VA Officer Misused Position

A Department of Veterans Affairs employee who flew more than 20 times from Florida to Washington while involved in an "inappropriate" relationship with a high-level VA official works at Bay Pines VA Medical Center in Pinellas County.

The department’s inspector general found Katherine Adair Martinez, deputy assistant secretary for information protection and risk management in the Office of Information and Technology, "misused her position when she took unfair advantage of an inappropriate personal relationship" with Robert Howard to transfer her job to Florida.

Trips cost $37,000

In the nine months after she moved, the inspector general said Martinez traveled to Washington 22 times "to accomplish tasks that she could easily do from Florida." The travel cost $37,000.

The relationship between Martinez and Howard, former assistant secretary for information and technology, started in April 2007 and continued several months after Howard left the VA in January, the inspector general’s report said.

"Ms. Martinez told us that for personal family-related reasons, she asked Mr. Howard if she could relocate from D.C. to a home that she owned in Florida near St. Petersburg," the report states. "She said that he agreed to allow her to work remotely from Florida on a trial basis.

"Mr. Howard told us that Ms. Martinez told him that there was family pressure for her to move to Florida and that she was going there one way or the other."

Howard agreed to the transfer, and Martinez moved to Bay Pines in July 2008.

The report also said that Martinez misused her position, abused her authority and engaged in prohibited personnel practices when she influenced a VA contractor and later VA subordinates to employ a friend.

Agency action urged

The report recommended that the agency take "appropriate administrative action" against Martinez and reconsider the decision to locate her at Bay Pines.

The details on the alleged improprieties were in two scathing inspector general reports issued this week.

The reports also said that thousands of technology office employees received a total of $24 million in bonuses during a two-year period, some under questionable circumstances.

VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said in an e-mail that the agency was extremely concerned about the inspector general’s findings and would pursue a thorough review.

Roberts’ e-mail did not address a request from The Associated Press to speak with Martinez.

In a February 2008 article in FedTech Magazine, Martinez described herself as a "government brat," noting that her father was in the U.S. Coast Guard and she grew up in and around the nation’s capital.

"I care about Washington. I just care about government, and I care about IT. I believe in public service," Martinez said.