“(Paula Pedene) was a 20-year employee at the hospital who oversaw everything from news releases to the hospital newsletter to the annual Veterans Day parade. In 2010, Pedene joined a group that complained to VA’s upper management about the Phoenix hospital’s director. They alleged that the director had allowed budget shortfalls and berated subordinates. And it seemed to work. VA’s inspector general investigated and found an $11 million shortfall in the hospital’s budget. The director retired voluntarily. ‘I felt we had actually done the right thing,’ Pedene said. But that turned out to be the beginning of her troubles, not the end.”
- David Fahrenthold, The Washington Post
A SACRED DUTY is the true story of Paula Pedene, a visually impaired, decorated Navy veteran who was instrumental in exposing the corrupt leadership at the Veterans Administration hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. Hoping for a return to integrity, instead the new administration retaliated by stripping her of her position in public affairs and consigning her to the basement to work as a librarian.
The reprisal included a “30-day investigation” into bogus misconduct charges that stretched into more than eighteen months. Psychologically crippled by the attacks – and battling financial ruin, ruthless superiors, a skeptical media, and her two sons’ emotional crises – Pedene fought back, refusing to surrender to a system that was stacked against her.
Working alongside a bulldog congressional investigator, an ornery VA doctor, and a husband who believed in her, Pedene became a central figure in exposing a conspiracy that rocked the nation, killed hundreds of veterans, provoked nationwide outrage, and ultimately brought down the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Pedene’s memoir is a classic David vs. Goliath tale – one woman who loves her country and the veterans she serves against the government bureaucrats determined to silence her at any cost.
Paula Pedene
Paula Pedene, APR, Fellow PRSA has a well-earned reputation as a public relations strategist and counselor in both government and non-profit realms.
She currently serves as Executive Director of the nonprofit Honoring America’s Veterans and as Owner/Principal of her own public relations firm Paula Pedene & Associates. In these roles, she provides strategic counsel to senior leaders and managers and to build trusted relationships between the organizations and their stakeholders.
Pedene is a five-time PRSA Silver Anvil award recipient for Institutional Programs (2004) Reputation Management (2007) Community Outreach (2010, 2020) and Public Service (2020).
Her leadership awards include the Percy Award from the Phoenix PRSA Chapter, the Platinum Leadership Award from the PRSA Western District and the Senator John McCain Inspirational Leadership Award in Arizona.
She is a member of the PRSA College of Fellows, a member of the PRSA Board of Ethics and Professional Standards and she earned distinction as a PRSA PR Pro of the Year (2015) for her ethical stand as a Phoenix VA Whistleblower. In this realm she was able to help expose the VA Wait Time Scandal and call for change to legislation and accountability within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Doug Williams
Doug Williams is a playwright, author, and award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker. He is a former journalist; served as press secretary in the US Senate; and has overseen communications in both the public and private sectors.
His script based on the life of Barbara Jordan, Black Star Rising, has been honored in over 45 competitions worldwide—winning 12 best screenplay awards—and is in development for a feature film.
His previous books include a novel, Nowhere Man, which critics compared to Homeland and House of Cards, and a nonfiction book cowritten with a federal whistleblower, A Sacred Duty, which is also in development for a film.
He currently resides in Houston, Texas, with his wife Donna McKenzie.