Barack Obama

Veterans extract promises from VA

Monday, May 23, 2005

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
BY CHERYL L. REED

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson relented to pressure from Illinois veterans and senators Friday and promised to set up a special unit to re-examine old disability claims of veterans here who feel their cases were treated unfairly.

Speaking before several hundred veterans at a town hall meeting Friday, Nicholson -- after prodding from boisterous veterans -- also agreed to hire more staff to process veterans' disability claims in the Chicago VA office.

"We are committed to doing what is right for all veterans," he said. "If that entails setting up a special operation here in Illinois to review your claims . . . we will do that. We want each of you to feel you have been treated fairly and equitably."

Appeals take years, veterans say

Nicholson's comments came just minutes after his undersecretary for benefits, Vice Adm. Daniel Cooper, told a crowd of reporters that the VA legally couldn't set up any special unit to look at old claims, despite decades of low payments awarded to Illinois' wounded veterans.

An inspector general's investigation released Thursday shows that Illinois has ranked dead last in disability payments to veterans for the last 20 years. In 2004, the Chicago regional office, which handles veterans claims statewide, paid an average of $6,961 per disabled veteran. In contrast, New Mexico, which ranked No. 1 in the nation, paid out an average of $12,004.

The inspector general's report followed a Chicago Sun-Times series that revealed veterans here have received among the lowest disability payments in the nation since 1934.

Cooper said he didn't know what exactly had caused the low awards, but the only remedy he could offer Illinois veterans was to resubmit their claims again or file an appeal -- a process that veteran advocates say takes a minimum of two years.

"I don't think we can set up -- under law -- a different system [in Illinois]," Cooper said. "We have to operate within the law and the regulations as laid down."

Veterans want more specifics

Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, who hosted the town hall meeting, said Nicholson's apparent about-face came just before they took the stage when they cornered him and said he needed to make sure that vets who felt shortchanged five to 20 years ago would get a fair review.

"He said: 'I'm going to make that commitment.' And I think he did make that commitment," said Durbin.

Obama added: "Those are two very specific promises that were made in front of cameras, in front of veterans, and in front of myself and Senator Durbin, and we will hold him to it."

Both senators were beaming about Nicholson's unexpected promises. But their enthusiasm was bridled with some skepticism.

"We had a stenographer here recording everything that the secretary said," said Obama. "So all the promises that have been made we will expect to be kept."

Veterans who attended the meeting Friday were not so enthusiastic.

"He gave answers," said Jack Picciolo, a Vietnam veteran, "but they weren't specific enough."

Picciolo was with a group of veterans who held protest signs outside the atrium at Wright Community College but were not allowed to bring their posters inside where the meeting took place.

"When they asked him if he was going to hire more people, he just danced and danced and danced around the question," said Tom Brophy, also a Vietnam veteran.

Nicholson repeatedly told veterans that if the Chicago office needed more people they would get them. But he didn't pledge to add anyone until veterans began yelling: "Are you going to hire more people?"

Then Nicholson paused and answered: "I'd say, yes, we are."

The gathering of mostly gray-haired veterans at times became chaotic as people shouted out questions. At one point, Vietnam veteran Larry Bychowski stood up and said: "I have not heard this big of a snow job in my entire life." Then he waved letters he had for the senators and the secretary.

Another veteran demanded to know why his friend in Texas was getting more money for the exact same injuries as he had. "I'll be dead and buried before I ever get my money," the veteran said.

Most veterans' questions were quite detailed, forcing Nicholson to turn to Cooper and VA Inspector General Richard Griffin for several answers.

Earlier Friday, Nicholson appeared at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital for the opening of two centers, one for spinal cord injuries and the other for blind rehabilitation.

There Nicholson deflected questions about the inspector general's report that concluded Illinois' demographics and the subjectivity of federal disability raters here have contributed to the disparity in disability pay.

"It's a complicated system with complicated set of facts that has 60 years worth of data," Nicholson said. "So there's no easy answers."