The All Powerful Obama Fires Inspector General of AmeriCorps (For Investigating a Corrupt Crony)
Gerald Walpin, the Inspector General of the Corporation of National and Community Service, which runs AmeriCorps, was fired by Obama late last Wednesday. Walpin was in the midst of investigating Kevin Johnson’s, a former NBA star and an avid Obama supporter, misuse of funds.
If Kevin Johnson was found guilty of fraudulently spending or misusing money, he would have been barred from receiving any future federal grants. He is now the current mayor of Sacramento, California and if barred from federal grants, he would not be able to receive billions in stimulus funding.
Since the stimulus bill itself, was a major pay-to-play scheme, it is important for Obama to pay off his cronies and the constituents that voted for him, in order to secure votes in the future. Anybody acting ethically and getting in the way of the Democrats will be sure to lose their job.
Walpin was driving to upstate New York when he received the dreaded yet ironic phone call on Wednesday night from Norman Eisen, the Special Counsel to the President on Ethics and Reform. Eisen was calling Walpin on behalf of President Obama. Eisen said: “‘Mr. Walpin, the president wants me to tell you that he really appreciates your service, but it’s time to move on,’” Walpin recalls. “Eisen said, ‘You can either resign, or I’ll tell you that we’ll have to terminate you.”
At that moment, Walpin says, he had finished not only a report on the Sacramento probe but also an investigation into extensive misuse of AmeriCorps money by the City University of New York, which is AmeriCorps’ biggest program. Walpin says he told Eisen that, given those two investigations, neither of which was well-received by top Corporation management, the timing of his firing seemed “very interesting.” According to Walpin, Eisen said it was “pure coincidence.”….
In my short life, I have realized that there aren’t pure coincidences and that things tend to happen for reasons. “Nothing, absolutely nothing in God’s world happens by mistake.” This is an historic precedent that just took place, and seems like a more appropriate action from Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro than from the President of the United States.
The method of Walpin’s firing could be a violation of the 2008 Inspectors General Reform Act, which requires the president to give Congress 30 days’ notice, plus an explanation of cause, before firing an inspector general. Then-Sen. Barack Obama was a co-sponsor of that legislation. In the case of Walpin, Eisen’s efforts to force Walpin to resign could be seen as an effort to push Walpin out of his job so that the White House would not have to go through the 30-day process or give a reason for its action. When Walpin refused to quit, the White House informed Congress and began the 30-day countdown.
Eisen’s phone call came after months of increasing conflict inside the Corporation for National and Community Service. “We issued two reports that the management of the Corporation and the board of directors didn’t like, because they criticized what the board was doing,” Walpin recalls. There is no question that Walpin discovered misuse of federal money in Kevin Johnson’s program, known as St. HOPE, and at City University of New York. But as a result of those investigations, relations between Walpin and top executives became frosty, and he says they cut him out of Corporation business that should normally include the inspector general.
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In the course of his investigation, Walpin found Johnson and St. HOPE had failed to use the federal money they received for the purposes specified in the grant and had also used federally-funded AmeriCorps staff for, among other things, “driving [Johnson] to personal appointments, washing his car, and running personal errands.” Walpin came to the conclusion that Johnson and St. HOPE should be subject to suspension and debarment. But it was not Walpin’s decision to make; there is another official at the Corporation whose job it is to make that call. In September 2008, after reviewing Walpin’s evidence, the official decided to order a suspension, with the distinct possibility that it would lead to a permanent debarment.
Walpin’s opinion was overruled, whereby the government promised that most of the funds would be returned. Walpin was incredibly discontented by the decision to not only undo the suspension but also attempt to vouch for St. HOPE, an organization that Walpin deemed insolvent. Walpin had gone so far as to protest the decision through the board. It was during this period of time that the Obama administration made their decision to terminate Walpin – a man who was only trying to practice integrity and do his job correctly.
Senator Grassley, a Republican Senator, has called on an investigation into the activities that took place last week. He also would like an investigation into Michelle Obama’s connections to the firing, AmeriCorps, and Kevin Johnson. As you may recall, Michelle Obama is very involved in AmeriCorps and for the first time in any first lady’s history, she actually appointed her very own czar to the organization.
We are being ruled not managed – and here I thought the mafia was bad in New York. Boy was I wrong! The thugacracy in DC takes the cake.
Obama may have studied law, but he certainly has no regard for it. Could you imagine if Karl Rove made the phone call for Bush to fire an inspector general?
