Vets board turns down rule change
to insulate secretary from discharge
--By Gary Fisher
The Veterans Affairs Board Friday retreated from changing its rules to require a unanimous vote of all seven members to remove the secretary, and only for cause, giving the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs secretary virtual lifetime tenure.
The ill-fated effort to provide the secretary with a free ride was a short-round as the board prudently decided to keep the status quo.
In other words, it still takes a vote of five board members, not seven as originally proposed, to remove the secretary.
Significantly, money from the Veteran's Trust Fund cannot be used to pay the legal fees of a secretary facing removal from office for misconduct.
Board member Kathy Marschman, who proposed the arcane rule changes, was visibly absent at today's board meeting in Union Grove.
John Scocos, WDVA secretary, who would have immediately benefited from virtual lifetime tenure, reportedly left the meeting early before the vote was taken.
UPDATE: The board also voted to keep the stipend paid to participants in military funeral honor details at $50, rather than cut it to $35 as had been proposed.
UPDATE 2: The Associated Press story includes this denial:
Right. Without the attention generated byGary Fisher's dogged reporting on this issue, virtually ignored by the mainstream state media, the proposed rules would have slipped right through a month ago. -- Xoff.Board chairman Ken Wendt said the backlash against the proposed rules did not influence Friday's decision.
"We're a nonpartisan body, and we do what's best for the veterans," he said. "By having a policy in place to remove a secretary or hire a secretary, we're doing our job."
10 Comments:
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Dear Mr./Ms. Freedomfighter:
I have deleted your comment.
Making personal attacks while hiding behind anonymous comments is cowardly.
Gary Fisher, Marv Freeman and I all have put our names on anything we have had to say about this issue.
How about you?
It's apparent these xoff files are living up to its name. If you don't like the fact that I might have hit a truthful nerve, you "x" it right off. That's fine. I'll just move my comments on over to the other side. Free will and free speech.
I'm disappointed that I fought as long as I did in Iraq, to be completely ignored and discredited by all of you. No, I will not put my real name on because I know you will do your best to swift boat me. With the obvious erroneous reporting tactics I've already seen, I am not going to be a victim of your lies. Of course, you'll probably go ahead and try to erase these comments too.
Signed by a pissed off REAL VETERAN!!!
Just for the record, the Swiftboating in 2004 was done by the Republicans.
Feel free to make any arguments you want, even behind your cloak of anonymity. Just leave out the sleazy personal disparagement.
Just what is it you are pissed off about? That Scocos will be treated like everyone else who has held that job in the history of Wisconsin? Or that anyone dared to question him?
I am disappointed that I wasn't allowed to see the comment that was recently deleted. It is sad to see that all of you can make these attacks but then the other points of views are subsequently shunned. I will also move my future comments elsewhere.
I refuse to be "x'd off" just because I disagree with your false charges on Secretary Scocos. Thanks for nothing.
I also agree that I won't be putting my name on here. Republicans might have started the "swift boating." But, Democrats were certainly not far behind. If I remember right, the liberal media had some internal shake-ups after they went after a certain Bush's military record.
All in all, I don't care about the political party. I do care that a person doing a good job shouldn't be depicted as corrupt when he isn't. These blogs by Gary Fisher have only thrown ambiguous charges that have no apparent merit. Where is the Attorney General? Where is the ethics board? Good luck on your future witch hunts. I won't be posting comments here ever again.
I am a democrat, but veterans issues shouldn't be about what party you belong to.
Secretary Scocos has had a long line of achievements. From what I've gathered, he also has had a lot of support in his career from both sides of the aisle. I live far from Madison, and yet Scocos is one of the few people I constantly hear about in my area. He has a solid reputation in La Crosse, and this area leans on the democratic side.
All I've gathered from all these allegations is that he isn't popular because he isn't a Doyle picked cabinet head. As a result, people keep throwing charges against him that go nowhere. Until I see him being carried away in handcuffs, the only media I will believe is the kind that talks about real achievements.
When the last budget got passed, the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the huge victory veterans received in a boost to their benefits. That's what matters to veterans. Not what party the head of the department belonged to. From what I know, each agency submits a wish list to the governor and legislature before every budget. So, even though everyone has to work together to achieve something...the original ideas still stem from the agencies that benefit most from certain proposals. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that fact.
As a result of the other comment being deleted, I will also withdraw from making any future comments. It is a sad day for me, that the one major democratic blogs that I thought was reputable, is only being used as a gadget to ruin a good man's reputation.
I will also remove my so-called anonymous comments. I understand why others wouldn't want to reveal their identities because you can obviously make them look like criminals too. But here is my identity. I have nothing to lose because I don't work for the government and have no immediate plans to start doing so.
My name is Tim Pepin, from La Crosse. I have never worked in Madison, and I have never worked for the state government. I am no insider. Go ahead and devise some weird theory about how I got on here. But, you won't find anything because there is nothing to hide. These are my final comments on this blog.
Marv Freedman is standing behind his comments, huh?
Xoff, you said:
"Gary Fisher, Marv Freeman and I all have put our names on anything we have had to say about this issue."
Well, since Gary Fisher is allowed to make comments on meetings he didn't attend, so will I. I have come across some interesting news...Marv Freedman was at the last board meeting and said something public for the veterans board and public to the effect of not being involved at all in commenting to Gary Fisher and his so-called news stories. Interesting...
Also interesting is that Gary Fisher's latest blog appeared right after the last board meeting apparently ended. Funny that he would have such inside information on the exact details of the board decisions considering him and Marv Freedman supposedly don't have any kind of relationship at all.
Who is lying on this one? Is Marv Freedman proud of his comments on here and wants to stand by them? Or, is Marv Freedman dismayed he is being quoted when he hasn't had any conversations with Gary Fisher? Or even worse...is Marv Freedman trying to play both sides by telling everyone what they want to hear just to position himself for more political influence in the future? These are questions worth pursuing.
But, of course all you guys care about is the veterans, huh? It's not about politics? Yeah right!
By the way, rumor has it that Gary Fisher isn't even a real veteran. If that's wrong, maybe he can straighten the record on this one. I don't want to spread nasty rumors if they aren't true. Maybe Gary can straighten the record on this one. Or maybe you can delete this comment as well because you feel it is a personal attack. Using your words, I am only asking because you brought it on yourself to claim Gary Meyer is a veteran.
Rip on me all you want, xoff. I am no longer going to be on your blog anyway. And, my final words for you...
Gary Fisher quotes:
"Another Vietnam vet said, "It comes down to whether the secretary serves at the pleasure of the board or board must demonstrate cause to dismiss, that's the battle."
or
A staffer for Rep. Jerry Petwoski, R-Marathon, member of the Military Affairs Committee, said they'd "be keeping watch and monitoring" the board's action on the proposed rule changes.
Who is the staffer and who is the vietnam vet? Curious that you can convict some of us as being coward, xoff, when you are allowing that same kind of anonymity.
Have a good one.
If you had seen the deleted comment you would understand. Free speech on the internet does not include the right to slander someone anonymously.
Tim, I'm not talking about the kind of comments you made. I am talking about vile personal innuendo that was was over the line. That is what was deleted.
I still don't see anyone explaining why John Scocos should be treated differently, with lifetime tenure, from every secretary who has ever headed a state agency in the history of Wisconsin.
That's what this has all been about. The attempt to give him that status is indefensible, which is why his supporters have talked about everything except that.
Dear xcapman:
You can nitpick all you want, but as long as you are anonymous I have no idea whether you are a vet yourself, either.
Your comment: By the way, rumor has it that Gary Fisher isn't even a real veteran. If that's wrong, maybe he can straighten the record on this one. I don't want to spread nasty rumors if they aren't true. Maybe Gary can straighten the record on this one. Or maybe you can delete this comment as well because you feel it is a personal attack. Using your words, I am only asking because you brought it on yourself to claim Gary Meyer is a veteran.
I'll let Gary Fisher answer that himself if he chooses to. I don't know who this Gary Meyer is you're talking about. I assume it's a simple mistake, but if I made it you'd use it to try to discredit everything else I've said.
Still waiting to hear why Scocos should be treated differently from every secretary who has eve headed a state agency in the history of Wisconsin. Every is strangely silent about that.
xoff,
You are right. I made the mistake by typing the wrong name while checking out another link on the internet. Oops. An honest error. Thus, I will write one last time to fix my error. At least I can admit when I'm wrong...unlike others on this blog.
Final comments (I mean it this time): Why do you always ask why nobody answers your questions when you clearly have avoided answering others? Don't even make someone go back and find out how many times that has happened. You know you will lose on that one.
But, of course you have a right to reply. Thanks again for pointing out my mistake. I will give you credit for at least having an ounce of integrity for not attacking me on that.
But, on my comment about Fisher being an official veteran, you said you know he is a veteran. Why backtrack now? If you know, you can be confident you're right...right?
I don't think that is being too nitpicky. But, if it is, please point it out and I will allow you to answer without another retort from myself.
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