NEWSWEEK RAISES CONCERNS OVER VETERANS' CARE UNDER MITT ROMNEY

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Former Veterans Affairs Secretary who resigned amid scandal is named co-chair of Romney’s advisory team on veterans' policies

By Miriam Raftery

July 8, 2012 (Washington D.C.) – Award-winning Newsweek correspondent Jamie Reno, a founding member of East County Magazine’s editorial team, has published a report in Newsweek/Daily Beast that examines the track record of a top Mitt Romney advisor on veterans' affairs. He reveals a troubling history of failures to properly care for soldiers who served our nation honorably.

Romney’s advisory team on veterans' issues resembles a Who’s Who of the Bush era, including honorary co-chair President George H.W. Bush and co-chair James Nicholson,  Secretary of Veterans Affairs under George W. Bush’s administration.

Nicholson pledges “top quality care” for veterans if Romney is elected.  But he resigned in 2007 amid a firestorm of national outrage after media reports revealed run-down and unsanitary conditions at VA hospitals, as well as failure to plan for the influx of war veterans and lack of adequate care for wounded warriors, includng many with traumatic brain injuries.

Nicholson also backed deep budget cuts in staffing for VA health care and nursing homes even as demand for such services swelled during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  He was further criticized for failing even to spend the money that Congress did allocate to ease a backlog for veterans in need of care, as well as for reneging on a promise to protect veterans from identity theft.

Romney has drawn criticism in the past for proposing privatizing the V.A., drawing criticism even from the normally conservative Veterans of Foreign Wars. He later backed down from the plan.

By contrast, the Obama administration has beefed up staffing for mental health care workers to treat veterans suffering from PTSD, announced a Veterans Jobs Corps initiative, and forged agreements with medical schools to improve training for nurses on combat-related injuries such as traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress syndrome. 

Read Reno’s full story published in Newsweek/The Daily Beast.

Reno was the lead reporter on Newsweek’s team covering the 9/11 attacks, which earned his team the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, the highest award in magazine journalism. A resident of San Diego, he has won more than 85 writing awrds and has also written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, ESPN, MSNBC, Newsmax, USA Today and other esteemed media organizations.  

 


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