Today, Mike Bost, candidate for U.S. Congress (IL-12), called for the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs (VA) Eric Shinseki and the need for a full investigation into the growing VA scandal amid allegations of excessive wait lines, delayed treatment and falsifying records.
"It's time for accountability and solutions to this growing problem," said Bost who served as a U.S. Marine. "There is no reason why we can't have both in government. We, as citizens, should demand for it and the first step is for Secretary Shinseki to take responsibility and resign."
Last week, Secretary Shinseki's testimony before a Senate panel did not provide a vote of confidence in the VA's ability to get this situation under control. The Washington Post's opinion piece, the following day, called on him to resign and added:
"Worse was Shinseki's response when he finally appeared before a congressional committee Thursday to
answer questions about the scandal. He refused to acknowledge any systemic problem and declined to
commit to do much of anything, insisting on waiting for the results of yet another investigation."
"Secretary Shinseki has served his country honorably as a Vietnam veteran, a General and later as Army Chief of Staff however, we must have three things in place to move forward: acknowledgement of the problem, solutions to fix it and someone who has the confidence of the public in getting the job done. Unfortunately, Secretary Shinseki has none of these and therefore, it is best for him to resign."