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VA officials no-shows at congressional hearing

WASHINGTON - The House Veterans Affairs committee voted Wednesday to subpoena testimony from five VA officials, including the Philadelphia director, after they did not show up for an investigative hearing to which they had been called to testify.

WASHINGTON - The House Veterans Affairs committee voted Wednesday to subpoena testimony from five VA officials, including the Philadelphia director, after they did not show up for an investigative hearing to which they had been called to testify.

The vote represents the first time the committee has filed a subpoena for individuals, rather than documents, and came after the VA's top watchdog asked prosecutors to investigate whether the agency's Philadelphia director, Diana Rubens, broke the law by orchestrating her own assignment to the job.

As the hearing began, a placard bearing Rubens' name sat at the center of a long, empty table reserved for the VA officials.

"I want to make it clear: This is not a partisan witch hunt," Rep. Jeff Miller (R., Fla.), the committee's chairman, said before the vote. "And I am not trying to impair any potential criminal prosecution or administrative actions, which is the exact reason I did not request the Department of Justice . . . here to testify today."

In a letter to Miller on Tuesday, Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said the agency had "strong concerns" about employees testifying in light of the ongoing criminal review and the VA's own disciplinary process. Gibson had offered to testify in their place, but Miller declined, saying that would present a conflict, since Gibson is charged with deciding whether the employees, including Rubens, will be disciplined.

Gibson's concern did not sway the committee, which issued subpoenas for Rubens; Danny Pumill, the principal deputy undersecretary for benefits; Kimberly Graves, director of the St. Paul regional office; Antione Waller, director of the Baltimore regional office; and Robert McKenrick, director of the Los Angeles regional office and a former director of the Philadelphia office. Rubens and Graves have been accused of forcing McKenrick and Waller out of their posts so they could take their jobs.

All five have been called to testify at a Nov. 2 hearing.

This is only the latest controversy to befall the Philadelphia office, which oversees benefits for 825,000 veterans and has been described as the most troubled VA benefits office in the country.

On Wednesday, VA Deputy Inspector General Linda Halliday testified that the review sparked by Rubens' relocation uncovered that the VA had relocated several senior officials as a way of circumventing pay freezes instituted in 2012 because of concerns with the agency's large backlog of veterans claims.

Allison Hickey, the VA's undersecretary for benefits, who had been accused of helping Rubens arrange her relocation to Philadelphia, resigned last week after facing calls for her departure.

The scrutiny on the VA's relocation program began in March, after members of the House committee questioned the nearly $300,000 spent to relocate Rubens from Virginia, where she worked in the VA's Washington headquarters, to Havertown when she became director of the Philadelphia office last year.

In a report released last month, the VA Office of Inspector General found Rubens had pined for the Philadelphia job for years, in part because she wanted to be closer to family in Wilmington. Halliday said Rubens was involved in arranging her own reassignment to the job, a position that had far fewer responsibilities than her previous position but the same pay.

Two days after agreeing to take the job, Rubens signed a letter saying she would not accept unless the VA approved her participation in a benefits program that would provide assistance in selling her house, according to Halliday. The program - which the VA announced Wednesday has been discontinued - was meant in part to lure applicants for hard-to-fill positions.

Rubens was approved a few days later. The VA ultimately paid $224,500 through the program to the government contractor who bought her house when it did not sell, plus about $50,000 in other relocation expenses.

Rubens is on the job and has not been placed on administrative leave since the report was released. She has not returned several requests for comment made through the spokeswoman at the Philadelphia office.

Halliday said Wednesday that Rubens had misused her position and "cost the federal government" hundreds of thousands of dollars. She said the findings warranted a referral to the Justice Department.

Halliday said that since she made that referral, federal prosecutors had told her only that they were evaluating the evidence.

Dale Barnett, national commander of the American Legion, canceled a trip to Illinois to attend the hearing.

"On Nov. 2, we expect to see answers when they come back," Barnett said after the hearing. "That's what the American Legion has been asking for."

tnadolny@philly.com 610-313-8205 @tricianadolny