Free Republic

What's next in the budding scandal over President Obama's abrupt firing of Gerald Walpin, the inspector general of AmeriCorps? Republican investigators on Capitol Hill know one thing very well. As minorities in both House and Senate, they have no power to compel the White House to disclose anything. And majority Democrats, at least for now, are not inclined to help the opposition uncover embarrassing facts about one of President Obama's favorite federal programs. So Republicans are brainstorming things they can do by themselves to shake loose information from an administration that has no obligation to cooperate with them. And indeed,...

A video found by Naked Emperor News shows an interview with Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson admitting his close relationship with both the president and the first lady and later denying the relationship. Mr. Johnson is currently embroiled in the Walpin-gate controversy. His non-profit, St. HOPE Academy, is being investigated by the FBI over allegations that an executive at the nonprofit founded by Mr. Johnson obstructed a federal inquiry into the group's spending.

Oversight: If the White House really believes that AmeriCorps' inspector general was "confused" and "disoriented," how about open congressional hearings where the American people can see for themselves?The storm that erupted after the firing with one hour's notice of Gerald Walpin, the inspector general overseeing AmeriCorps, has not died down. Pressed for an explanation as to the reasons for the firing and why the law requiring Congress to be given notice and reasons 30 days in advance was not followed, the White House has resorted to old-time Chicago-style political smears.

Did the Obama administration rush to close a probe into fraud committed by a political ally before discovering obstruction of justice? The Sacramento Bee reports that a former official at St. HOPE alleges that now-Mayor Kevin Johnson’s emails relating to the fraudulent use of money were deleted from the servers in order to obstruct the investigation that Gerald Walpin conducted: The FBI’s Sacramento division is investigating a former St. HOPE executive’s allegations of obstruction of justice, Acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence G. Brown confirmed Tuesday. The news fuels the controversy that has followed Mayor Kevin Johnson since 2008, when his brainchild...

(p. 26) The decision by the Corporation and the U.S. Attorney to cut out OIG and agree to this Settlement Agreement was injurious to the Federal government as a whole and specifically to the Corporation and the hard-working and dedicated staff of the Office of Inspector General. First, the settlement sends the signal that acceptance of a grantee or its principal as “responsible” can be purchased in a monetary settlement, overriding all evidence of wrongdoing previously found to warrant a suspension, without the presentation of any contradicting evidence. Settlement Agreements are supposed to settle the liability of the grantee and...

TDC asks: If Obama’s friend and Mayor of Sacramento, Kevin Johnson is innocent, why then would Obama elect to fire Mr. Walpin within 48 hours rather than honoring the 2008 Inspectors General Reform Act Law which states that firing an inspector general requires 30 days warning and a written explanation to Congress?

President Obama swept to office on the promise of a new kind of politics, but then how do you explain last week's dismissal of federal Inspector General Gerald Walpin for the crime of trying to protect taxpayer dollars? This is a case that smells of political favoritism and Chicago rules. A George W. Bush appointee, Mr. Walpin has since 2007 been the inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that oversees such subsidized volunteer programs as AmeriCorps. In April 2008 the Corporation asked Mr. Walpin to investigate reports of irregularities at St. HOPE, a...

Oversight: The inspector general for the AmeriCorps program is fired after accusing an administration supporter of misappropriating funds. The only thing transparent in this administration is its cronyism and hypocrisy.After "hope" and "change," transparency was the thing most promised by the new administration. Everything would be above aboard and visible. We wouldn't see things like the Bush administration firing U.S. attorneys for "political" reasons even though it had the right to do so. Enter — or should we say, exit — Gerald Walpin, who until Thursday was inspector general for the AmeriCorps program, that army of paid volunteers soon to...

Oversight: The inspector general for the AmeriCorps program is fired after accusing an administration supporter of misappropriating funds. The only thing transparent in this administration is its cronyism and hypocrisy.After "hope" and "change," transparency was the thing most promised by the new administration. Everything would be above aboard and visible. We wouldn't see things like the Bush administration firing U.S. attorneys for "political" reasons even though it had the right to do so.

Some strange and potentially suspicious events tonight concerning the Obama White House and the AmeriCorps program. I've been told that on Wednesday night the AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin, received a call from the White House counsel's office telling him that he had one hour to either resign or be fired. The White House did not cite a reason. "The answer that was given was that it's just time to move on," one Senate source told me tonight. "The president would like to have someone else in that position." Inspectors General are part of every federal department. They are given...

WASHINGTON -- Environmental Protection Agency officials didn't violate anti-lobbying laws amid a high-stakes campaign over California's request for permission to strictly regulate greenhouse gas emissions in vehicles, federal investigators have concluded. Rejecting charges by conservatives, the investigators said two top agency officials acted legally when they conveyed information to former EPA Administrator William Reilly, who supported California's clean-air waiver request. Reilly, a moderate Republican, was EPA administrator under former President George H.W. Bush. "EPA staff did not engage in any effort to influence a member of Congress or other covered official," the EPA's Office of Inspector General concluded in a...

After reading an independent panel's critical report about complaints against the man in charge of investigating complaints against NASA, a U.S. senator and a member of the House of Representatives Monday asked U.S. President George W. Bush to fire NASA Inspector General Robert W. Cobb. Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) (D-Fla.), chairman of the Senate Commerce space and aeronautics subcommittee, and Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), chairman of the House Science investigation and oversight subcommittee, called on Bush to remove Cobb from office based on the results of an investigation that has dragged on for more than a year....

WASHINGTON A federally funded California nonprofit that gives legal help to Central Valley farmworkers and others violated federal prohibitions against political behavior, soliciting clients and other activities, an inspector general's report said Thursday. The report was requested by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare, who's been critical of California Rural Legal Assistance and also of the federal Legal Services Corporation that funds it. The report found that California Rural Legal Assistance, which claims to provide free legal help to 20,000 poor rural Californians each year, apparently flouted congressional reforms blocking actions like lobbying and advocacy, getting involved in class-action litigation...

Mary McCarthy's boss, is CIA Inspector General John Leonard Helgerson. Helgerson is married to the former Martha Emmie Winders. According to this genealogy site, the Helgersons have a daughter named Katherine: Martha Emmie WINDERS(3) was born on Aug 3 1943. Parents: William Flemon WINDERS and Mary JENKINS. She was married to John Leonard HELGERSON on Dec 30 1969. Children were: Katherine Mary HELGERSON, Paul William HELGERSON. The FEC records show the following for Federal Government "analyst" Katherine Helgerson:Non-Federal Receipts "Exempt From Limits" HELGERSON, KATHERINE MC LEAN, VA 22101 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT/ANALYST      KERRY, JOHN F     VIA JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The inspector general appointed two years ago by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to watch out for governmental misconduct is resigning, while Attorney General Lisa Madigan has launched another probe of the administration. Zaldwaynaka Scott said Tuesday she would leave in July to become a partner at a private law firm. She said her decision to leave was unrelated to allegations of mismanagement and cronyism leveled against the administration that are being investigated by Madigan's office. Instead, she said she had accomplished what she set out to do. "No one's happy to see the (inspector general), but we've...

With conservative anger at the judiciary peaking, House Republican leaders plan to use budgetary, oversight and disciplinary authority to assert greater control over the federal courts before next year's elections. The legislative challenge to the courts reflects longtime conservative suspicion of the courts and displeasure over the courts' refusal to restore a feeding tube to Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Floridian who died March 31. A review was ordered by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who complained about an "arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary." Although DeLay made the issue a party signature, House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.)...

The Pentagon's internal watchdog has begun investigating two additional contracts handled by convicted former Air Force official Darleen Druyun and could add three more deals to its growing list of possibly tainted procurements, the Pentagon said on Monday. Druyun is serving a nine-month prison term for violating federal conflict-of-interest laws by negotiating a $250,000-a-year job with Boeing Co. while still overseeing its business with the Air Force. She also admitted steering contracts to Boeing as far back as 2000. "In the course of our review, in an effort to be as thorough as possible, we decided to take a look...

Inspector generally has no power Sunday, February 13, 2005 I don't know about you, but I know where I'm going to be tomorrow morning. I'll be standing on the state line watching as all the crooked politicians, bribe-takers and bribe-givers leave the state. The new inspector general is on the job. I watched Mary Jane Cooper take the oath of office Thursday in Trenton. Acting Gov. Richard Codey gave a nice speech before she took the oath. But the speech was long on biography and short on details. It's nice to be told for the 10th time or so that...

<p>SACRAMENTO - The state's independent prison watchdog agency, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to eliminate because it's a ``waste,'' has uncovered tens of millions in potential savings and exposed dangerous conditions in the state's prisons.</p> <p>In hundreds of pages of confidential reports and summaries obtained by the Mercury News, investigators from the Office of the Inspector General provide a grim indictment of a system unable to root out corruption or curb skyrocketing costs.</p>