Administrator overseeing Marion VA gets promoted

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Peter Almenoff, the administrator who previously had regional oversight responsibility for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Marion, has been promoted to assist in administering quality control for the entire department.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, and Barack Obama, D-Chicago, as well as U.S. Reps. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, and John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, have asked VA secretary James Peake for an explanation why Almenoff — director of the VA Heartland Network during the period when several patients at the Marion facility died in surgery — would be promoted to such a high-level position before an investigation into the incidents are complete.

"After last year’s unacceptable tragedies and negligent administration of the Marion VA, it’s deeply troubling that Secretary Peake would promote the individual apparently responsible for mismanagement of the facility to lead the department’s health quality and safety efforts," Obama said in a written statement. "There are too many unanswered questions about Dr. Almenoff’s role in the mismanagement of Marion that it seems imprudent to move forward with this appointment without further explanation."

Shimkus said veterans have lost trust in the VA and it must be earned back.

"Promoting someone at this time who had been in the chain of command…sends the wrong message to those who have put their lives on the line for this nation," Shimkus said.