When Harry Reid recommended Tammy Duckworth to the now-imprisoned Rod Blagojevich for the Senate seat he tried to sell, the minority leader must’ve wanted a partisan partner for the types of political games he played last week.
Reid shamefully blocked a vote on Senator Mark Kirk’s legislation to protect VA employees who blow the whistle on veteran abuse from retaliation.
As Wisconsin Watchdog reports, the bill, which passed unanimously out of committee, "would increase discipline for federal supervisors who retaliate against whistleblowers."
The bill, therefore, would increase discipline for supervisors who follow the reckless standard set by Duckworth, who allegedly retaliated against whistleblowers as Blagojevich’s hand-picked appointee.
By playing politics with partisan ineffectiveness to the detriment of VA whistleblowers, Reid, in one fell swoop, demonstrated why he so badly wanted Duckworth in the Senate.
FLASHBACK:
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Duckworth’s Own Deputy Accused Her Of Using Her VA Position To Advance Her Political Career. "A former Duckworth subordinate claims the congresswoman used her position at the VA as leverage for her political career…Crump, who worked in the department for eight months before allegedly being ousted by Duckworth, claims the congresswoman used her position as director to gain notoriety and further her political career. “I felt she was building her way politically,” Crump said." (Tom Schuba, "Duckworth Accused of Using VA Position to Advance Political Career," NBC Chicago, 3/4/16)
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Duckworth Ranks Among The Least-Effective Members Of Congress. (Alex Greer, "These Are the Least-Effective Members of Congress," Inside Gov, 8/6/15)
- On September 17, 2009, Illinois Department Of Veterans’ Affairs Staffers Filed An Amended Lawsuit Alleging Duckworth And Patricia Simms Threatened And Harassed The Two Employees For Filing Complaints Against Simms. “The suit stems from Duckworth’s time at the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, which she led from December 2006 until early 2009, when she left for a federal veterans affairs post under President Barack Obama. In the suit, two workers at the Anna Veterans’ Home in far southern Illinois claim they received poor evaluations and were targets of harassment after filing complaints against the facility’s acting director, Patricia Simms, who is named as a defendant with Duckworth.” (Monique Garcia and Duaa Eldeib, “Walsh, Duckworth Skirmish Over Lawsuit,” Chicago Tribune, 10/11/12)
The next time Harry Reid wishes to recommend Tammy Duckworth for something, allow us to help:
Duckworth should give her $10,000 check from Reid back to the people of Illinois as to make a dent in covering the $26,000 she morally owes from her taxpayer-funded settlement of silence.
Read more about Minority Leader Harry Reid’s shameful decision to block Senator Mark Kirk’s efforts to protect courageous VA whistleblowers:
Washington Examiner: "Reid blocks VA whistleblower protection bill"
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blocked a vote on legislation designed to protect whistleblowers in the wake of a Veterans Affairs scandal…The legislation is named for Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick, a whistleblower who protested that doctors at a VA facility in Tomah, Wis., were overprescribing drugs to veterans — a practice that ultimately led to two patient deaths. Kirkpatrick was fired after reporting the misconduct and committed suicide the same day. The bill passed out unanimously out of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Johnson, the the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee…
Wisconsin Watchdog: "Harry Reid blocks vote on Whistleblower Protection Act"
Federal whistleblowers took a beating Thursday thanks to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. The Nevada Democrat blocked action on a bipartisan bill to protect federal employee whistleblowers from retaliation. Known as the Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act of 2015, the bill would increase discipline for federal supervisors who retaliate against whistleblowers, and it would prohibit Department of Veterans Affairs employees from accessing private medical records of fellow employees…Reid objected, halting the bill’s progress…The Whistleblower Protection Act passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously in December.