A “Confused” Judge? (Excellent article on Gerald Walpin by CT trial lawyer)

So, I’m asking. What’s happening with Gerald Walpin’s lawsuit against the Obama administration?

Walpin was the former inspector general overseeing the “Corporation for National and Community Service,” the entity that runs AmeriCorps. His job was to detect and eradicate fraud and waste in the spending of nearly one billion taxpayer dollars. Last June, Walpin was suddenly fired by the Obama administration.

Now why would Obama do that?

Coincidentally (yes, I’m tongue-in-cheek here) Walpin and his able staff of fraud detectors were at the time completing an investigation into suspected misuse of nearly one million taxpayer dollars granted to St. HOPE Academy in Sacramento, Calif., headed by former National Basketball Association star Kevin Johnson, a prominent Obama supporter.

Walpin had marshaled evidence that funds intended to aid students were diverted to such things as a chauffeur for Johnson, car washes and political campaigning. (Johnson was later elected Mayor of Sacramento). The probe threatened the flow of billions in federal “stimulus” money to Sacramento.

Walpin’s abrupt firing flouted Congress’ 2008 enactment of a statute to protect inspectors general from political interference. It expressly prohibits the removal of an inspector general without at least 30 days’ advance notice, with the reasons provided to Congress.

Notably, then-Sen. Obama co-sponsored that law; after capturing the Oval Office with phony rhetoric about “change,” and “transparency,” he promptly violated it when an inspector general was looking at one of his friends.

Once reminded of that law, White House officials conjured up an excuse. And what a shameful one it was. They insisted Walpin needed to go immediately because he had appeared “confused” and “disoriented” during a meeting. How Maoist. I’m surprised they didn’t send Walpin to a re-education camp in Caracas to undergo training on how not to detect corruption when it involves Obama supporters.

That charge was chosen no doubt because of Walpin’s age. That “progressives” resorted to ageism, hoping people might buy the notion that a 77-year old was doddering through the job, is disgusting but not surprising.

Liberals have long gotten away with claiming the mantle of anti-discrimination crusaders, but they will with guile exploit stereotypes when it suits their political ends. Walpin is also Jewish. If not for his age, we might have been treated to an excuse that tapped into stereotypes about Jewish lawyers.

Gerry Walpin’s distinguished 41-year career includes a stint as chief of special prosecutions in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, a term as president of the Federal Bar Council in the Second Circuit, and numerous other distinctions, recognitions and awards. His reputation for integrity earned him widespread regard in New York bench and bar circles.

Within 24 hours of the Obama smear, 150 prominent members of the New York bar, from both sides of the political fence, signed a statement to Congress that belittled the suggestion that Walpin was senile.

I chatted with Walpin when I ran into him in Washington, D.C. last year. It took all of two minutes to conclude that he is exceedingly smart, sharp-minded and articulate. He is also a consummate gentleman. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s one link. Listen to Walpin yourself and decide whether he was the victim of a vicious Obama lie.

There will be more Gerry Walpins as Obama astronomically expands the size of government and its budget. It is a natural law of government that the bigger its purse, the greater the number of thieves it will attract.

Between bailouts and “stimulus” packages, unaccounted-for billions are flying. Without independent inspectors general committed to uncovering the inevitable corruption that attends statism, the swamp that is D.C. will bring the nation to its knees financially and morally.

Walpin’s declaratory judgment and mandamus action, filed in July 2009, was assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts, a Clinton appointee with former ties to Attorney General Eric Holder. Given his vitae, one should think Roberts would take care to avoid any troublesome appearances. But the case has stalled in his court.

Unless Judge Roberts is “confused” about the clear text of the statute that Obama violated, or is otherwise “disoriented,” there is no excuse for allowing the action to gather dust. Nor does it foster public confidence in the federal courts for Roberts to even permit the appearance of dust. •

Karen Lee Torre, a New Haven trial lawyer, litigates civil rights issues in the federal courts. Her e-mail address is thimbleislands@sbcglobal.net

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