workers operating outside of their scope of practice.
So the way the VA OIG works is that You can report suspected criminal activity, fraud, waste, abuse, senior leader misconduct, and gross mismanagement of VA programs.
And I firmly believe I have satisfied all of these categories with ample proof.
So the VA OIG did acknowledge that something of substance was there, and their course of action was to route my complaint to the program offices for which Meg Cabot oversees.
So I'm asking each one of you to reach out to your representatives and ask them why the VA OIG isn't taking this complaint serious.
Reference non-case referral number 2023-03312 and help me bring attention to removing these bad actors.
Because until Meg Cabot and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation are removed from the VA, nothing will change and we will lose the caregiver program.
Remind your Congresswoman and men and Senators and anybody else you can think of that we are still waiting on legislation based off Veteran Warriors link.
And let's be honest for a second, if Meg Cabot wanted, you know, as senior advisor, if she wanted this program fixed, it'd be up and running.
It would be, but it seems that she's just not concerned at all with fixing the caregiver program.
So it's kind of up to us guys at this point, up to caregivers and veterans, because this program isn't going to fix itself.
And I've given you guys the background, and I've given you the tools, and it's time for you guys to start asking the hard questions for yourself.
Let's fix this thing.
Well, I guess I don't know how to follow that up.
That was very well said.
I agree a thousand percent, Robin.
There is this inherent need for people to just kind of sit back and take it.
Sometimes.
And at times I don't quite understand it.
I don't get it.
But I would think, I guess anybody would think, that when you're backed into a corner and it seems like hope is lost, that you would fight harder.
And so I'm not saying that anybody's negligent.
I'm not saying that anybody's scared or whatever.
But this is exactly, you were right on.
This is exactly the time for anybody that this program affects, and it's not just caregivers, it's not just veterans, but the families of all these people, the friends, the bosses, the co-workers, all these things, to start questioning the things that are going on around you as it relates to this, well, for anything, but as it relates to this program.
Because it's way too important to It's way too important that these folks are taken care of because as we discussed this is the job of the VA. And if they didn't want to take care of these caregivers and these veterans in the way that they did when the program started Then just cut it off.
But why play?
Right?
Why do purges?
And then now we're going to hold off.
And then now we're going to purge again.
Okay, well, you know, now we got some attention.
So let's hold off a little bit.
And it seems to me that maybe the idea is that they're going to just let things calm down until 2025.
And people kind of just get used to the idea and they won't hear anything else about it.
And they'll go on with business however they think it should be.
But that's not right.
And so...
Stand up, folks.
Go to the...
Not Wounded Warrior.
Go to Veteran Warrior's website.
Look at the information guide.
Do all that stuff and talk about this.
Just talk about it because you never know who's going to hear it, who's going to read it, who might be able to help and start some change.
We're coming to a time in this country, I believe, that it's going to be feast or famine.
And we, as a veteran and a warrior community, need to be willing to take care of each other because it doesn't seem like the people who are put in charge to take care of us at the higher levels are really committed to that anymore.
Their vision and judgment has been clouded by money, power, and control.
Meanwhile, the little people, like you and I, Robin, we get stepped on.
And I don't think it's right.
So I thank God for this platform that we have to speak out and to talk to anybody who's willing to listen.
As usual, thank you everybody for joining us.
We'll be back next week.
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