Special effort reunites vets with money

Wisconsin's treasury and veterans affairs departments say they have found  $76,418.20 for 293 veterans. That's an average of about $261 per person.

Officials merged a WDVA list of vets with the names in treasury's Unclaimed Property Fund, then mailed claims forms to the 3,000 veterans. About one in 10 have made claims for amounts ranging from $5 to just under $4,000, according to a press release from WDVA Secretary John Scocos and Treasurer Kurt Schuller.

There is about $400 million in the unclaimed property account. You can check for your name on the  State Treasurer’s website: www.wismissingmoney.com.

Another WDVA member resigns

Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs board member Marv Freedman resigned today.  In a letter to Gov. Scott Walker, Freedman said:

"When you signed AB 96 into law last summer, you relegated the board into irrelevance and ensured the politicalization of the position of Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs ... a position that could now change with the election of each new governor. ... Then you made your subsequent appointment of a Department Secretary ... despite compelling reasons to appoint someone else, including, but not limited to, the findings of the Legislative Audit Bureau ... which detailed substantive management failures of your appointee during his original tenure....I have decided that I cannot in good conscience continue to serve on the Board when my presence could well be construed as my tacit approval of your ill-advised decision(s)."

Scocos lands post in Walker administration

From Wisconsin State Journal politics writer Mary Spicuzza

John Scocos is back.

The former secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs has landed a job with the Walker Administration.

Scocos attended a Cabinet meeting Tuesday afternoon, where it was announced that he's been named deputy secretary of the state Department of Regulation and Licensing.

Scocos was fired from his post in Nov. 2009, just two months after returning from a tour in Iraq. He was replaced with Ken Black, an agency official he had recently demoted.

Scocos was secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2003 until last year, is and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

The Veterans Affairs board had been signaling disapproval of the agency's leadership for months leading up to Scocos' firing. But the board members pushing for his removal had been appointed by former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.