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POPSGovernment watchdogs fear bill undermines them They remain puzzled about why Congress is moving to shift their status. “The question is: how is making someone political going to make them more independent?” said a source within the IG community. Combined with the Walpin firing, the legislation has left several IGs anxious about their positions in the Obama administration as they move forward with investigations of government waste and fraud. If the bill is enacted, there is concern in the IG community that if the IGs pushed too hard with ongoing probes, Obama would not appoint them to their current positions. “You put the two together and people get really nervous,” said the source.
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POPSA Brief History of White House Thuggery
"Keep up the heat" translated into Organizing for America/Democratic National Committee attack ads on moderate Democrats who have revolted against Obamacare's high costs and expansive government powers over medical decisions. Looks like there won't be a health care beer summit anytime soon. The CBO and the Blue Dogs got off easy compared to inspectors general targeted by Team Obama goons. Former AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin was slimed as mentally incompetent ("confused" and "disoriented") after blowing the whistle on several cases of community service tax fraud, including the case of Obama crony Kevin Johnson. Johnson is the NBA star turned Sacramento mayor who ran a federally funded nonprofit group employing AmeriCorps volunteers, who were exploited to perform campaign work for Johnson and to provide personal services (car washes, errands) to Johnson and his staff. Walpin filed suit last week to get his job back -- and to defend the integrity and independence
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POPS Watchdog Out. Lapdog In. required that all Amtrak documents be "pre-screened" (and in some cases redacted) before being turned over to the inspector general's office; and taken control of the inspector general's $5 million portion of federal stimulus spending. Moreover, the report revealed, Amtrak regularly retained outside law firms shielded from IG reach. In another case, Amtrak's Law Department appeared to meddle in an inspector general investigation of an outside financial adviser suspected of inflating fees. The consultant ran to the Law Department when the IG demanded documents, and the Law Department repudiated the IG's instructions on complying with a subpoena. These interventions (ongoing since 2007) have "systematically violated the letter and spirit of the Inspector General Act," according to Grassley. IG staffers now fear retaliation -- and with good reason. (Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold "retired", dismissal of Gerald Walpin, financial shenanigans by Obama cronies)
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POPSInspector General firing - emails deleated etc. The Corporation also stood to receive vast amounts of new funding from the $5.7 billion Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which would triple the size of AmeriCorps. And in the midst of that, here was the agency's inspector general saying he might re-open an investigation into an embarrassing episode involving hundreds of thousands of mis-spent dollars and a politically prominent supporter of the president. But there is no doubt that, whatever the other reasons, the board feared that a revival of a scandal they thought was in the past would be embarrassing to the newly-prominent AmeriCorps. For more background on the Walpin firing, see here and here and here and here. -Byron York
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POPSWhite House Scandal Might Have Real Legs Now here is where the story gets really interesting. On the very same day that the president fired Mr. Walpin, St. Hope's executive director, Rick Maya, left his job at St. Hope. He did not go quietly. His resignation letter charged Mr. Johnson and several St. Hope board members with numerous ethical violations. Most explosively, he charged that a board member improperly deleted e-mails of Mr. Johnson's that already were under a federal subpoena. Suddenly, the problems at St. Hope begin to look as severe as Mr. Walpin had charged rather than being minor infractions. On Wednesday, the Sacramento Bee reported that Mr. Maya's allegations have been deemed serious enough that the FBI is investigating potential obstruction of justice at St. Hope. In that light, the firing of Mr. Walpin, who properly blew the whistle on mismanagement and possible corruption, looks ill-considered.
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POPSAn Obama "scandal" as phony as Whitewater
Full piece details why: -There is no scandal because the settlement against Johnson was made public months ago and the US Attorney filed no charges -Walpin is a far rightwingnut partisan who was charged with ethical violation over his involvement w/ Johnson: The U.S. attorney said that Walpin had "overstepped his authority by electing to provide my office with selective information and withholding other potentially significant information at the expense of determining the truth" -- in other words, Walpin had failed to provide substantive exculpatory facts to the U.S. attorney, while trying to push the government into opening a criminal probe of Johnson... Brown noted that Walpin had sought publicity for his findings against Johnson... before discussing them with the U.S. Atty's Office, "hindering our investigation"... served at the pleasure of the president, who may well have taken some pleasure in ousting him -- and need make no apology if he did.
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POPSGerald Walpin speaks: The inside story of the AmeriCorps firing The Inspector General is supposed to be a watchdog for the Tax payers. Why is Obama firing him? I thought Obama wanted to find waste in gov't and eliminate it. I thought Obama wanted transparency. Nice to know that with Billions of taxpayer money that the Taxpayers watchdogs are being neutered or eliminated.
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POPSThe White House Fires a Watchdog to pad staff salaries, meddle politically in a school-board election, and have AmeriCorps members perform personal services for Mr. Johnson, including washing his car. The curious case of the inspector general and a Presidential ally . . . . . . At the end of May, Mr. Walpin's office recommended that Mr. Johnson, an assistant and St. HOPE itself be "suspended" from receiving federal funds. The Corporation's official charged with suspensions agreed, and in September the suspension letters went out. Mr. Walpin's office also sent a civil and/or criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California. So far, so normal. But that all changed last fall, when Mr. Johnson was elected mayor of Sacramento. News of the suspension had become public, and President Obama began to discuss his federal stimulus spending. A city-hired attorney pronounced in March that Sacramento might be barred from receiving stimulus funds because of Mr. Johnson's suspension.
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POPSObama Fires Inspector General for Political Reasons "The inspector general found that Johnson, a former all-star point guard for the Phoenix Suns, had used AmeriCorps grants to pay volunteers to engage in school-board political activities, run personal errands for Johnson and even wash his car."
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POPSMore Chicago-Style Politics in the White House Shades of Richard Nixon, Byron York has dug into Barack Obama firing of AmeriCorps Gerald Walpin. It seems that Walpin had the audacity to investigate Obama’s political supporter, and hack, Kevin Johnson. from Washington Times: The AmeriCorps IG accuses prominent Obama supporter of misusing AmeriCorps grant money. Prominent Obama supporter has to pay back more than $400,000 of that grant money. Obama fires AmeriCorps IG. Chicago Thug Fires Inspector General Note that Johnson is black. It does seem that Eric Holder’s Justice Department is indeed color blind. http://bitsblog.florack.us/?p=21578 Michelle has more and dumping the mess into the lap of Michelle Obama http://michellemalkin.com/2009/06/12/obamas-americorps-scandal-and-the-first-ladys-meddling/
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POPSObama Broke Law Firing AmeriCorps IG The text of Grassley’s letter to the President: Dear Mr. President: I was troubled to learn that last night your staff reportedly issued an ultimatim to the Americorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin that he had one hour to resign or be terminated. As you know, Inspectors General were created by Congress as a means to combat waste, fraud, and abuse and to be independent watchdogs ensuring that federal agencies were held accountable for their actions. Inspectors General were designed to have a dual role reporting to both the President and Congress so that they would be free from undue political pressure. This independence is the hallmark of all Inspectors General and is essential so they may operate independently, without political pressure or interference from agencies attempting to keep their failings from public scrutiny.
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