Former AmeriCorps Inspector General Speaks Out

Obama removed Gerald Walpin, the Inspector General of AmeriCorps, after Walpin dared to investigate the misuse of federal grants by a pal of Obama’s, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

An official responsible for monitoring how federal funds for volunteerism are spent told FOX News he was fired by President Obama for doing his job, and suggested it was payback for investigating the alleged misuse of grant money by the Sacramento mayor, an Obama backer.

Gerald Walpin, who until last week was the chief internal watchdog for AmericCorps and other service programs, suggested “political pressure” was behind his ouster. He said he worried the action will have a “chilling effect” on other inspectors general.

Obama gave little explanation for the decision, writing in a letter sent Thursday that he no longer had the “fullest confidence” in Walpin.

The president’s decision followed Walpin’s 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.

“I am the victim of being fired because I was doing my job and doing it properly,” Walpin told FOX News Tuesday. He said he could not let concern for “political pressure” interfere with his staff’s pursuit of the investigation — noting that it was his staff, not him personally, that pursued the inquiry.

He also defended the findings, saying AmeriCorps requested the investigation in the first place.

Walpin said the probe revealed that Johnson “misused” AmeriCorps volunteers for “personal purposes,” by having them help in political campaigns and even wash his car.

“They never disputed it whatsoever,” Walpin said. “And indeed the agency itself found that our statements were correct and our findings were correct.”

An official responsible for monitoring how federal funds for volunteerism are spent told FOX News he was fired by President Obama for doing his job, and suggested it was payback for investigating the alleged misuse of grant money by the Sacramento mayor, an Obama backer.

Gerald Walpin, who until last week was the chief internal watchdog for AmericCorps and other service programs, suggested “political pressure” was behind his ouster. He said he worried the action will have a “chilling effect” on other inspectors general.

Obama gave little explanation for the decision, writing in a letter sent Thursday that he no longer had the “fullest confidence” in Walpin.

The president’s decision followed Walpin’s 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.

……He (Walpin) also defended the findings, saying AmeriCorps requested the investigation in the first place.

Walpin said the probe revealed that Johnson “misused” AmeriCorps volunteers for “personal purposes,” by having them help in political campaigns and even wash his car.

“They never disputed it whatsoever,” Walpin said. “And indeed the agency itself found that our statements were correct and our findings were correct.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/16/americorps-official-says-obama-removed-doing-job/

One of Obama’s appointees says he broke the law when he fired Walpin:

Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said the president did not abide by the same law that he co-sponsored – and she wrote – about firing Inspectors General.

“The White House has failed to follow the proper procedure in notifying Congress as to the removal of the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service,” McCaskill said. “The legislation which was passed last year requires that the president give a reason for the removal.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/key-obama-ally-says-president-obama-did-not-follow-the-law-in-ig-firing.html

Dear Leader Obama is  the law. He can make up reasons like insisting Walpin was simply ‘confused’ and ‘disoriented’:

Responding to criticism from a Senate Democratic ally, President Obama explained why he fired the Inspector General of the AmeriCorps without the 30-day notification required by law, calling Gerald Walpin so “confused” and “disoriented” that there was reason to question “his capacity to serve.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/16/obama-accuses-fired-inspector-general-americorps-confused-disoriented/

Walpin was ‘confused’ about doing his job in spite of Obama’s investigative preferences.
Speaking of Inspectors General:
You’ve heard a lot about the astonishing spending in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, signed into law this week by President Barack Obama. But you probably haven’t heard about a provision in the bill that threatens to politicize the way allegations of fraud and corruption are investigated — or not investigated — throughout the federal government.

The provision, which attracted virtually no attention in the debate over the 1,073-page stimulus bill, creates something called the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board — the RAT Board, as it’s known by the few insiders who are aware of it. The board would oversee the in-house watchdogs, known as inspectors general, whose job is to independently investigate allegations of wrongdoing at various federal agencies, without fear of interference by political appointees or the White House.

In the name of accountability and transparency, Congress has given the RAT Board the authority to ask “that an inspector general conduct or refrain from conducting an audit or investigation.” If the inspector general doesn’t want to follow the wishes of the RAT Board, he’ll have to write a report explaining his decision to the board, as well as to the head of his agency (from whom he is supposedly independent) and to Congress. In the end, a determined inspector general can probably get his way, but only after jumping through bureaucratic hoops that will inevitably make him hesitate to go forward.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/The-RAT-hiding-deep-inside-the-stimulus-bill-39805642.html

Obama’s dictatorship is cutting a bloody swath through the law, the Constitution, and rules of ethics. He has total disregard for all three. His destructive socialist economics and craven foreign policies are causing irreparable damage to America. Media and public toadies continue to slobber over this intellectually and morally bankrupt buffoon.

If George W. Bush had pulled any of the shit that Obama has during his first six months, the leftwing moonbats would have been out barking in the streets.