Sarah Palin Might Get Scott Brown’s Job at the VA

Scott Brown photo by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/ Getty Images. Sarah Palin photo via Gage Skidmore on Flickr/Creative Commons

Scott Brown may not end up with the job he longs for at the head of the VA.

The Army National Guard veteran, onetime senator, and New Hampshire election fraud theorist, may end up being passed over for the White House job in favor of Sarah Palin, the Alaskan politician-turned-TV star. The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump is strongly considering Palin to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Politico.

Brown has had his eye on the job since the election. He met with Trump about it on November 21, and he advocated for streamlining and privatizing some parts of the VA—which administers health care services to veterans and has been plagued by scandal and mismanagement—and addressing veteran suicide.

“I think the toughest job in the Cabinet is leading the V.A., because while it has so many great angels working there, it has great problems as well,” Brown said at the time.

Gov. Charlie Baker said recently he thought Brown is a “worthwhile candidate” for the post. Sen. Elizabeth Warren also had kind words for him. “I have no doubt that he would put his heart and soul into trying to help veterans,” she said today on Boston Public Radio.

Meanwhile Palin, the 2008 vice presidential candidate, apparently has the support of Steve Bannon, the Trump strategist and former Breitbart head.

She isn’t a veteran, and would be the first person to head the VA without having served. Her son is a veteran of the Iraq War. She has reportedly also been considered to lead the Department of the Interior.

Palin supports a voucher program, which would let veterans seek care outside the VA, and she advocated for reform in a speech the Conservative Political Action Conference last year.

“America hands over her sons and her daughters with the promise that they’re going to be taken care of,” Palin said then. “We can’t wait for D.C. to fix their bureaucratic blunders. This bureaucracy is killing our vets. They wait for months, they wait for years to get treatment at the VA, and they’re losing hope.”

Both Brown and Palin were early supporters of the Trump candidacy.