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HILL COUNTRY VETERANS COUNCIL 1700 Sidney Baker, Suite 100 |
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Walter Schellhase, President Bill Stacy, Vice President Bill Bacon, Past President Murphy Chesney, Board Member Joe Benham, Board Member Bill Bowden, Board Member |
20 May, 2001 |
Gene Higgins, Board Member Jack Ledford, Board Member Ben Low, Board Member Gene Richie, Board Member Joe Strange, Board Member
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President
George W. Bush Dear
Mr. President: This
past Friday I had on of the most disappointing and embarrassing
experiences of my past 20 years dealing with the Washington
bureaucracy.
You have said on numerous occasions “the Government was the
people’s Government”.
My experience last Friday clearly indicates that your message has
not reached some members of your cabinet and their staff. Last
Friday, as President of the Hill Country Veterans Council representing
over 16,000 Veterans in the Texas Hill Country, I had a confirmed
appointment with Secretary Principi.
My appointment was made by his office in July and reconfirmed on
Tuesday prior to departing for DC on Wednesday morning.
Secretary Principi did not keep this appointment.
His staff was totally unaware of what I was there for even though
I had provided a “talking paper” (copy attached) for his review
prior to our meeting. The
embarrassing part of the occasion was that I was escorted to the
Secretary’s office by Michelle and told she would inform the Secretary
that I had arrived. About
15 minutes later a person named Chris informed me that the Secretary was
out of town. Even though
representing the Secretary, Chris knew absolutely nothing about why I
was in the office. Judy made all arrangements for this meeting. Once Judy was located, she informed me she had called my office after I had departed Kerrville for DC to inform me the Secretary would be out of town. With this bit of information, I excused myself and flew back to Texas at considerable expense to myself and the Hill Country Veterans Council. Judy indicated she would schedule another meeting at sometime convenient for the Secretary. At
your next cabinet meeting I would suggest you reiterate the fact that
you believe “the Government is the people’s Government” and does
not belong to the bureaucracy. When
appointments are make with the people they should be kept, especially
when the subject is health care for our Veterans. Sincerely,
Walter Schellhase cc:
Secretary Principi
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