Bailout sought for veterans' fund
If Gov. Jim Doyle proposed it, Republicans would no doubt call it a raid on the Veterans Home fund, but Gary Fisher reports there is legislation about to be introduced to transfer up to $16-million from the King Veterans Home to the state's veterans trust fund. There's no ready explanation, as yet, as to why the King home has such a big surplus, or whether it will wish it had that money some day in the future. Here's the WDVA memo on the bill.
Gary Fisher's report:
A significant transfer of cash -- up to $16 million in surplus funds -- from the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King (Waupaca County) to the Wisconsin Veterans Trust Fund is being proposed to keep the trust fund in the black, according to draft legislation in the works at the state Capitol.UPDATE: Gary Fisher asked DVA, "please explain why there's a surplus in the King Home fund?" Replies Andrew (Andy) Schuster, WDVA Public Affairs Director: "This in regard to requests you made earlier today to departmental staff relative to King Home funds. The questions raised will need to be more specific in order to be able to provide a response."
Computations last year indicated the state fund that supports grant and loan programs for Wisconsin veterans and sustains the Wisconsin Veterans Museum would run out of money by mid-2007.
State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, Speaker John Gard and Reps. Terry Musser, Bob Turner and Gabe Loeffelholz, are seeking co-sponsors for LRB-4498/3 and LRB-4475/7, which includes the money transfer to help keep the trust fund solvent.
The Veterans Trust Fund, which also pays some of the state Department of Veterans Affairs' administrative costs, historically has been supported through interest payments made on a multiplicity of loans to veterans.
The "Veterans Spring Package" also addresses eligibility for the veterans' tuition reduction that is in the 2005-2007 state budget.
In addition, the legislation that's currently circulating in the Capitol would:
--Beef up the information technology staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
--Expand UW and technical college tuition discounts from 50 percent to 100 percent.
--Allow resident veterans who received their disability rating while processing out of the military to still qualify for a reduction in tuition. According to an interpretation of current law a veteran must receive the original disability rating notification from the federal VA at a Wisconsin residence.
"While it is not common, we are aware of situations where a veteran received his or her service-connected disability rating while processing out of the military at an out of state base, just prior to returning to Wisconsin. This provision would eliminate the requirement that the disability notification letter be addressed to the veteran in Wisconsin," the proposed legislation says.
--Allow the family of a veteran who died as a result of a service-connected disability to be eligible for tuition breaks.
The next meeting of the Veterans Affairs Board is Feb. 21-22 at the state Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Madison. Tuesday of that week it's Salute to the Legislature, a yearly event at Monona Terrace sponsored by veterans' groups.
Meanwhile, board member Kathy Marschman, whose term ended May 1, 2005, still stands in the way of Rod Moen stepping in to succeed her on the board. And it doesn't look like Republican Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz is scheduling a floor vote on Moen's confirmation any time soon Gov. Jim Doyle appointed Moen last year to serve a six-year term, but Marschman has refused to resign even though her term ended, so Moen can't take the seat until the Republican State Senate confirms him, which it seems unwilling to do.
Oh. Right.
posted by xoff @ 12:32 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Fisher's Follies:
A post from a past October 24, 2005 article starts out saying this - "The report below is from Gary Fisher, a Madison journalist who has covered the Board of Veterans Affairs and has an ongoing interest in its activities."
Fisher - What ongoing interest do you really have with the WDVA? Do you have a vicious vendetta against the Department of Veterans Affairs? Do you hate veterans in general? Are you working hard to legitimize a journalistic career which has gone nowhere? What is your motive?
Also, what is your freaking point? Are you trying to say that the solvency of the trust fund crumbled just in the last few years and only because of its current leadership team there? Are you trying to hint that the current Department Secretary is to blame for the solvency not being where it should although he's only been at the helm a few years? If so, you should seriously consider a new line of work...in the fictional section. Tall tales perhaps?
Do you not understand that there were many different factors which led to the trust fund not being completely solvent? Must you be reminded that positive legislation has been passed multiple years in a row because of the current Department Secretary's recommendations to stablize the solvency of the veterans trust fund?
Don't even try to tell me he had nothing to do with it either. Let's take a trip down memory lane...
On August 1, 2005 - Gov. Doyle said this in a press release: "To expand the support system we offer our veterans, I worked closely with Secretary Scocos – recommending that the Legislature adopt nearly every budget request he made."
Other nice things the good ol' Gov said: "To help do this, the budget takes the burden of the Wisconsin’s Veterans Museum off of the Trust Fund – replacing $600,000 of Trust Fund revenues with general revenue."
"This will BEGIN what I hope is a joint effort with the legislature to eliminate Veterans Trust Fund money as the museum’s principal funding source, helping to ensure the solvency of the Trust Fund, and freeing up more of those resources for their intended purposes."
The latest legislation keeps in line with the Governor's intentions and continues that bi-partisan effort. Did you emphasize that point at all? Ahhh No!
Why don't you get to your point because nobody else can read between the lines of your perturbed and utterly disturbed mind.
------------------------
Here's another thing I like about Fisher's Follies:
He literally goes in one direction with the story and then completely goes off on a tangent somewhere else. Is that normal? He talks about the proposed legislation (hinting something's amiss although not stating what his specific allegations are), then moves to other accusations of wrongdoing regarding board issues, and then moves back to the his "phantom" complaints about the proposed legislation. Do you have an attention disorder in your writing?
Gary Fisher's arguments mirror the logic of this paragraph...
The Board of Regents' plan to give John Wiley a 22% raise are completely suspect. I have no legitimate reasons to say that, but why not? Also, I forgot to mention that John Wiley's older brother stole the cookies from the cookie jar when he was young (I'm hinting John Wiley is still at fault despite his older brother actually being the one who stole the cookies). But, enough of that - let's talk more about why John Wiley's 22% raise is totally out of line.
I know - the logic is completely whack.
--------------------
Let's go back to the real facts...
Gary Fisher is not interested in writing a real report about issues. He is only interested in taking down the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs because he had some perverted vendetta against him.
Read his other articles, found on your very own Xoff Files...the only blog interested in hosting his tall tales.
Look at those comments and see that many people have openly questioned the integrity of this mystery man only to find that he loves to dish it out, but won't answer when the questions come back to him.
Next time he walks into your office, ask him if he's a veteran. Ask him where he works. He won't tell you. He is a living contradition of an open and honest society.
So, Gary...
Did you misquote a guy from a WDVA board meeting? Are you a true veteran? Have you proven your prior accusations of illegal activity at the WDVA are true? Have you made sure the Attorney General has crashed down their walls and run a full criminal investigation? Where is the ethics board? Where are the police? And finally, when will you stop?
Credibility. You won't find it on Fisher's Follies.
Yep, sure as the sun rises, Gary Fisher writes another piece of fiction and tries to pass it as fact. Maybe he consulted with James Frey for "A Million Little Pieces." Yep, call up Oprah - we've caught another liar!
Why is it that every time he writes about DVA you attack him personally and try to discredit him, rather than dealing with the issues he raises or answering his questions?
Is WDVA the only state agency no one is allowed to report about or question?
Why is that?
And, yes, I'm a veteran. So is Fisher.
Big difference:
Doyle tried to raid money from the veterans homes to put it in the general fund.
This new proposal transfers funds to the Vets Trust Fund, where it will be used for programs that help veterans.
Post a Comment
<< Home