A few additional things should be said about David Cord.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Cord’s promotion to director of VA Butler Healthcare in Butler Township. He has been director of the Erie VA Healthcare since December; before that, he was deputy director of the VA center in Pittsburgh.

“We are excited to bring Mr. Cord on board as the new director of VA Butler Healthcare,” said William Mills, the VA’s regional director, in a news release issued late Friday afternoon.

It’s the second such move in a year for Cord, and the succession of his transfers, from larger hospitals to smaller, appear to be less than promotions. One normally assumes the promotions would be from Butler to Erie, to Pittsburgh. Cord’s moves are in the opposite direction.

Cord, was deputy director of the Pittsburgh VA in November 2012 when a Legionnaire’s disease outbreak resulted in six patient deaths and 19 sickened.

Cord advised a spokesman not to alert the public about the Legionnaire’s outbreak, according to published news reports citing internal e-mails. Instead, Cord advised the spokesman to prepare a statement, in case “they come to us, which we are anticipating they will.”

In response, the spokesman wrote in an e-mail to a coworker that Cord “does not want to be proactive and go to the media with a statement.”

Cord later denied he had advised anyone to withhold information or to lie about the facts. That may be technically true — he did indicate he expected questions from the media, and he advised the spokesman to be prepared with a statement.

Nonetheless, the spokesman’s e-mail to an associate reflects his discomfort with Cord’s directive.

A year ago, when Cord was promoted as director of the Erie VA, it drew strong objections from the families of the Legionnaire’s victims and from U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair.

Murphy’s differences with Cord centered on the VA waiting list scandal that surfaced in the spring of 2014. In a series of heated telephone calls, Murphy said Cord told him veterans in Pittsburgh didn’t wait longer than 30 days for care, and that Pittsburgh didn’t keep a secret waiting list like the one in Phoenix that caused a national outcry.

But while Cord was talking with Murphy, VA Pittsburgh Director Terry Gerigk Wolf — Cord’s boss — was telling another congressman that a separate list did indeed exist, and that it included more than 700 veterans trying to enroll for care, some waiting longer than a year for their first appointment.

Wolf — who apparently was attempting to face the truth — got fired a few weeks later while Cord got promoted.

Murphy called that first promotion “incomprehensible and indefensible.” Butler’s Congressman Mike Kelly, R-3, was also bothered by the promotion. But he later said they’d spoken by telephone and Kelly said he told Cord he must perform his duties to the public’s satisfaction — and his duties included keeping the public — and Kelly’s office — informed.

Kelly and Murphy were unavailable for comment on Monday, which was Columbus Day, a federal holiday.

It must be noted that no problems have been reported regarding the medical care delivered to patients of the Butler VA. The problems in Butler have centered on the on-again, off-again, on-again construction of a new health care center, as well as the policymakers and overseers based in Washington.

When Cord begins his new job in Butler, we hope he does so with an understanding that the community expects sufficient, accurate and timely information from its VA. The unfortunate events in Pittsburgh must not be repeated here.

— T.A.H.