WASHINGTON (AP) — Two high-ranking officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs have been issued subpoenas to testify at a congressional hearing Monday night on allegations that they manipulated the agency’s hiring system for their own gain.
The VA’s acting inspector general said in a report that Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves forced lower-ranking regional managers to accept job transfers against their will. Rubens and Graves then stepped into the vacant positions themselves, keeping their pay while reducing their responsibilities, the IG said.
Rubens, director of the Philadelphia regional office for the Veterans Benefits Administration, and Graves, director of the St. Paul, Minnesota regional office for the VBA, face possible criminal prosecution.
The two are among five high-ranking VA officials who received subpoenas to appear at a hearing Monday night conducted by the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Acting Inspector General Linda Halliday said in a report in September that Rubens and Graves “inappropriately used their positions of authority for personal and financial benefit” when they forced lower-ranking officials to transfer out of their positions and then filled the vacancies themselves.
Rubens and Graves kept their salaries of $181,497 and $173,949, respectively, even though the new positions they took as directors at regional offices in Philadelphia and St. Paul had less responsibility and a lower pay range than their previous positions. Rubens was a deputy undersecretary at the VA’s Washington headquarters, while Graves was director of VBA’s Eastern Region.
Allison Hickey, the former head of the Veterans Benefits Administration, resigned last month amid questions about a backlog in disability claims and Hickey’s role in the transfers obtained by Rubens and Graves. The IG’s report said Hickey and other top VA officials may have encouraged the scheme.
Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson has said he would decide by Oct. 31 whether to recommend disciplinary action against Rubens or Graves.
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