Gerald Walpin: Obama Removes AmeriCorps's IG

WASHINGTON — An inspector general fired by President Barack Obama said Friday he acted "with the highest integrity" in investigating AmeriCorps and other government-funded national service programs. Gerald Walpin said in an interview with The Associated Press that he reported facts and conclusions "in an honest and full way" while serving as inspector general at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

In a letter to Congress on Thursday, Obama said he had lost confidence in Walpin and was removing him from the position.

Walpin defended his work on Friday. "I know that I and my office acted with the highest integrity as an independent inspector general should act," he said.

Obama's move follows an investigation by Walpin finding misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit education group led by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is an Obama supporter and former NBA basketball star. Johnson and a nonprofit education academy he founded ultimately agree to repay half of $847,000 in grants it had received from AmeriCorps.

Walpin was criticized by the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento for the way he handled the investigation of Johnson and St. HOPE Academy.

"It is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general," Obama said in the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., 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 late Thursday 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.

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Walpin said he gave the integrity committee "a full and complete response" that was also signed by several people who worked on the case. "I have no question but that we acted totally properly," he said in the interview.

Grassley had written Obama a letter pointing to a law requiring that Congress be given the reasons an inspector general 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."

The inspector general 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 watchdog'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.

In settling the case, the government agreed to lift its suspension of any future grants to the academy and Johnson agreed to immediately repay $73,000 in past grants. The academy was given 10 years to repay the remaining $350,000.

Brown said at the time of the settlement that prosecutors determined there was no fraud, but rather a culture of "sloppiness" in St. HOPE's record-keeping.

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," he said.

Ken Bach, who works in the inspector general's office at the national service 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.

___

On the Net:

Johnson speaks on behalf of Obama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?vmu7cDShVckg

Comments

[blackbird1974]

I have voted for people that have won elections and for some that have lost elections, but I have never been proud of every aspect of a president or totally upset with ones I did not like. I voted for Obama and generally like what he does, but does it surprise me that something like this happened? No. Politics draws in a certain type of person.

[Scriobhaim]

Glenn Beck's article, "Gerald Walpin is Superman" (and please don't be so moronic as to mock the title till you actually know what the point of it is) should be mandatory reading at 1600 PA Ave. The lame attempts by the Obamabots to say anything they can to preserve the halo around The One won't work, not this time. Facts are facts: Obama was obligated, by the law HE helped pass, to give thirty days notice AND state the concrete reasons ("lost faith", as Walpin himself so aptly put it, is a "conclusion", not a "reason"). On those two points, the record is clear: the president didn't, and... didn't.
Scrambling after the fact for a weasely justification, not to mention cheap and classless defamation, like "confused and disoriented', only proves just how... how... CHICAGOAN (sorry, Chicagoans, but, you know what I mean - talking politics here, not about the nice people in Chicago) this White House is.

[harpen1]

Walpin was beating the bushes to find a scandal, and when we thought he had found one he went directly to the press. He was trying to create a bigger problem out of something that had been dealt with, another "whitewater" if you will. He should have been fired, he deserved it!

[dems08]

"they had not done an audit to establish how much AmeriCorps money was actually misspent... "

What kind of investigation is that?

[dems08]

He was appointed by gw bush - warmonger and torture advocate.

That's reason alone to fire him.

[lrajn]

KJ is corrupt. People outside of Sacramento want to turn this into a Republican vs Democrat issue, but in Sacramento, the union busting, anti-gay marriage Kevin Johnson is hardly the darling of the Democratic community.

Johnson's organization, Hoodcorps was faith based. They forced their members to go to church. That alone made them ineligible for Americorps funding, but it never dawned on KJ that he should be honest on a grant application. Once he got the money, he enrolled teachers as Americorps members so he could use the federal grant money to pay them. If you think that's legal, you have to be embarrassingly stupid or starstruck. His illegal use of federal funds is just the beginning, though.

He drew in a lot of idealists when he started the charter school. A large portion have left in disgust. Forced teacher prayer, lying about enrollment to get funding, kicking out struggling kids before test scores... and intimidation of anyone who stood up to him.

He's now being investigated by the FBI (http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1952940.html) and some KJ supporters are finally seeing the light: http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1953069.html. (Read the comments.). And this resignation letter shows you the culture of KJ's organization: http://media.sacbee.com/smedia/2009/05/19/18/resignation.letters.bee.request.source.prod_affiliate.4.pdf.

Maybe Walpin deserved to be fired, but his investigation of KJ was legit.

[jesthefaxman]

If being confused and disoriented and unable to answer questions is any criteria for being dismissed then Geithner should have been let go the first week on the job.

[natalie0nine]

This is a travesty to say the very least. Obama and his minions are nothing more than power grubbers and totally corrupt Chicago thugs -

You can take the man out of Chicago, but you can't take Chicago out of the man, unfortunately for all of us.

[mitchieone]

Nobody's watching the shop. Obama's corrupt.

[bbbbmer]

I am a lifelong Democrat and I enthusiastically supported Obama. But this just stinks! Kevin Johnson has already been exposed as a pedophile, with documentary evidence including a police report detailing one such encounter with an underage girl to whom he paid nearly a quarter million dollars hush money to, as well as a very corrupt user of federal funds and fronting for GOP interests in pursuing unparalleled authority as mayor of Sacramento.

Johnson SHOULD be investigated, for there is MUCH more to this story than has been written about in MSM to date... For example, the former Executive Director of St. Hope, Rick Maya, who tendered his resignation on the same day the slap on the wrist settlement with the Feds was reached, exposed the fact that there may have been evidence tampering on the part of St. Hope board members loyal to Kevin Johnson, including erasing emails pertinent to the case. This is criminal suppression and should be investigated and prosecuted.

Kevin Johnson is a HORRIBLE mayor, just six months into his term, as he was a HORRIBLE founder/leader of St. Hope, which has lost nearly $2 million during its operating lifespan, undermined Sacramento City schools by siphoning off prime real estate for its operations, displacing hundreds of children in doing so, and has garnered secretive financial treatment through its relations with former District officials and board members.

ALL of this needs to be investigated and those culpable hauled into court!

[lrajn]

bbbbmer,

I share your frustration. I've emailed Josh at TPM, I've posted on various liberal blogs, and yet people still seem to think that Johnson's misuse of Americorps funding was really no big deal and that Walpin was a renegade right winger who went after him.

To them, this is just a right vs left issue, which is a joke considering KJ's poor standing among progressives in Sacramento. I wrote a letter of outrage to Obama prior to this becoming a national story, and I'm as liberal as they come. Johnson and his thuggish cronies deserve to have the book thrown at them. They skirt laws and ethics regularly. They attempt to intimidate everybody who stands up to them. Rick Maya's resignation reads like a movie script. Attempting to arrest the board president? Secret meetings? The only good that will come from this is more eyes on Johnson and maybe he'll finally get what's coming to him. It's going to hurt Obama, but it's his own damn fault. I doubt Obama knows what KJ is really like, but that's exactly why he should have stayed out of this. There's been so much smoke around Kevin Johnson, you have to be in denial to think there's no fire.

[Concerned American99]

Where is the outrage from the media??? This is why folks get so upset because of the "double-standard" in the media. They crucified Bush over "legally" firing part of his legal team, the same as Clinton had also done.

Obama broke the law he helped put in place to protect IG's from political motivation. Most important, why does Obama fire an Inspector General for investigating a friend of his. Remember Obama's speech, that we shouldn't hide the truth because it is "convenient". Mr Walpin originally started the investigaton at the request of the AmericaCorps, but it lead to a friend of Obama's who is now a mayor. So Obama has him fired.

The IG is speaking out, and he is very convincing. He helped put away part of Nixon's cabinet. He was a supporter of the new Supreme Court Nominee.

[mitchieone]

Most of the media's not doing its job. They're in the tank for Obama.

[sactownsue]

Here is an informative article about the resignation of Kevin Johnson's St. HOPE Academy Executive Director Rick Maya. It includes a link to his resignation letter that accuses St. Hope board members of deleting Mr. Johnson's personal emails during the federal investigation. As a result of this, Mr. Walpin urged for a Grand Jury probe into the possible obstruction of justice by St. HOPE board members. It's very interesting.

http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1876477.html

[dennisrs]

St. HOPE exec departs with $98,916 severance

http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1940228.html

[LisaCTVT]

This whole thing has an odor to it. Why did Obama summarily dismiss the IG when he (Obama) backed legislation calling for 30 days notification of Congress before dismissing an IG? The President has some explaining to do.

[mrskorn]

Johnson is paying back $420,000 in grant money because he was "sloppy" with bookkeeping? That's a pretty big amount to qualify as sloppy. Sounds suspicious. And who gets fired? The person who discovered the 'mistake'. Obama continues with his Chicago style politics.

[jesthefaxman]

Is KJ going to use his personal funds? Because St HOPE has no money whatsoever. St HOPE is never going to pay back even $420. This is theft and KJ should be suspended permanently from receiving any federal funds ever again. He will have to resign as mayor to save Sacramento's spendulus money.

GO TEAM OBAMA GO