Private Apology for VA Nurse Investigated for Sedition

[Rose Siding]

An Albuquerque Veterans Affairs nurse has received a bit of the vindication she sought for wrongly being accused of sedition: An admission from a top official that the agency was wrong, plus a private apology from her boss.

The admission, which was made public this week by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, comes in a letter dated March 14 from Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson to U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman.

It regards a letter to the editor written by psychiatric nurse Laura Berg that was published in September in the Alibi, an alternative newspaper in Albuquerque.

In the letter, Berg criticized the federal government on several issues, including its actions in Iraq and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
....
Within weeks of her letter's publication, Berg said Mel Hooker, Veterans Affairs Medical Center human resources chief, and other staff confiscated her work computer and later told her she was being investigated for possible sedition.
....
"My concern about just having a private apology is because this happened to me it has frightened other people. It was intimidating," Berg said. "I appreciate having a personal apology saying, 'Yes, it was an overreaction,' but my concern is for the wider environment."

http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19858_4630353,00.html

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I agree with Berg, there needs to be written protection for VA workers.

[soothsayer]

2. They're still after that nurse who pursues agent orange and DU

When are they going to apologize to her?