Vet Director Quits After Official Fired State Aide Resigns In Wake Of Sexual Harassment Probe At Facility For Elderly Low-Income Veterans

Gov. Gary Locke’s chief of veterans affairs has resigned in the wake of the firing of the head of the Washington Veterans’ Home at Retsil after investigators found evidence of sexual harassment at the facility, the governor’s office said Tuesday.

Locke on Monday accepted the resignation of Beau Bergeron with “deep regret,” after the official said he thought it would be in the department’s best interests that he resign to promote healing in the agency, said Marylou Flynn, Locke’s press secretary.

She said Harry Wedington, the superintendent at the home for elderly low-income and infirm veterans and their spouses, was fired last Tuesday after a long investigation of Wedington’s treatment of his staff. The probe was launched in February by the Locke administration and followed three internal investigations dating back to 1994, all of which cleared Wedington of wrongdoing.

State officials, who hired independent investigators, found evidence of serious problems, said Dennis Karras, state director of personnel.

“What we found as a result of our two-month investigation was that there was unwelcome sexual attention, there were cases of retaliation, there was a hostile work environment, and previous internal investigations were inadequate,” he said.

Investigators found no evidence of mistreatment or harassment of any of the 300 residents of the home.

There was no evidence that Bergeron, a spit-and-polish former military man, was involved with alleged sexual harassment and mismanagement at the home, Karras said.

Bergeron said he resigned because “it is the right thing to do. You gotta be there when it’s good and you also gotta be there when it’s bad. You need to accept responsibility.”

The turmoil surrounding the investigations hurt the agency and could hurt the veterans the agency serves, he said. “As part of the healing process, I just accepted the responsibility and thought it would be a good idea to leave so the agency could move forward.

“I wish I had known then what I know now,” he said, adding that he had not been properly informed at the extent of the problems until after the last investigation.

Wedington did not return a message left at the veterans’ home. His telephone number at his home in Tacoma is unpublished, an operator said.

Karras said Bergeron, a former Army colonel and decorated Vietnam veteran, felt he should step down since he had overseen three previous investigations, the results of which differed from those of the most recent probe.

According to documents released by Karras’ office, the most recent investigation included interviews with nearly 100 people, including dozens of staff members at the home as well as with Bergeron and Wedington.