No Shame, Fired VA Director Sues

Former Phoenix VA director Helman suing to overturn firing 
KPHO News
By Phil Benson
By Jonathan Lowe
Updated: May 11, 2015

Sharon Helman, shown May 1, 2014, was fired soon after the passage last

year of the VA Accountability Act. She is now suing to get her job back.

(Source: KPHO/KTVK)

Despite being the most vilified person during the Phoenix VA scandal, former director Sharon Helman is suing the federal government. She wants her firing reversed.

Helman was fired soon after the passage last year of the VA Accountability Act. It allowed the VA Secretary to remove under-performing senior executives.

Those executives weren't given the right to an appeal, either. But an appeal is exactly what Helman said in her court filing that she deserves.

Helman's firing actually had nothing at all to do with the appointment and wait time scandal.

It was for, "accepting gifts and I think the term was 'conflict of interest,'" said David Lucier, president of the Arizona Veterans and Military Leadership Alliance.

Whatever the reason, paperwork obtained from the U.S. Court of Appeals reveals Helman is aiming to have her firing overturned.

"The first word that comes to mind is reprehensible," Lucier said. His organization has worked to improve veterans' medical care since Helman's exit. "The best, most immediate thing is that veterans are getting service faster."

Jeff Miller, chairman of the U.S. House Veteran Affairs Committee, has been an outspoken voice on accountability at the VA. In a statement, he said, "I think Sharon Helman's arguments will be about as successful in a court of law as they were in the court of public opinion."
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