Third Inspector General Controversy Emerges

Having worked at ITC, I'm not at all surprised by this. Judith Gwynn was appointed in an attempt to oust the prior IG. Guess she disappointed them by actually acting as an IG, and subsequently got the beatdown.

The bottom line is that ITC officials believe that they're above the law and shouldn't be held accountable to anybody. There are so many shady dealings going on in that agency that there should be a full investigation.

This isn't partisan political maneuvering - whichever party is in power would do themselves a favor by cleaning house at ITC.

"The right isn't strong on reading comprehension I take it:
"

jlw,

READ the LAW. It's right out there in the public domain, and its about as clear as anything ever written in congress!

there is even this from LAST YEAR!

Washington, DC – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) released a statement today with the news of the nomination of Neil Barofsky, a Federal prosecutor in
New York, to the post of Special Inspector General (IG) of the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Baucus fought to include the Special IG requirement in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to protect taxpayer interests and guard against waste, fraud and abuse in the Treasury’s new financial rescue program. The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on November 17, 2008, to question Mr. Barofsky about the position.
“I included the provision for an independent oversight authority because every American is depending on us to track, defend, and recoup the dollars spent during this rescue process. Hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money has already been sent
out the door for this financial rescue. This effort urgently needs the stronger oversight and increased accountability that the special Inspector General can provide. I will do everything in my power to thoroughly and quickly vet Mr. Barofsky, and to see a confirmed IG on the job without delay,” said Baucus. “I’ve said before that I don’t like bailouts, and my support for the financial rescue program was conditioned on this strong protection that the special IG can provide for taxpayers.”
The Special Inspector General will be independent from the Treasury Department, with funding and full authority to audit and investigate. Baucus insisted that the office have
adequate resources to meet its goal of identifying and bringing to an end any fraud or abuse of taxpayer funds used by the program. The Inspector General will be required to make his or her first report to Congress within 60 days of confirmation.

what part of "The Special Inspector General will be independent from the Treasury Department" is so difficult for you lefties to grasp?

There is nothing in the TARP LAW which defines the position & its duties or the IG Act of 1978 that would lead one to the conclusions that Treasury made.

This position was created for the SOLE PURPOSE of making sure what happened...would not happen! The only thing was everyone "assumed" it was going to be those who recieved TARP funds who be blocking the process, NOT The Obama administration's Treasury Dept!

XXX,

Typical liberal hash! This story has NOTHING to do with any Republicans!

It has to do with another broken Obama campaign promise. Yeah, that TRANSPARENCY thing can a real ####!

I thought I'd never see a more corrupt, infantile and vengeful administration than Bush II but BO has managed to beat the odds and actually make the Bush-Cheney regime look good. Wonder what's next after the firings, the ABC propaganda machine, the endless television appearances a la all the famous megalomaniacal supreme leaders--I don't think the United States can take much more after 8 years of Bush--we need a real leader and as MLK said in the 60's, "it's not the color of one's skin it's the content of the character." Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Emanuel, Geithner, Axelrod, Michelle and Barry Obama.

The new Republican plan for America, covers all areas of concern:

1) Whine
2) say NO
3) say insane dumb stuff
4) repeat above

Posted by: XXX

Republicans have nothing to do with these firings.

"You all must learn to read all of the facts not the ones you think will demean our president."

Posted by: talmag

So why do you think Walpin is the one out there telling his story to the media (which disputes the reasons given in the letter) and the White House is remaining mum?

Also, why do you think Obama felt compelled to violate the proper firing procedure for an inspector general? He was required to notify Congress of the reasons for the firing in writing prior to firing Walpin. Since Obama co-sponsored the bill that made that requirement law, you'd think he would have fired Walpin correctly.

If Obama has fired Walpin in the correct, legal manner, I might agree that he had good cause, but by-passing the law doesn't reflect well on Obama's motives. No hate here - those are just the facts.

I guess the policy of the administration is that IGs are no longer insulated from politics.

The administration must think very highly of itself to politically sensitize the IGs despite years of laws written with exactly the opposite intent. What other dubious legal precedents is lawyer Obama trying to set?

Mr. Walpin says he had been working around the clock and was becoming ill at the meeting
Posted by: Ordinary Sadie

when your being hammered with the truth, yeah you can get sick

The new Republican plan for America, covers all areas of concern:

1) Whine
2) say NO
3) say insane dumb stuff
4) repeat above

Mr.Walpin was confused because he paused. Obama does that every-time he speaks without a Teleprompter.

OK, so Walpin lied about his investigation and compared the Democrats to the KKK, SIGTARP is part of a new organization and they asked for oversight clarification, and then there's this "third scandal" that isn't even connected to Obama.

Keep it up, folks. Your crying "wolf" will only make it harder to get attention if you ever do find anything solid against Obama.

In the meantime: back to birth certificates!

Obama and his fellow Democrats (that would die from lack of Oxygen if Obama stopped to quick) are a bunch of idiots. They are destroying America as they strive to have their (yes people replace staff with knowledge and digitny. I hope Wolpin makes them give him a public apology at the very least. America can not survive 4 years of Obama.

"He held back facts pertinent to the case in hand..."
___________________________________

And Mr. Walpin has explained his reasons for doing so, as they were not pertinent.

My apologies Jake on garbling the ITC independence. Please accept my apologies.

The mission of the Commission is to (1) administer U.S. trade remedy laws within its mandate in a fair and objective manner; (2) provide the President, USTR, and Congress with independent analysis, information, and support on matters of tariffs, international trade, and U.S. competitiveness; and (3) maintain the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS).

Rasputin3.14- Prosecutor for who? The requirement for reasons is congress' own mandate to check the executive. If they want to let the executive power go unchecked, that's their fault. As I posted some time ago, the only direct check the people have on the expansion of the power of the chief executive, absent a strong legislature, is elections.

Jake, I am stumped by this paragraph:

"This Inspector General controversy is quite different from the other two, however, in its apparent lack of connection to President Obama or his administration. "

Uh... the ITC is part of the executive branch of the government, so there is a tie to Obama. Which begs the question on which files were confiscated and why... Don'cha thank???

This certainly calls for a SPECIAL PROSECUTOR.

There are two parallels I think of with the way this appears to be shaping up. The one is the social tactics ill-tempered teenage girls use when they don't get their way. The other is the tendancy of the British bureaucrats to always try to paint their critics as mentally unstable in one way, or another.

ABC used to be my favorite news station, loved Charlie Gibson. But ABC has become the Administration's PR Arm. Seems similar to the days of the Kremlin when the news service information originated from within the walls of the Kremlin. ABC is more concerned with ratings than fair and objective reporting of the news. Never a probing question for anyone in the Administration, especially Obama.

jhw539- Or maybe you think it's OK for a president to name an IG without specifying a good reason, and then for his staff and associates to launch a hunt?