Most of the people involved in the domestic service programs are sincere, honest, and hard-working. We don't need greedy and duplicitous hucksters to ruin the image and value of these programs.
Therefore, it's very important to audit the programs and verify that all money, much of which comes from federal funding, is spent appropriately. Firing the Inspector General, just as he comes close to proving that a major Obama backer is mis-spending Americorps funds, looks VERY BAD. When Sen. Grassley (R), who has used his position to keep other Inspectors from being summarily fired, stepped in, the White House backed off. Why can't Obama just make the IG go?
Congress gave IGs this level of protection precisely to avoid this kind of action by the White House. Obama doesn’t want IGs investigating his cronies and political allies, and the evidence for this is rather clear from the way the White House handled it. Instead of going to Congress, which the lawyers in the White House should have known was the correct procedure, they attempted to intimidate Walpin out of his job first. Apparently they didn’t have a good enough case for the proper procedure.If the rule of law is good enough for Republicans to have to follow, the same goes for Democrats.
A fuller look at the law regarding Inspector Generals is here.
1 comment:
Typical Chicago style politics. The administration is demonstrating how crooked it really is by trying to cover this up by dismissing the IG.
No surprises here really. Expect more of this in the next 4 years.
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