Third Inspector General Controversy Emerges
Friday, June 19, 2009 3:59 PM
By: Dave Eberhart Article Font Size
Judith Gwynn, the Inspector General for the International Trade Commission, has been told that her contract will not be renewed, making her the third IG in the Obama administration to draw controversy, according to a report by ABC News.
Gwynn's release appears to be linked to an incident she recorded in her April 2009 Semiannual Report to Congress where she complained that "in the course of conducting an investigation regarding contractor activities, certain procurement files were removed forcibly from the possession of the Inspector General by a Commission employee."
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent the chair of the ITC a letter asking about the March 5 tug-of-war with the files, noting his chagrin that the Inspector General was treated in such a manner. Shortly thereafter Gwynn got notice that her tenure would end.
According to the ABC report, Grassley wrote to ITC Chair Shara L. Aranoff, noting: "The ability of Inspectors General to secure agency records subject to audit or investigation is essential to ensure the integrity and reliability of their work on behalf of Congress and the American People."
According to a report in AllGov.com, Gwynn had been auditing ITC activities and contracting while on temporary status since January 2008, when she was appointed. Since then Gwynn had been employed in a succession of six-month contracts with her current contract set to lapse next month.
In addition to uncovering what was beneath the file controversy, Grassley wants to know why the ITC has been permitted to keep its IG on six-month contracts. "I am unaware of any other agency Inspector General that serves under such a constraint and am curious to learn what statutory authority gives the USITC the ability to make a limited term appointment," Grassley wrote.
Unlike most IGs in the federal service, the ITC's IG is classified as a "non-independent" office -- giving the commission's watchdog less independence and flexibility to carry out investigations.
ABC noted that the Gwynn controversy differed from the other two IG flaps because of its apparent lack of connection to the Obama administration. The White House does not appoint the inspector general of the ITC – Aranoff has that authority. Aranoff was appointed to the position by President Bush.
Since the Obama administration took over, the president has fired the IG for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), and there is a charge that IG investigations at the Library of Congress have been allegedly interfered with.
The Inspector General for CNCS, Gerald Walpin, 77, has denied the charge that he had grown fuzzy and disoriented, saying the White House was simply discriminating against someone who is older than most. "I'm not senile. I'm not disoriented. It's an absolute lie," he said.
There is one similarity between Gwynn and Walpin, however.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., the author of a law that requires 30-day notice of the firing of an IG to Congress, has opined that the law has been violated in both cases.
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_IG_controversy/2009/06/19/227192.html?s=al&promo_code=81E7-1
I know you're all gonna bitch about my source but there is definitely something wrong with this picture whether you'll admit it or not.
Remember all the guff Bush got for firing people. But our teflon prez just sails through all this.
Quote from: Gardengirl on June 24, 2009, 11:50:02 AM
Remember all the guff Bush got for firing people. But our teflon prez just sails through all this.
Yes, and they were people he hired unlike what is happening here.
(http://www.sallyminker.com/art/2-d/images/grapes-print.jpg)
Quote from: Exterminator on June 24, 2009, 12:55:30 PM
(http://www.sallyminker.com/art/2-d/images/grapes-print.jpg)
Nope legit questions.
Quote from: me on June 24, 2009, 12:58:38 PM
Nope legit questions.
...if you're on dope. :rolleyes:
Quote from: Exterminator on June 24, 2009, 01:11:11 PM
...if you're on dope. :rolleyes:
Because...............?
Quote from: me on June 24, 2009, 02:02:31 PM
Because...............?
Because it's much ado about nothing.
Quote from: Exterminator on June 24, 2009, 02:12:37 PM
Because it's much ado about nothing.
Hum, Bush fired people
he appointed and it was a crime but Obama fires
3 inspector general's who found corruption that needed investigated and it's much ado about nothing. Hum, something seems to be wrong with this picture. These people have been doing their jobs for years and have not been playing party favorites yet all of a sudden they're inept? :confused:
Quote from: me on June 24, 2009, 02:17:57 PM
Hum, Bush fired people he appointed and it was a crime...
Is this really the extent of your knowledge of this subject?
Quote...but Obama fires 3 inspector general's who found corruption that needed investigated and it's much ado about nothing.
Where in that article does it say anyone found corruption?
QuoteHum, something seems to be wrong with this picture. These people have been doing their jobs for years and have not been playing party favorites yet all of a sudden they're inept? :confused:
Maybe they were inept? Maybe the corruption you allege happened during a previous administration and should have been caught but wasn't and that's why they were fired? It is all purely conjecture, ergo, much ado about nothing.
FOXNews.com
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Former Inspector General Gerald Walpin's determination to investigate further the alleged misuse of AmeriCorps funds may have led President Obama to fire him, a Republican member of the board overseeing the volunteer agency alleged to a Washington newspaper.
If true, the assertion contradicts an explanation provided by White House, which said Walpin, 77, was "confused" and "disoriented" at a recent meeting of the board, exhibited a "lack of candor" and "engaged in other troubling and inappropriate conduct."
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of officials -- including four former U.S. attorneys, three former federal judges, one former attorney general and a former counsel to President Clinton -- sent a letter to the Senate Wednesday defending the integrity and competence of Walpin.
Walpin's dismissal came after he announced to the AmeriCorps board that he wasn't done with the investigation into the alleged misuse of federal grants by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and an Obama supporter who heads a nonprofit education group, according to The Washington Examiner.
A probe by Walpin's office found that Johnson and his academy, St. HOPE, which received $850,000 in AmeriCorps money, had misused the funds and AmeriCorps volunteers for personal purposes, by having them help in political campaigns and even wash his car.
The U.S. attorney's office reached a settlement, under which Johnson and the academy reportedly were ordered to repay about half of the federal grants.
But a Republican on the board of directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, told the Examiner that Walpin wanted to issue a public statement asserting the need for further investigation into the case.
"Right now, when there is such a great emphasis on service, we did not need any press out there on this St. HOPE matter, which was already settled," the board member told the newspaper. "We thought he was going to use the press. He had an issue with the fact that a settlement was reached ¦and he was doing everything he could to continue to keep the issue at the forefront."
In an interview with FOXNews.com earlier this month, Walpin, who called the White House explanation "insufficient" and "baseless," said his performance at the May meeting drew criticism because he issued two reports critical of the board. In one, he criticized the settlement reached in the Johnson case; in the other, he criticized the use of millions of dollars for a program at the City University of New York.
"The board at that meeting was clearly angry at my temerity," he said.
First lady Michelle Obama's role in Walpin's dismissal has come under GOP scrutiny after press reports indicated she was taking a strong interest in AmeriCorps activities and when her former chief of staff, Jackie Norris, became a "senior adviser" to the CNCS.
In the bipartisan letter sent to the Senate, the former officials state that they have known Walpin for many years.
"We have never seen Mr. Walpin to be "confused, disoriented [or] unable to answer the questions," they wrote, adding that such an allegation "is totally inconsistent with our personal knowledge of Mr. Walpin who has always, through the present day, exhibited a quick mind and a command of the facts (whether we agree with him or not) and eloquence."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/24/gop-official-americorp-feared-igs-push-probe-case-involving-obama-supporter/
As for the story in the post:
QuoteGwynn's release appears to be linked to an incident she recorded in her April 2009 Semiannual Report to Congress where she complained that "in the course of conducting an investigation regarding contractor activities, certain procurement files were removed forcibly from the possession of the Inspector General by a Commission employee."
Guess she must have had something in those reports someone didn't like huh?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1158732544&play=1
Quote from: me on June 24, 2009, 02:58:12 PM
FOXNews...alleged misuse of funds...Obama...a Republican member of the board overseeing the volunteer agency alleged to a Washington newspaper.
Reading the rest of the article would be redundant.
Quote from: Exterminator on June 24, 2009, 03:23:34 PM
Reading the rest of the article would be redundant.
Then check out the CNBC link... :razz:
Quote from: me on June 24, 2009, 03:24:18 PM
Then check out the CNBC link... :razz:
There are bigger fish to fry.
Quote from: me on June 24, 2009, 03:48:58 PM
:rolleyes:
:rolleyes: indeed. Feel free to continue to concentrate on minutia and accomplish nothing.