Walsh: IL's Duckworth Humiliated, 'Slandered' Whistleblowers

Two Illinois Dept. of Veterans Affairs (DVA) whistleblowers are suing Tammy Duckworth, the Democrat running to defeat Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), for wrongful termination and humiliation. Duckworth allegedly told one employee to “keep [her] mouth shut” if she wanted to keep her job. 

Walsh alleged Duckworth has slandered the former employees. 

Duckworth has continued to dodge the issue in interviews, even after the Washington Free Beacon revealed an internal email in which she admitted that “screwed up” in wrongfully firing the whistleblower and called on her staff to make up reasons to justify the firing. 

“If I find a government employee who is not doing his or her job, who is wasting taxpayer dollars, I will not hesitate to get rid of that person,” Duckworth said during a local radio interview. 

Walsh said he found it “disturbing” Duckworth “would once again drag these two whistleblowers’ reputations through the mud in order to save her own campaign.”

“These two women work to serve Veterans, and Ms. Duckworth is quick to throw them under the bus and imply they didn’t do their jobs.” Walsh said. “Ms. Duckworth indicated to the press that she had a just cause for firing the whistleblower, but what isn’t clear is that if she terminated the employee for a good reason then why did she even acknowledge that she ‘screwed up’?”

Walsh pressed further: “Why did she demand her staff to give her a reason to justify her attempt to silence a whistleblower? I believe Ms. Duckworth owes these two women and all who serve our veterans an apology for publicly slandering them.”

Walsh noted that at the Illinois VA, Duckworth “misreported or misspent $4 million in tax dollars.” House Chairman Jeff Miller revealed Thursday “the federal VA is subject to subpoena for its abuse of conference spending,” in which Duckworth played a key role with the planning of a $2.5 million Hawaiian event.  

“It’s clear Ms. Duckworth takes no issue with tarnishing the public reputations of those who dedicate their careers to serving our veterans,” Walsh said. “The irony of Ms. Duckworth’s statement is that if anyone is guilty of tax dollar waste it would be Ms. Duckworth.”