Sen. Tammy Baldwin ousts aide over VA controversy

The Milwaukee Journal reports:

Under fire for her office's inaction over alleged overmedication at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tomah, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin abruptly ousted one of her top state staffers late last week.

Marquette Baylor — deputy state director for Baldwin and chief of her Milwaukee office — was let go on Thursday without explanation. Baylor has been offered a cash payout as part of a severance package if the former aide agrees to keep her lips zipped.

"It looks like they're trying to pin the blame on her," a source said of Baylor's dismissal by Baldwin.

But Ryan Honl — a former Tomah VA employee who has acted as a whistle-blower — said Sunday that Baylor is just one of several Baldwin staffers who mishandled the matter and should be let go.

He said he talked with Baylor for two hours in late November about the problems at the Tomah medical center and that the Baldwin aide discouraged him from going public with his concerns, saying that doing so might get her and others fired.

Honl said he was not happy that Baldwin was offering Baylor a severance deal.

"I get run out of my job and she gets a golden parachute for (expletive) veterans?" Honl asked incredulously.

The great moments of socialized medicine.