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Veterans Affairs facing another discrimination complaint

MADISON (AP) — A former Wisconsin National Guard spokesman filed another complaint Monday alleging the state Department of Veterans Affairs should have hired him for a communications job rather than the state restaurant association’s marketing director.

Tim Donovan, a white, 59-year-old retired lieutenant colonel who served in Iraq, alleges in documents filed with the state Equal Rights Division that the DVA discriminated against him because of his age and race. The complaint accuses DVA Secretary Ken Black of phasing old white men out of the agency.

In June, Randy Nitschke, 56, of Elkhorn was fired as the commandant of the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove. He also alleged he was part of a systematic effort to purge the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs of "old white guys."

Nitschke later filed a complaint with the state Equal Rights Division and said that in addition to himself, the agency's former public affairs officer, deputy secretary, Wisconsin Veterans Home at King commandant, budget official and division administrator have been demoted, pushed out or fired by Black. All were older white men.

At that time, Black issued a statement saying that he has no agenda to get rid of older white employees and criticized unnamed critics who he blamed for "a string of public attacks and scandals that have plagued" the agency during his tenure.