UPDATE: NICHOLSON'S SECRET TRIP TO WALLA WALLA --

Politics gets Senator "uninvited." Many questions on

funding and timeline of new outpatient clinic.

Background here... http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%20newsflashes%20JUL%2006/newsflash07-08-2006-9.htm

We have three stories on this interesting event.

First we have a story about the "secret" trip.  Interesting.

Second is a story about the lack of specifics on funding and a timeline for the new Walla Walla VA clinic.

Third is about the unmade phone call to Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, that should have been made.  This is just plain old dirty politics.

First story here... http://www.union-bulletin.com/articles/2006/07/09/local_news/local2.txt

First story below:

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Nicholson's arrival kept secret

By Vicki Hillhouse

Most passengers on Horizon Air's mid-morning flight Friday followed the usual route from the runway to the Walla Walla Regional Airport terminal before heading to the parking lot. Not the man with the red tie.

Greeted by a security officer as he disembarked, the man carrying the briefcase was escorted to a black SUV with tinted windows, parked on the opposite side of the Q200 plane. Behind the vehicle, two sedans brought up the rear of the entourage.

``Who is that man?'' asked a female passenger.

Hardly anyone on the 37-seat plane knew they had been traveling with a member of the president's Cabinet - the top administrator of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In fact, VA Secretary James Nicholson's trip was so quiet that few state or local officials were told he was coming. When they found out, several were initially told they couldn't attend his meeting.

In a community that had been committed to saving its VA medical center, proponents of the hospital found it strange that the announcement of its salvation wasn't more publicized.

``For an event, I would have probably structured it just a wee bit different,'' said Walla Walla City Manager Duane Cole.
Nicholson's 2 p.m. announcement that the VA will build a new outpatient clinic to replace the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center was attended by about 45 people. Many of those were with Nicholson. Several were there with U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash.

Visibly absent was U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and a proponent for the hospital. A number of officials who have served on a locally formed Community Task Force and the federally appointed Local Advisory Panel, studying the VA, also were absent. Veterans made up the smallest contingency.

A representative from McMorris' office said Nicholson's visit had been in the works for a week. McMorris' office was told the VA would handle publicity and not to issue a press release.

McMorris on Friday said she didn't know why the visit hadn't been more publicized.

Although she said she'd known about the meeting, she'd only heard late Thursday afternoon that Nicholson planned to issue a decision on the VA.

Similarly, Cole had been told Thursday evening only that Nicholson was coming. Prior to that, his only directive from the VA was to arrange his schedule so he could be ``in town'' pending the arrival of a person whose name was not disclosed.

A press release announcing the visit was sent to media Friday morning. Murray never did receive official word.

In a telephone interview after the secretary touched down, the senator was clearly frustrated.

``We've been waiting for him to make a decision, but the lack of communication is just symbolic of what is wrong with the VA right now,'' Murray said.

The secretary reportedly hadn't intended to open the meeting to the public. Walla Walla City Councilman Jerry Cummins, a Navy veteran who had traveled to Washington, D.C., earlier this year on a lobby trip for the hospital, had initially been told he wouldn't be allowed to attend.

That changed after a call to congressional delegates, he said. But other public officials who might have otherwise planned to attend reportedly didn't participate because of the lack of openness.

Walla Walla County Commissioner Greg Tompkins said he was prepared for the possibility he might not be given access when he walked into the VA's theater. He decided to take a chance.

The announcement went rather quickly. Nicholson commented about the beauty of the community. He said it was his first trip to Walla Walla, and he would have liked to have stayed longer. But from here he planned to go to Alaska for the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, which wrapped up Saturday.

Before an hour had passed, the secretary left to the sound of applause and the footsteps of his security guards. Outside, he climbed into the same SUV with the tinted windows, and rode away.

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Second story here... http://www.union-bulletin.com/articles/2006/07/09/local_news/local1.txt

Second story below:

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Questions linger around VA

Nicholson did not offer a price tag or a timeline for a new outpatient clinic.

By Vicki Hillhouse

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson may not have offered many details Friday when he announced plans for a new outpatient clinic to replace Walla Walla's VA medical center.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson makes the announcement Friday afternoon that the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center will remain open. U-B photo by MATTHEW B. ZIMMERMAN
On the other hand, it's what he didn't say that most pleased Vietnam veteran Jim ``Woody'' Wodehouse.

``He took away the word `closure,''' Wodehouse said after Nicholson's announcement in the theater of the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Closure of the Wainwright campus has been a lingering fear for veterans, hospital employees and local government, education and health- care officials over the last two years. Nevertheless the promise by Nicholson for a new state-of-the-art outpatient facility got mixed reviews from the few veterans who attended Friday's meeting.

Buddy Georgia, another Vietnam veteran, told the secretary the concept sounded like a larger scale Community Based Outpatient Clinic but doesn't address the lack of inpatient mental health-care service in Walla Walla.

In a separate meeting after Nicholson's announcement, veteran Virgene Cox predicted construction will be years away, particularly since the VA hasn't requested funds for such a project. Consequently, the clinic will likely be pushed back as the administration addresses more urgent needs, such as repairing VA facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

``It's my understanding that probably those places that are in dire need are going to come higher on the funding list,'' Cox said.
Don Schack, a Korean War and Vietnam vet, said the renewed commitment has to be looked at positively - even if the community doesn't get the new full-service hospital for which it had lobbied.

``We're making progress,'' Schack said. ``We've got a long way to go, but at least we're going to stay open.''

The Wainwright facility serves about 69,000 veterans in a 14-county area ranging from Southeastern Washington and into neighboring states. It employs about 350 workers with an estimated annual payroll between $18 and $20 million.

Walla Walla's medical center was one of 18 VA hospitals ordered for additional study in 2004 as part of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Service Commission process.

That process was meant to streamline the VA's operations to reduce the estimated $1 million the federal agency spent daily on its facilities and better serve the moving populations of veterans.

The study process has been long and laden with uncertainty for veterans who would have to drive at least an hour to reach the nearest veterans clinic if Walla Walla's facility closed.

Nicholson said Friday that based on input, study and an analysis of the critical mass in the area, a new outpatient facility is needed here.

``The aging of these facilities cannot be endured if we are to offer the best health care - the quality of health care that has been earned,'' he said.

In front of about 45 people in the VA hospital's theater, Nicholson said the fear of closure that has pervaded the Walla Walla VA campus is over.

``We are not - and I cannot stress this enough - we are not going to close this hospital,'' he said.

Instead he said the VA will construct a new facility on the historic 1858 campus, the site of the original Fort Walla Walla. Other parts of the 84-acre property will be used for housing and undetermined veterans services.

Nicholson did not offer a price tag or a timeline. He also had no details about redevelopment of the property. Those decisions, he said, will need to be made through further community meetings.

The lack of details left a bad taste for some, including U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and a proponent of the facility since the CARES recommendation. Murray said she was not invited to the meeting and heard about the plan second-hand.

In a conference call Friday she said she worries where the funding for this and a Bellingham clinic reportedly promised by Nicholson on Thursday would come from.

``The cost has to be part of the commitment, and I am deeply worried about that,'' Murray said.

She called the outpatient facility a good ``first step'' in seeing that veterans get the care they need here. However, as a facility focused on primary care, specialty care and outpatient mental-health care, there will still be a ``huge gap'' in services for inpatient mental-health and nursing home care, she said.

``The community made it very clear that there wasn't any inpatient or nursing home care to contract out to,'' Murray said. ``I do not know what the VA plans to do in terms of that care.''

Other lingering questions include how to redevelop the remaining campus.

Walla Walla City Manager Duane Cole said he believes the VA will fulfill its promise to work with local agencies on solutions for the health-care and campus needs.

``The VA has been in the health-care business for a long time, and they are recognized around the world for providing excellent care. I think that they're going to do that,'' Cole said.

Walla Walla City Councilman Jerry Cummins told Nicholson the city will be a willing partner.

After the meeting, Joe Manley, acting director of the Wainwright facility, encouraged local officials to continue work in two areas: getting the VA to divest some of the 27 buildings that are outdated and uninhabitable, and pursuing a state-operated veterans home.

Manley said services that have been lost in recent months, such as the after-hours walk-in clinic, are likely to be restored when a new director is hired.

With all that's going on, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., who had invited Nicholson to visit Walla Walla nine months ago, called the announcement ``good news.''

She said much work remains and, along with Murray, she's committed to seeing it through.

``As (Nicholson) mentioned, this was a first step,'' she said. ``I feel like it's a turning point.''

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Third story here... http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=139397

Third story below:

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Unmade phone call could haunt VA secretary

Jim Camden
The Spokesman-Review

Poor Jim Nicholson. The head of the Department of Veterans Affairs is having a tough summer.

First one of his managers has a laptop computer stolen in a burglary, and it just happens to have confidential information for about 26 million veterans. Members of Congress were all over him faster than you can say "identity theft," and some even wanted him ousted.

After the laptop turned up – apparently without the vets' files being cracked by the burglar – Nicholson hit the road, and last week found himself in Washington state, where he apparently couldn't help sharing some good news.

New veterans clinic for Bellingham, he told folks in that city on Thursday. New outpatient clinic for Walla Walla, he said down there on Friday.

Problem is, this was news to someone who probably should've been tipped off first: Sen. Patty Murray. True, she's a Democrat and Nicholson works for a Republican president, but Murray is the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, where she's made her mark after being the first woman appointed to that panel and has a spot on the Appropriations subcommittee that goes over the VA budget.

So in other words, Nicholson has to appear a fair amount before committees with Murray on them. And like most senators, Murray doesn't like to be surprised about issues she's worked hard on, which includes finding a way to save the aging VA hospital in Walla Walla.

Nicholson's staff did think to invite Rep. Cathy McMorris to the Walla Walla announcement, apparently giving her staff enough of a heads-up that they rescheduled Friday's congressional subcommittee hearing on electricity and salmon down in Pasco to get her out of the Tri-Cities in time to make the announcement.

That left McMorris to thank Murray for all her work to save the hospital and explain the absence with an oblique "Sen. Murray couldn't be here today."

Well, she probably could've, if she'd been told about it. She was in the state, after all, showing around a high-ranking official from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Chances are someone could've reached her by cell phone.

During a telephonic press conference a few hours after Nicholson's announcement, Murray took a few jabs at the whole process, saying several times she hadn't been invited, so of course everything she knew was secondhand, but boy there sure seemed to be a lot of unanswered questions about these new facilities. Just how tough she might be on Nicholson at their next meeting was probably best summed up late in her session:

"I'm one of the ones who has not called for his resignation," she said.

Hanging in the air seemed to be the unspoken " – yet."

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Larry Scott

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