CULTURE OF CORRUPTION (AND NEGLECT): Tammy Baldwin Paid Clinton Lawyer $90K For Crisis Control After VA Scandal.

Baldwin, who was first elected to the Senate in 2012, was the only member of Congress from Wisconsin to receive an official federal government inspector general report warning of the over-prescription of narcotics given to veterans at the Tomah VA facility in her state. The abuses at the facility ultimately led to the death of a Marine.

A memo was first circulated in 2009 warning of the dangerous amounts of narcotics prescribed to veterans at the Tomah VA facility by Dr. David Houlihan, the Tomah VA chief of staff.

Workers at the facility were hesitant to speak out against Dr. Houlihan, who earned the nickname “the candy man” from his prescriptions, due to fear of losing their jobs.

“It is a known fact that if providers or pharmacists refuse to follow Dr. Houlihan’s orders, they will be yelled at and perhaps fired,” the memo stated.

In 2014, five years after the initial warning, a Marine was prescribed a deadly amount of drugs by the medical center and overdosed. Dr. Houlihan was fired from the Tomah VA in 2015.

It was later discovered that Baldwin was the only member of Congress from Wisconsin to receive the inspector general report on the abuses at Tomah. Baldwin did not take action until it became public nearly four months later and the veteran had died.

Marquette Baylor, the former deputy state director for Baldwin, was fired from her position following the controversy. Baylor was offered a severance package if she were to sign a confidentiality agreement on the matter. Baylor rejected the offer.

Baldwin tapped Marc Elias, a partner at the D.C.-based Perkins Coie law firm, to help with crisis control on the scandal.

“Shameful” doesn’t even begin to cover Baldwin’s inaction, but give her credit for being pro-active enough to hire “the ‘go-to fixer’ for Democrats in trouble.”