In the shadow of embarrassing leadership failures at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities nationwide, Colorado veterans are not being spared the incompetence of this agency that is quickly becoming another major thorn in the side of a floundering Obama Administration.

Yesterday, CBS4 uncovered another disgraceful misstep at VA, as the Lakewood, Colo. office that processes disability claims mailed the sensitive records of other veterans to a former servicemember living in Weld County.

Thirty pages of names, social security numbers, and other personnel documents were sent to Korean War veteran Wayne Hayden.  Concerned about the obvious breach of privacy, Hayden approached Congressman Cory Gardner’s office about the situation.  It took a week for the VA to reply to Gardner’s office about the breach. While that time frame would be difficult for banking customers to accept, it looks as if that may be a lightning fast turn-around for VA, a pathetic commentary on the agency’s current situation.

In addition to this paperwork “mishap,” the CBS4 story also disclosed the loss of two laptops from a Denver VA testing lab this month.  As a result of this breach, 239 veterans were notified and offered credit monitoring services.

In finally calling for the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki yesterday, Senator Udall showed up late once again.  No word yet from our junior senator, Michael Bennet.  It will be interesting to see if he stands with America’s veterans, or with Obama, Shinseki, and the entrenched Washington bureaucracy.