21 members of Veterans Administration bonus committee awarded themselves more than $500,000 in bonuses

Jim Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs since January 26, 2005, is an attorney, real estate developer, former Ambassador to the Vatican, and a former Republican Party chairman. He testified last week in Congress, saying that millions of dollars in bonuses for top VA officials were justified because they could get higher salaries in the private sector.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly two dozen officials who received hefty performance bonuses last year at the Veterans Affairs Department also sat on the boards charged with recommending the payments.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press raise questions of conflict of interest in connection with the bonuses, some of which went to senior officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1.3 billion short and jeopardized veterans' health care.

The documents show that 21 of 32 officials who were members of VA performance review boards received more than half a million dollars in payments themselves.

Among them: nearly a dozen senior officials who devised the flawed 2005 budget. Also rewarded was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who manages a system with severe backlogs of veterans waiting for disability benefits.

Read the rest at AOL News

Related Link:
Report: VA officials exaggerating success

Related Link:
Report: VA claims averaging six months for response

Related Link:
Veterans Administration hands out $3.8 million in senior management bonuses

Related Link:
Testimony: Rural veterans lack VA care

Related Link:
AmVets: Washington is worst for vet claims

Related Link:
VA rejects proposed fixes for case backlog

Related Link:
Back pay late for thousands of disabled vets

Related Link:
Perspective: Harvard professor offers a solution to disability claim crisis

Related Link;
VA orders review of 1,400 hospitals and clinics

Related Link:
Perspective: For War’s Gravely Injured, Challenge to Find Care

Related Link:
Perspective: Straining to keep a promise

Related Link:
GAO: $3 billion Veterans Administration shortfall for care of Iraq vets