NEOAVATARA

Ah, Chicagoland Cronyism at its best...

UPDATE:  Sen. McCaskill has stated that Obama’s White House clearly did not follow the law, and that ‘loss of confidence’ is not sufficient grounds of removal for a Inspector General.  Apparently, someone in the White House accused Walpin of being senile.  Sen. Grassley has officially asked the White House if Michelle Obama was involved in the firings.

In further news, the Justice Department and the FBI are investing possible obstruction of justice charges.

But I guess this type of corruption is not as important, as say, killing a fly.

Apparently, Walpin is not the only one fired…at least 2 other supposedly ‘independent’ IGs have been fired by Obama.

Hope and change…for the worse.

Barack Obama apparently gave Congress notice that he is in the process of firing the inspector general who investigates AmeriCorps and other national service programs and has told Congress he is removing him from the position.  Obama’s move follows an investigation by IG Gerald Walpin of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is an Obama supporter and former NBA basketball star, into the misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit education group that Johnson headed.

Now, in his statement to Congress, Obama failed to mention why he was firing Mr. Walpin, other than stating he has ‘lost faith’ in the IG.  Initially, the White House had threated Walpin to resign or be fired…Walpin refused.

Walpin was no wilting flower.  In hours, he contacted members of Congress, who reacted angrily.  Sen. Chuck Grassley:

“I was troubled to learn that last night your staff reportedly issued an ultimatum to the AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin that he had one hour to resign or be terminated,” Grassley wrote.  “As you know, Inspectors General were created by Congress as a means to combat waste, fraud, and abuse and to be independent watchdogs ensuring that federal agencies were held accountable for their actions.  Inspectors General were designed to have a dual role reporting to both the President and Congress so that they would be free from undue political pressure.  This independence is the hallmark of all Inspectors General and is essential so they may operate independently, without political pressure or interference from agencies attempting to keep their failings from public scrutiny.”

Now, this gets more interesting.  Apparently, Michelle Obama has attempted to get more control over Americorps by putting more of her cronies in leadership positions.  CNCS remains without a CEO after the withdrawal last month of Nike vice president Maria Eitel, even before her nomination went to the Senate. Although the corporation’s CEO must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, Michelle Obama reportedly has taken the lead in selecting the nominee.  Walpin’s attempts at investigating the organization is clearly hindering White House attempts to broaden the scope of Americorp.

Americorp has had a recent history of corrpution.  They have shown links to ACORN, which, let us say, have been less than above water.

What is really hypocritical about all this is not the cronyism, which frankly should have been expected from a Chicagoland politician.  The real hypocrisy is the comparison to Bush’s firings of the Federal attorneys.  Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and a host of others attacked Bush for firing of the attorneys back in 2004.  Of course, those attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President.

That is wholly different than Inspector Generals, who in fact, have been given special exemption from Presidential authority, for the simple fact that they need to be more independent to serve as true arbiters of truth.  Inspector Generals, by law, have a dual reporting role to both the President and Congress, and thus, do not serve simply at the pleasure of the President.  Obama’s ignorance of this fact clearly shows in his dismissive letter to Congress giving no reason for Walpin’s firing.

You want a nice synopsis; Byron York distills it to its basics:

The bottom line is that the AmeriCorps IG accused a prominent Obama supporter of misusing AmeriCorps grant money.  After an investigation, the prominent Obama supporter had to pay back more than $400,000 of that grant money.  And Obama fired the AmeriCorps IG.

We shall see if Democrats have a spine, and actually investigate this firing episode.  Hey, they are still calling for Karl Rove to testify; so when are subpeonas for Michelle Obama going out?  LOL.  Well, firing of an IG is no laughing matter, and Congress should hold hearings, but Democrats are good at hiding their own corruption.  Don’t hold your breath.