Feingold Refutes Claim He Knew Of Tomah Problems In 2008

Democratic U.S Senate candidate Russ Feingold is disputing Republican claims that he knew about over-prescription of drugs at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center as early as 2008.

GOP party officials says a union leader at the Tomah VA said in 2009 that members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation knew her concerns about medical staff writing too many narcotics prescriptions for veterans.

Republicans claim Feingold, who was serving in the Senate at the time, received the complaints and did nothing. But Feingold, speaking at Marquette University on Tuesday, said his office never heard the concerns and blamed the allegations on now-incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who is facing Feingold in a rematch election in November.

“Using a tragedy involving our fighting men and women as a way to try to get yourself re-elected is really kind of pathetic,” Feingold said.

It was Johnson, Feingold charged, who failed to take action after learning of the problems at Tomah when he was elected in 2010.

A VA inspector general ruled deficiencies in care at the Tomah medical center contributed to a veteran’s death in 2014.