Posted on 11/20/2009 9:53:24 AM PST by kristinn
Byron York, Washington Examiner:
A congressional investigation of the volunteer organization AmeriCorps contains charges that D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee handled "damage control" after allegations of sexual misconduct against her now fiance, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and a prominent ally of President Obama, The Washington Examiner has learned.
The charges are contained in a report prepared by Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa, ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The investigation began after the AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin, received reports that Johnson had misused some of the $800,000 in federal AmeriCorps money provided to St. Hope, a non-profit school that Johnson headed for several years.
Walpin was looking into charges that AmeriCorps-paid volunteers ran personal errands for him, washed his car, and took part in political activities. In the course of investigating those allegations, the congressional report says, Walpin's investigators were told that Johnson had made inappropriate advances toward three young women involved in the St. Hope program -- and that Johnson offered at least one of those young women money to keep quiet.
Johnson's office did not respond to calls for comment Friday morning.
At the time, Rhee was on the board of St. Hope. A former St. Hope employee who reported one of the allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by Johnson told Walpin's investigators that Rhee "learned of the allegations and played the role of a fixer, doing 'damage control,'" the congressional report says.
Tom Hamburger and Alexander C. Hart, Los Angeles Times:
When Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who is now mayor of Sacramento, was under investigation last year for alleged financial misdeeds and inappropriate behavior with female students, he had an important ally behind the scenes.
Michelle Rhee, the nationally known education reformer who is now head of the Washington, D.C., public schools, had several conversations with a federal inspector general in which she made the case for Johnson and the school he ran in Sacramento, according to the inspector general. Rhee, who had served on the board of the school and is now engaged to marry Johnson, said he was "a good guy."
Rhee's position had little effect on the inspector general, Gerald Walpin, who filed a criminal referral to the U.S. attorney on Johnson, a self-described friend and supporter of President Obama. But both the Sacramento police and federal attorneys declined to pursue charges. Walpin, who protested the prosecutors' handling of the case, was ultimately fired by the Obama White House in June.
Rhee's previously undisclosed role and the Walpin firing are now part of an unfolding drama in which outspoken Republicans contend that the Obama administration has not faithfully adhered to a law designed to protect executive-branch investigators from political interference.
SNIP
The final four pages of the criminal referral discussed three instances of alleged inappropriate actions by Johnson involving a minor, who had reported she was fondled, and two young volunteers, who reported that Johnson went to their apartment and climbed into bed with one of them. The criminal referral notes that the two educators who reported the allegations left the charter school upset with the way the complaints had been handled.
SNIP
According to the report, Rhee met with Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez, a teacher at St. Hope, after hearing about the allegations, and promised she would "take care of the situation."
At first, Wong-Hernandez said she felt relieved. But she said her relief turned to a chill when she was called to a meeting with Johnson and one of the alleged victims and was told by Johnson that he and the 18-year-old girl had spoken privately and "everything was OK between them."
A few months later, in June 2007, Wong-Hernandez left the school, telling Rhee that the handling of that incident was the major reason.
Democrats. Funny little critters.
This is a very bad day for liberals everywhere, with this story and the unveiling of the AGW conspiracy emails.
Gettin a little too crowded under that bus.
Praying this gets legs, it’s time to bust
this mess wide open.
combined with the AGW file dump it might be a
nice day after all.
D’oh!
I simply LOVE it!
Thanks, kristinn. More on the Walpin scandal.
The question is whether this will get beyond Byron York and the Examiner and into the news where people will see it.
Walpin was illegally fired, since the requirement of a month’s notice was not observed. But congress did nothing.
Will the media care about this? Let’s hope that it just gets too big for them to bury.
Maybe we can at least get Drudge to cover this?
“A congressional investigation of the volunteer organization AmeriCorps contains charges that D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee handled “damage control” after allegations of sexual misconduct against her now fiance, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and a prominent ally of President Obama, The Washington Examiner has learned.”
More confirmation of my 2009 tagline re friends/allies of Herr 0b0z0
The story has legs. It also has a lot of competition getting attention. Obama and the Democrats are still flooding the zone with scandal and radical policies.
Along with ACORN, Americorps is a Democrat slush fund masquerading as a do gooder agency. They both need to be thrown under the bus for good.
This is a bit sad since Kevin Johnson seemed like he was trying to make a positive difference. He could of taken his NBA earnings and just lived in luxury but he appeared to be trying to improve the crappy part of town he grew up in.
“Along with ACORN, Americorps is a Democrat slush fund masquerading as a do gooder agency. They both need to be thrown under the bus for good.”
They are THE BUS.
The best part about this is that even if the media ignores this story now, it exists and the documents made public. Which means that conservative candidates can use it in running against dems and the Obama administration in 2010 and 2012.
It can be brought up in debates and then the media will be forced to cover the story. The delayed coverage will simply make Obama, the dems and the media look even worse.
It’s a dirty story and everyone involved gets dirtier the more they try to cover it up.
Thanks, I was going to make a similar comment. Although Johnson appears to have some personal failings he has tried to do some positive things after a very successful career in the NBA.
I can’t gloat over this one. Very sad.
The MSM knows it ain’t news until they say it is. Any potential anti-Obama or global warming scandal will only reach the tipping point when major media players calculate that they will lose more by not covering it than by covering it. I don’t think we’re at that point yet. They have too much invested in Obama and global warming to draw broad implications from either of these situations. (If it were the Bush admin or anti-global warming shenanigans, we all know these stories would be major front-page stories and heads would roll.)
NO WAI!!!!
IMPEACHMENT
And he used to be a Republican. He was at the 2000 RNC Convention in Philadelphia.
This is what happens when you become a RAT
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