State legislators back Veterans Affairs
Lawmakers demand auditor’s documents
Some of the top legislators overseeing the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs sided with the agency Wednesday, criticizing a recent state audit and asking auditors to turn over documents to them in two days.
The auditor’s office received a letter Wednesday signed by six representatives and five senators. The letter accused auditors of bias in an audit released Aug. 1 that concluded “a culture of fear and intimidation” exists at Veterans Affairs.
“The report appears to not include all of the information gathered but information that would only serve to highlight a biased perspective,” the legislators wrote.
All but one of the signatories is Republican, that exception being Sen. J.J. Dossett, an Owasso Democrat. It was signed by Sen. Frank Simpson,
chairman of the Senate committee that oversees Veterans Affairs, and Rep. Chris Kannady, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
In concluding a toxic workplace environment exists at Veterans Affairs, the audit relied in large part on the opinions of hundreds of anonymous agency employees and former employees. Veterans Affairs leaders have accused auditors of cherry-picking negative responses from disgruntled employees while ignoring uncritical answers.
The 11 legislators made a similar insinuation, requesting Auditor Gary Jones explain why he “only included the negative feedback from the surveys” in his report. They also requested copies of all employee surveys and survey responses.
“They’re attacking the messenger,” said Jones, a Republican, during an interview Wednesday. “They’re not addressing the issues, they’re not addressing the concerns. There are major concerns in that report.
“We’ll furnish information to them but I’m extremely disappointed they did not address one single finding in the audit, or concern, other than casting aspersions on us and trying to discredit the audit as a whole.”
Jones says it’s unreasonable for legislators to expect his office to produce the requested documents by Friday. The legislators’ letter was dated Aug. 13 but received by the auditor’s office Wednesday morning.
“We’ll deal with it,” Jones said. “We’re a constitutional body. We don’t report to the Legislature directly, and we definitely don’t report to a handful of senators and representatives individually.”
The top signatories on the legislators’ letter are ardent backers of Veterans Affairs leadership and its controversial decision to close a southeast Oklahoma veterans center in the coming years.
Simpson and Kannady wrote a bill, which was signed into law in April, authorizing Veterans Affairs to close the Talihina Veterans Center. A co-sponsor of that bill, Republican Sen. Paul Rosino of Oklahoma City, also signed the letter to auditors this week.
Jerry Pearce, who leads a group trying to save the Talihina Veterans Center, said the legislators’ letter is further proof that Veterans Affairs is attempting to discredit a fair and accurate state audit.
“If the auditors are required to provide the legislators and Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs with the surveys and responses from the employees, then it’s going to put these employees at risk of being terminated,” Pearce said. “This is just another example of how vindictive ODVA can be, which has been pointed out by the audit itself.”