Contact: Alec Zimmerman
(608) 257-4765

[Madison, WI]— Last Sunday marked the three-year anniversary of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General filing an official report on the abuses at the Tomah VA Hospital. Senator Tammy Baldwin would eventually receive this report and fail to act on it for months while veterans at Tomah were in danger.

Read the timeline of Democrats in Wisconsin ignoring veterans at the Tomah VA Hospital below:

A Timeline of the Tomah VA Scandal, starting in March 2014
March 2014
March 12th, The Department of Veterans Affairs OIG Office Files the Inspection Report related to the Tomah VA Hospital

January 2015
January 8th, Center for Investigative Reporting publishes first article documenting the over prescription of painkillers at the Tomah VA. (Glantz, A. “Report: Tomah VA hospital overprescribed painkillers”. Center for Investigative Reporting. 1/8/2015 Web. 1/5/2015)

January 19th, Senator Tammy Baldwin is revealed as the only member of Congress to have received an official Inspector General’s report on the tragedies at Tomah in August. She would fail to act on this report for over four months. (Slack, Donovan. “Sen. Baldwin had Tomah VA report for months”. Appleton Post Crescent. 1/19/2015 Web.)

January 22nd, Marquette Baylor was let go from her position as Deputy State Director for Senator Baldwin. Baylor would be offered a severance package if she agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding Baldwin’s office’s handling of the crisis at the Tomah VA. (Bice, D. “Sen. Tammy Baldwin ousts aide over VA controversy”. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 1/26/2015 Web. 2/10/2015)

January 24th, Baldwin met with the family of Jason Simcakoski who died of a prescription drug overdose while under care at the Tomah VA. Jason’s widow would comment on the meeting, “She said (she’s) so sorry for our loss, and that she takes very serious those things, but not, ‘Sorry for not reading the report,’”(Slack, D. “Baldwin’s handling of VA report ‘frustrating’ for widow”. Green Bay Press Gazette. 1/27/2015 Web. 2/10/2015)

February 2015
February 18th, Baldwin hired the Democratic Party’s top lawyer Marc Elias. Elias is widely seen as a top attorney for Democrats in controversy, serving as Hillary Clinton’s General Counsel during her 2016 Presidential run. (Bice, D. “Tammy Baldwin’s attorney defends firing of staffer over Tomah VA”. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/18/2015 Web. 3/3/2015)

March 2015
March 13th, Baldwin releases report from Marc Elias acknowledging the mistakes that were made by her and her staff, months after veterans had died. (Bice, D. “Baldwin disciplines top two aides for Tomah VA missteps”. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Web. 3/13/17)

October 2015
The Union President at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center tried to alert congressional Democrats about the over-prescription of opiates at the facility as early as 2009 — five years before a 35-year-old Marine died there when doctors prescribed him a fatal mixture of drugs, according to memos obtained by USA TODAY. (Slack, D. “Tomah VA rep sought Feingold, Kind’s help in ’09” The Appleton Post Crescent, 10/17/2015 Web. 11/4/2015)

January 2017
Committee assignments for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGA) show that Senator Baldwin has fled the committee. HSGA is the committee that has direct oversite of the ongoing scandal at the Tomah VA, and is responsible for reforms to the facility. (About the Committee, U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. Web.)

March 2017
Records from the Federal Election Commission show that Baldwin has continued to pay Marc Elias and Perkins Coie since the breaking of the scandal at the Tomah VA. (Federal Election Commision. “Tammy Baldwin”, Web.)

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