VA official out as head of troubled Reno office

WASHINGTON — An official with the Department of Veterans Affairs who drew the ire of two Nevada members of Congress is departing as director of the Reno regional benefits office, the department confirmed on Tuesday.

Edward Russell, head of the Reno office since September 2009, is leaving the post on April 5, according to the VA. He is being reassigned to the position of special assistant to the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Field Operations in the Veterans Benefits Administration, the VA branch that processes applications for disability compensation, pensions and education benefits.

Russell had been in the cross hairs of Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev. The lawmakers who sit on congressional veterans affairs committees had urged his ouster after performance metrics and audits showed the Reno operation was among the poorer-performing units in the VA.

Further, Heller on CNN in May held up Russell as an example of a “bureaucracy problem in the VA.” Without mentioning him by name, Heller said, “We have a regional officer, a director, who won’t return my phone calls, or anybody else in our delegation.”

An Army veteran, Russell had been on administrative leave since July 9. The Reno office has been led by interim directors since then, including current Director Terri Beer, a temporary transfer from the VA office in Des Moines, Iowa.

Beer “will continue in her role as the acting director while VBA recruits for a permanent replacement,” the VA said in a statement in response to a query. The agency did not respond to follow-up questions about Russell’s new position.

The VA office in Reno processes claims for service members, their families and survivors in Nevada and in five counties in Northern California. About 300,000 veterans live in Nevada.

“Now is the time for the VA to find a highly qualified and experienced individual to lead the Reno Regional Office,” Titus said in a statement in which she also renewed a call for the regional office to be relocated to Las Vegas.

Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report. Contact Review-Journal Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@reviewjournal.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @STetreaultDC.