"bho"s Third World Ethics

While in the Senate "bho" cosponsered a bill, signed into law by President Bush, requiring that the president could not fire an Inspector General without 30 days notice and giving Congress a reason. In the following articles we see the tall slim dictator ignoring law, a practice at which he is becoming an expert! [This OP is long because I could not reference them directly. If you have concerns about their authenticity then look yourself.]

From Washington Examiner

In cover-up, Obama fires inspector general in order to shield crony and waste taxpayer money.

June 12, 2:11 PM

Obama is firing an inspector general, Gerald Walpin, who uncovered wrongdoing by a prominent Obama supporter and then opposed letting him escape justice.

Ironically, when Obama recently nominated a liberal judge to the Supreme Court, his Administration trumpeted Walpin’s support for her.

Walpin is the Inspector General for the AmeriCorps program, which is riddled with waste, fraud, and ideological misuse of taxpayer funds.* Walpin “has been doing a good job” and he has “identified millions of dollars in AmeriCorps funds that were wasted or misspent,” notes Senator Grassley.

But when Walpin recently exposed wrongdoing by a prominent Obama supporter, Kevin Johnson, Obama moved to fire Walpin. Walpin protested the Administration’s failure to hold Johnson, a liberal mayor, accountable for using taxpayer money to pay for “political activities” and pay volunteers to run “personal errands for” Johnson “and even wash his car.”

Obama staffers and supporters are now falsely claiming that Walpin, whom the Obama Administration recently quoted and cited as an authority (given his stature as a highly-respected*former federal prosecutor*and big-name law firm partner with clients across the political spectrum), is a right-wing*nut (a ridiculous claim).

Walpin notes that although he uncovered massive wrongdoing by Johnson, it has led only to a sham settlement: $350,000 that is supposed to be paid back to the taxpayers never will be, since the entity that Johnson used to receive taxpayer money and spend it on himself now “is insolvent,” and its “settlement agreement was carefully drafted so that no obligation is imposed on” Johnson for that money, only the defunct entity he controlled. That’s so even though it was Johnson who used Americorps money to pay volunteers to “wash his car” and run “personal errands” for him.

Author: Hans Bader

Hans Bader is an Examiner from Washington DC. You can see Hans's articles on Hans's Home Page.


From Fox News

Obama Fires AmeriCorps Inspector General Over Scandal

President 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.

Friday, June 12, 2009
WASHINGTON -- President Obama says he has lost confidence in 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.

Walpin was criticized by the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento for the way he handled an investigation of Johnson and St. HOPE Academy, a nonprofit group that received hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants from the Corporation for National Community Service. The corporation runs the AmeriCorps program.

"It is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as Inspectors General," Obama said in a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden, who also serves as president of the Senate. "That is no longer the case with regard to this Inspector General."

The president didn't offer any more explanation, but White House Counsel Gregory Craig, in a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, cited the U.S. attorney's criticism of Walpin to an integrity committee for inspectors general.

"We are aware of the circumstances leading to that referral and of Mr. Walpin's conduct throughout his tenure and can assure you that the president's decision was carefully considered," Craig wrote.

Grassley had written Obama a letter pointing to a law requiring that Congress be given the reasons an IG is fired. He cited a Senate report saying the requirement is designed to ensure that inspectors general are not removed for political reasons.

Grassley said Walpin had identified millions of dollars in AmeriCorps funds that were wasted or misspent and "it appears he has been doing a good job."

Messages left for Walpin seeking comment were not immediately returned.

The IG found that Johnson, a former all-star point guard for the Phoenix Suns, had used AmeriCorps grants to pay volunteers to engage in school-board political activities, run personal errands for Johnson and even wash his car.

In August 2008, Walpin referred the matter to the local U.S. attorney's office, which said the IG's conclusions seemed overstated and did not accurately reflect all the information gathered in the investigation.

"We also highlighted numerous questions and further investigation they needed to conduct, including the fact that they had not done an audit to establish how much AmeriCorps money was actually misspent," Acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown said in an April 29 letter to the federal counsel of inspectors general.

Walpin's office made repeated public comments just before the Sacramento mayoral election, prompting the U.S. attorney's office to inform the media that it did not intend to file any criminal charges.

The U.S. attorney's office reached a settlement in the matter. Brown cited press accounts that said Johnson and the nonprofit would repay half of nearly $850,000 in grants it received.

Kevin Hiestand, chairman of the board of St. HOPE Academy, said in a statement it was "about time" Walpin was removed. "Mr. Walpin's allegations were meritless and clearly motivated by matters beyond an honest assessment of our program."
Ken Bach, who works in the inspector general's office at the corporation, will be acting inspector general until Obama appoints someone to the position.

Walpin, a New York attorney, was appointed by then-President George W. Bush and sworn into office in January 2007 after being confirmed by the Senate, according to a news release on AmeriCorps' Web site. Walpin graduated from College of the City of New York in 1952 and received a law degree in 1955 from Yale Law School. He was a partner with the New York City law firm Katten Muchin and Rosenman LLP for more than 40 years.

Alan Solomont, a Democrat and the board chairman of the government-run corporation, and Stephen Goldsmith, a Republican and the board's vice chair, said they strongly endorsed Obama's decision.

 

Tall skinney dictators can do that, or short fat ones like that ugly guy in NK.