Veterans Administration removes Navy Veterans Association from directory

It looks like U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) got some pretty speedy action from the Veterans Administration in response to a letter he sent yesterday questioning the continued listing of the nonprofit U.S. Navy Veterans Association in an online directory maintained by the agency of Veterans Service Organizations.

Check out the directory today, and there's no sign of the group. But here was the listing just yesterday, before Webb's letter arrived.

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The group had lingered on the site even after the March publication of a six-month long investigation by the St. Petersburg Times revealing questionable practices by the group. They popped up in Virginia because a top official with the group spent more than $67,000 in campaign contributions during the 2009 election and then the group secured a change in Virginia law governing veterans charities during the last legislative session.

The VA makes clear that inclusion in the directory does not constitute an endorsement, but Webb questioned whether the group deserved a spot on the Web site given troublesome revelations about the group, including that the Florida newspaper was unable to locate 84 of its 85 state and national directors and officers, despite exhaustive public record searches.