Free Republic

The Obama administration doesn’t have watchdogs. It has whitewash puppies. The president’s Chicago bullies have defanged true advocates for integrity in government in D.C. from day one. So the latest report by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Operations Committee on corruptocrat Charles K. Edwards, the former Department of Homeland Security inspector general, isn’t a revelation. It’s confirmation. Investigators found that Edwards compromised the independence of his office by socializing and sucking up to senior DHS officials. “There are many blessings to be thankful for this year,” the sycophantic Edwards wrote to the DHS acting counsel on Thanksgiving 2011, “but...

Three senior Republican lawmakers are calling for an investigation on whether to fire a pair of top Amtrak executives in the wake of a report accusing the rail service of getting rid of its inspector general after he uncovered waste and abuse in the top reaches of the company. In a letter Thursday to Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the lawmakers accuse Amtrak Chairman Thomas Carper and General Counsel Eleanor Acheson of "unlawfully" interfering with the independence of the taxpayer-funded company's inspector general, who is charged with rooting out corruption and mismanagement. The letter cites a report released earlier...

Amtrak officials pushed the agency's longtime inspector general to resign — without telling Congress — after the watchdog official exposed wrongdoing, mismanagement and criminal activity inside the taxpayer-funded rail service, a congressional probe has found. The finding is among the key disclosures in a joint staff report by ranking Republicans of the Senate Finance and House Oversight and Government Reform committees into the sudden departure last year of Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold. "Because of his expertise, the [Amtrak] Board viewed Weiderhold as a threat," concluded a draft copy of the report, which was reviewed by The Washington Times. The...

First it was I.G. Walpin who was investigating BO 's supporter on the misused of Americorp funds. Now it is I.G. Weiderhold for investigating Amtrak’s activities. The Inspector General Act, amended last year and CO-SPONSORED by Barack Obama to: require the President to notify Congress in writing within 30 days the reasons for removing an Inspector General from office. Did Obama knowingly break the law on this one or did TOTUS forget to tell him he couldn't do it.

Watchdogs are an endangered species in the Age of Obama. The latest government ombudsman to get the muzzle: Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold. The longtime veteran employee was abruptly "retired" this month -- just as the government-subsidized rail service faces mounting complaints about its meddling in financial audits and probes. Question the timing? Hell, yes. On June 18, Weiderhold met with Amtrak officials to discuss the results of an independent report by the Washington, D.C., law firm Willkie, Farr and Gallagher. The 94-page report has been made publicly available through the office of whistleblower advocate Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. It...

WATCHDOGS are an en dangered species in the Obama Age. The latest government ombudsman to get the muzzle: Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold. The veteran employee was abruptly "retired" this month -- just as the government-subsidized rail service faces mounting complaints about its meddling in financial audits and probes. Question the timing? Hell, yes. On June 18, Weiderhold met with Amtrak officials to discuss the results of an independent report by the Washington law firm Willkie, Farr and Gallagher. The 94-page report has been made publicly available through the office of whistleblower-advocate Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). It concluded that the...

Last week, Sen. Charles Grassley raised questions about the sudden “retirement” of Amtrak IG Fred Weiderhold: As a senior member of the United States Senate and as the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance (Committee), it is my duty under the Constitution to ensure that Inspectors General, which were created by Congress, are permitted to operate without political pressure or interference from their respective agencies. Inspectors General were designed for the express purpose of combating waste, fraud, and abuse and to be independent watchdogs ensuring that federal agencies were held accountable for their actions. I understand that Inspector...

There must be some horrible disease infecting our nation's Inspector Generals - public servants whose only job is to see that the taxpayer's money is spent wisely. I can't think of any other explanation for why the third IG in as many weeks has suddenly "retired" under suspicious circumstances. This time, it's the AMTRAK's 37 year veteran IG Fred Weiderhold who has been put out to pasture.