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Grassley Demands More Answers About IG Walpin’s Firing; McCaskill Seems More Sated
June 17, 2009 6:51 PM
This morning, White House attorney Norman Eisen met with the staff of Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, regarding the removal of Gerald Walpin as the Inspector General at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).
But based on a letter Grassley wrote to White House counsel Greg Craig, the Iowan is not yet satisfied.
Grassley wrote that “Mr. Eisen refused to answer several direct questions posed to him about the representations made in his letter” explaining Walpin’s dismissal, which the White House released last night.
Among other charges, Eisen wrote last night that Walpin had appeared at a meeting of the CNCS where he "was confused, disoriented, unable to answer questions and exhibited other behavior that led the Board to question his capacity to serve." The Obama administration charged that Walpin “had engaged in other troubling and inappropriate conduct” and “had become unduly disruptive to agency operations, impairing his effectiveness…”
Grassley requested that Craig provide written answers to the following questions:
- Did the CNCS Board communicate its concerns about Mr. Walpin to the White House in writing?
- Specifically, which CNCS Board members came forward with concerns about Mr. Walpin’s ability to serve as the Inspector General?
- Was the communication about the Board’s concerns on or about May 20, 2009 the first instance of any communications with White House personnel regarding the possibility of removing Mr. Walpin?
- Which witnesses were interviewed in the course of Mr. Eisen’s review?
- How many witnesses were interviewed?
- Were any employees of the Office of Inspector General, who may have had more frequent contact with Mr. Walpin than the Board members, interviewed?
- Was Mr. Walpin asked directly during Mr. Eisen’s review about the events of May 20, 2009?
- Was Mr. Walpin asked for his response to the allegations submitted to the Integrity Committee by Acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown?
- What efforts were made during Mr. Eisen’s review to obtain both sides of the story or to afford the Office of Inspector General an opportunity to be heard?
- In addition to the claim that Mr. Walpin was “confused” and “disoriented,” the letter also says he exhibited “other behavior” that led to questions about his capacity. What other behavior was Mr. Eisen referencing?
- If the initial and primary concern had to do with Mr. Walpin’s capacity to serve for potential health reasons, why was he only given one hour to decide whether to resign or be fired?
- If Mr. Walpin’s telecommuting arrangements since the beginning of this year were a major concern, then why was Mr. Walpin not simply asked to stop telecommuting?
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who yesterday expressed concern that by not giving Congress 30 days notice before terminating Walpin the President was not abiding by a law she wrote and he cosponsored, seems more sated – though she still wants more information.
“Last night, in response to my request for adequate information on the firing of Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service Gerald Walpin, the White House submitted a letter to Senators Lieberman and Collins that now puts the White House in full compliance with the notice requirement in the law,” McCaskill said in a statement released today. “The next step for Congress is to use the 30 days provided by the notice to seek further information and undertake any further review that might be necessary. The reasons given in the most recent White House letter are substantial and the decision to remove Walpin appears well founded.”
-jpt
June 17, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (45)
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He who controls the inspectors controls the inspections. It's the Chicago way. I am sure Obama has some good honest ACORN peiople in the wings to watch over the AmeriCorps dollars for us.
Posted by: mitch | Jun 18, 2009 3:24:26 PM
Honest mistake.
Posted by: Freedom | Jun 18, 2009 2:14:39 PM
Stupid me, I thought this blog would not be censored as long as the truth was told. Pravda lives!! Dear Leader is NOT CORRUPT! He is doing what is best to us.
He is a fair and honest man. pffft!
Posted by: Sunnyr | Jun 18, 2009 2:03:09 PM
Keep up the good work, Senator Grassley! This Inspector General was fired because he exposed one of Obama's friends and supporters of mismanagement (pilfering) $850,000. of taxpayer money. This is corruption, plain and simple!
Posted by: Sunnyr | Jun 18, 2009 1:59:09 PM
his adminstration will be viewed as the most corrupt ever -- far, far worse than Bush because Bush and his team were under the microscope and criticized about EVERYTHING
Posted by: kate
tell ya what....
when Obama stars a war for no reason like Iraq, gets around 5K US forces killes, 35K+ maimed and wounded.....
then you might have something to talk about,
until then keep up the whine,
keep Palin, Newt, Rush front and center
Posted by: PO'd | Jun 18, 2009 1:08:21 PM
JHW: [First Lady] did a media event centered around a school kids program in the garden just yesterday.
-----------------------------
My dear JHW! Not only do you have FLOTUS' daily schedule at your fingertips, you are feverishly defending actions anyone not on the Obama/DNC payroll should have legitimate concerns about. How long can you hope to sustain the fiction that you're not being paid to root, root, root for Obama?
Posted by: Tonto | Jun 18, 2009 11:44:00 AM
The Obama adminstration completely controls the mainstream network media. It's phony journalism and propaganda at it's worst. At the end of the day, this adminstration will be viewed as the most corrupt ever -- far, far worse than Bush because Bush and his team were under the microscope and criticized about EVERYTHING by the same media that giggles when Obama walks in a room. You can attack Bush all you want because you have the ammunition from ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. But trust that there is a lot of dirt being hidden about this adminstration, and keeping it secret doesn't do anyone any good, it just keeps you stupid.
Posted by: kate | Jun 18, 2009 11:05:48 AM
The Obama adminstration completely controls the mainstream network media. It's phony journalism and propaganda at it's worst. At the end of the day, this adminstration will be viewed as the most corrupt ever -- far, far worse than Bush because Bush and his team were under the microscope and criticized about EVERYTHING by the same media that giggles when Obama walks in a room. You can attack Bush all you want because you have the ammunition from ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. But trust that there is a lot of dirt being hidden about this adminstration, and keeping it secret doesn't do anyone any good, it just keeps you stupid.
Posted by: kate | Jun 18, 2009 11:04:31 AM
Where was Sen. Grassley's outrage when Bush let IG Clark Ervin go after he came out reporting of the fraud and ineptitude in the Dept. of Homeland Security? Where was it? Guess now that it's a dem POTUS he has issues. That and he's up for re-election in 2010. Hypocrite!
Posted by: Christopher | Jun 18, 2009 10:51:59 AM
Auric Goldfinger to James Bond, "Mr. Bond, they have a saying in Chicago:
'Once is happenstance,
Twice is coincidence,
Three times is enemy action.'"
Posted by: NoPost? | Jun 18, 2009 10:49:57 AM
This quote applies to both the takeover of private industries and the political firing of IG's:
Auric Goldfinger to James Bond, "Mr. Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: 'Once is happenstance, Twice is coincidence, Three times is enemy action.'"
Posted by: Fallon | Jun 18, 2009 10:42:29 AM
The Chicago Tribune has an article about more politically motivated IG firings.
Posted by: Really | Jun 18, 2009 9:39:44 AM
The firing of Inspector General Walpin is an outrage! Chillingly similar to other totalitarian regimes, who sent dissenters to "re-education camps", asylums, falsely discredited them, or eliminated them one way or another.
It's more evidence of the corruption in this Administration. Amicore funnels hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to ACORN. Anyone pay attention to the stripping out of the funding freeze for ACORN, and prohibition of the organization's participation in the Census, until fraud allegations and investigation is complete?!?!?! Anyone hear about Acorn members physically intimidating Albany legislators? ... and we're funding them?!?!?! Is it a leap to believe that ACORN had a hand in the firing? It's high time to cut off government funding of this organization, audit the books, and demand IMPARTIAL oversight!!!!
Posted by: oltxgal | Jun 18, 2009 9:27:22 AM
McCaskill almost did a back flip in changing her tune. Somebody must have taken her aside and reminded her of her debts. ACORN canvassed for her in 06.
Posted by: Charles | Jun 18, 2009 7:42:32 AM
The Obama people need to make sure that whoever stands in their way jeopardizes their reputation. That's the secret behind getting all the CEOs and congressman to back his plans despite their reservations.
If someone like Walpin can demonstrate that it's possible to impede Obama's agenda and garner support for it, then "the illusion of invincibility" is finished, and it will be that much harder to push through health care, media diversity etc.
Posted by: Dr. Soos | Jun 18, 2009 6:00:09 AM
you guys get over it. Its done is done and there is nothing you can do about it, you can cry all you want.
Posted by: john | Jun 18, 2009 2:23:45 AM
The difference between Obama and Bush is that Obama fires incompetents, Bush hires them. That's change I can believe in.
Posted by: thebob.bob | Jun 18, 2009 1:05:40 AM
It is obvious that Walpin is as sharp and competent as they come and he just was doing his job. He got in the way of the Obama-Acorn train. This travesty has to stop and the rest of the mainstream media better wake up. If it wasn't for Jake Tapper at ABC and Fox News there would be no coverage of this at all.
Someone needs to answer for this.
Posted by: Oped | Jun 18, 2009 12:45:36 AM
Grassley requested that Craig provide written answers to the following questions:
can't wait till the hammer drops on 'W' & Shooter, and the rest of the wrecking crew.....
we'll see how many questions Strawman wants answered then
Posted by: PO'd | Jun 18, 2009 12:18:44 AM
We have countless examples of Biden making inaccurate statements, which could be perceived as disoriented and confused.... so why hasn't the president fired Biden?
Posted by: ohioan | Jun 17, 2009 11:57:53 PM
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