The Veteran Affairs Inspector General bungled the report on the investigation into the Phoenix hospital that put veterans on a wait list where they died waiting for care. IG Richard Griffin’s first mistake was sending a draft of the report to the deputy VA secretary for prior review. Almost predictably, the deputy secretary, Sloan Gibson, replied with some suggested changes. On Aug. 4, Gibson wrote to the IG, “I was surprised to see no reference to the allegation of 40 deaths. Normally, your reports clearly address whether an allegation was substantiated or not. What was the conclusion and is there a reason this very serious allegation doesn’t get directly addressed?” This change, according to the Washington Examiner, discredited the allegations made by whistleblowers in the VA that those veterans died on the secret wait list. Griffen further polluted his role as an independent investigator in the VA by making those changes without protest. He wrote back saying, “the mysterious 40 deaths is being added to the draft.” With that edit, IG report on the VA’s secret waiting lists was reduced to a leaflet defending the most reprehensible actions of the bureaucracy. More…