-
Will Congress’ Sloppy Work Survive Supreme Court Scrutiny?
May 3, 2013 | 28 comments
-
Maryland v. King
April 8, 2013 | 6 comments
-
A Wolf That Comes as a Wolf
October 8, 2012 | 48 comments
-
The Obamacare Decision and Its Electoral Consequences
July 30, 2012 | 48 comments
-
Reneau Almon’s Vindication
May 15, 2012 | 10 comments
The Obama Watch
There He Goes Again
How the Obama Administration prevents real oversight.
No one would suggest cutting the budget of a city’s police force by 50% while the population remains essentially unchanged. Then why did the Obama Administration slash the money available to the Inspector General’s Office (IG), the police force at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), by almost 50% while leaving CNCS’s allocation almost unchanged?
There can be only one reason: CNCS is a pet agency of the Obama Administration, and these cuts are its latest move to torpedo independent oversight of CNCS. By law, the IG is responsible for scrutinizing that agency’s operations to uncover, and thus prevent, fraud, waste, and abuse. Slashing the IG’s budget means career auditors and investigators must be let go, and is thus a simple way to limit IG’s ability to “interfere” with the operations of CNCS and its grantees.
In contrast to its last two fiscal years’ appropriation of $7.6 million, the IG received a surprising budget cut of almost 50% to only $4 million for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2011. Worse, because it was not announced until mid-December, the IG assumed that the normal $7.6 million appropriation would continue and spent about half of the reduced budget during the first quarter. The result: the IG auditors and investigators, aware that they will be terminated due to required reductions-in-force, are all looking for jobs elsewhere.
As Senators Collins, Enzi, and Grassley wrote in a publicly issue letter last month days ago, “This cut will profoundly affect the Inspector General’s ability to conduct meaningful oversight and ensure that [CNCS] is appropriately using taxpayer funds,” and “It is vital that Inspectors General have the funding necessary to carry out their important mission.”
The Administration’s slashing of the IG’s budget cannot be attributed to any desire by this Administration merely to reduce spending. If that had been the motive, it would have reduced the CNCS budget in the same proportion. It did not; CNCS received an appropriation of $1.9 billion, reflecting a minuscule 3% reduction from prior years. This fact and the history of this Administration’s treatment of this IG’s office requires the conclusion that this cut was meant to target and emasculate the IG.
CNCS, the umbrella agency that runs programs like AmeriCorps and VISTA, needs careful scrutiny. Much of its appropriation goes out the door as grants. Without IG oversight of both CNCS and its grantees, misuse is likely. The IG, with its auditors and investigators, makes sure that CNCS and its recipients follow the law, and that taxpayer money is not lost through fraud, waste, or abuse.
In 2002-2003, CNCS doled out more money for AmeriCorps scholarships than Congress authorized, forcing it to suspend further operation of that program. In 2008, it quickly spent its appropriation like a drunken sailor, resulting in a near violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act. That led the then-Democratic majority of the relevant subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee to request an oversight report from the IG.
More recent CNCS history makes clear that the Administration and CNCS Management reject IG “interference” with CNCS’s free-wheeling spending for its pet projects, whether or not in accordance with law. This Administration fired this article’s authors, then respectively the Inspector General (Walpin) and the Special Assistant to the IG (Park), for supporting career auditors and investigators who uncovered fraud and waste by CNCS grantees who were then politically protected by this Administration. Two examples:
In its dealings with Sacramento, California-based St. Hope Academy, and its principal, Kevin Johnson, a political friend of the President, CNCS put politics ahead of the protection of taxpayer money. An IG investigation established that St. Hope totally misused an $850,000 grant from CNCS: AmeriCorps members — mostly young volunteers — did not do the tutoring for which the grant was made. Instead, they were improperly used to man political rallies and employed for Johnson’s personal needs, such as washing his car and chauffeuring him. In addition, there were allegations that Johnson sexually harassed at least two of the young AmeriCorps volunteers in his charge. The IG recommended that both St. Hope and Johnson be held liable to refund the entire $850,000 grant. And, Johnson and another St. Hope official were temporarily suspended from receiving grants and other Federal funds.
After Johnson was elected Mayor of Sacramento, substantial pressure was imposed on the IG and CNCS to settle the matter. The IG insisted that what was essentially a theft of nearly a million dollars of taxpayers’ money should not be swept under the rug. Ultimately, the Administration and CNCS went behind the IG’s back; they worked with the Acting U.S. Attorney in Sacramento, who wanted the permanent appointment from the Obama Administration, to sign a settlement that freed Johnson of any responsibility or liability. St. Hope’s agreement to repay about $400,000 — about half of what the Government was due — was subterfuge and worthless because St. Hope was insolvent.
Another IG Report addressed the Teach-For-America program at the City University of New York (CUNY) that employed nearly 2,000 AmeriCorps volunteers, each of whom was placed in a New York inner-city public school. To prevent political backdoor earmarks to pet projects, the law requires that grants like these be made only to fill a community’s unmet needs. These teachers applied and were accepted for the teaching positions before CUNY even asked them to become AmeriCorps members. CUNY, thus, used the program as an improper way of tapping into CNCS grant funds. CUNY compounded its misfeasance by mishandling the grant funds it got. For that reason, IG recommended that CNCS recover more than $16 million and halt further similar grants.
The IG’s St. Hope and CUNY reports made CNCS and these grantees so unhappy that they ran to the Obama White House for help. In July 2009, Norman Eisen, then of the White House Counsel’s office, called IG Walpin and gave him an hour to resign or be fired. Eisen totally ignored the statutory prohibition on such instantaneous firing. When Walpin refused to leave his career staff in the lurch, he was fired. Park’s termination followed.
The White House rewarded both Eisen, a long-time Obama friend, and Alan Solomont, the CNCS Board President and Obama fundraiser. Solomont was appointed Ambassador to Spain. Eisen was appointed Ambassador to the Czech Republic. Eisen wasn’t Senate confirmed, however, until after he acknowledged the falsity of the some “facts” he had told a Senate investigation of the IG firing. For example, Eisen had told the investigators that the White House did a full investigation before firing Walpin and that the CNCS Board unanimously supported Walpin’s firing. Neither statement was correct.
We understand that career investigators and auditors who remained at the IG after we were fired have recently uncovered current wrongdoing in certain other pet grantees. The Administration can’t fire these career government employees, so it slashed the IG appropriation, knowing that would result in cutting IG staff to the bone, and preventing continuation of IG scrutiny of those grantees. As the three Senators wrote in their letter, this appropriation cut will cause the IG “to discontinue all ongoing investigations of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer resources.”
The lesson to honest public servants: don’t investigate friends or political supporters of this President, or you will be terminated. Hardly a lesson to be applauded.
About the Author
Gerald Walpin was Inspector General at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), after nomination by President George W. Bush and Senate confirmation. He served until fired by President Obama.
About the Author
Jack Park is an attorney with the Atlanta law firm Strickland Brockington Lewis LLP.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (28) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Jack Park
More Articles From The Obama Watch
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/07/there-he-goes-again
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- The Continuing Crisis
- Hannah and Her Friends
- Downton’s Class System — and Ours
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.7.12 @ 6:40AM
The government has become a criminal mafia, where great sums of money are transferred illegally and any subsequent inquiries are crushed. That's real criminality.
Leave the gun, bring the cannolli.
Darin| 3.7.12 @ 7:21AM
Congress controls the purse strings. These issues could be resolved immediately if Congress had any ethics. That's a mighty big "if" and unfortunately we know the answer is no.
boogalie| 3.7.12 @ 11:38AM
I would submit that some do. It is up to us (the electorate) to be discerning. WE are ultimately responsible for whom WE elect! Rather than being cynical of all of Congress....begin the process of checking out the response of YOUR congressman for YOUR district to see if he/she will respond to this issue being taken up by the appropriate committee. All politics IS local, but we the people are ultimately responsible. If we are comfortable with this, so they will be.
Alan Brooks| 3.7.12 @ 6:06PM
"Gerald Walpin was Inspector General at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), after nomination by President George W. Bush and Senate confirmation. He served until fired by President Obama."
Gerald has a dog in this fight.
Alan Brooks| 3.7.12 @ 6:07PM
DUH!
Pecos Pete| 3.7.12 @ 6:50AM
Billions down the tube for political supporters (money to King O) who profit from green energy scams. It is not surprising that funding is cut for IGs.
Timothy L. Pennell| 3.7.12 @ 7:00AM
"The lesson to honest public servants: Don't investigate friends or political supporters, or you will be terminated."
He is not a President. He's NERO. He's CALIGULA. He has placed himself above the Law, and, unfortunately for the rest of us, he has a feckless Roman Senate, in the Political Leadership that opposes him, as well as an insatiable Whore, in the American Media.
SIEG HEIL!
My only bit of solace is the fact that these things always end the same way.
Killed by their Personal Guard. Stabbed by a loyal Slave. Drawn and Quartered. Decapitated by the Axeman. Decapitated by the Guillotine. Head on a Pike. Hung upside down from a pole, alongside a Mistress. Suicide in a Bunker, along with his Wife.
I look forward to the day he sheds his Mortal Coil. In fact, I will Drink to it.
"ARBEIT MACHT FREI"
It's getting closer every day.
Now, hurry. TURN ME IN.
We wouldn't want to go off Script.
Von Mises Jr.| 3.7.12 @ 8:59AM
Timothy, it is worse than that. It is not simply cronies taking care of cronies. It is the BIG STING, and most people are too stupid to know they are being robbed.
Waste, fraud and abuse is the insiders game for the grand "redistribution of wealth." Our moron troll friends think it is from the middle class to them in entitlements. But that is small ball, chump change; and it is soon going to run out.
The real "redistribution of wealth" is from the middle class to the elitist. What the hell do people think Solyndra was? What do they think over $800B of stimulus was? What do they think the TARP bailout and zero percent interest rates in perpetutiy are?
It is to transfer money from the tax payers (mostly small business and professionals) to the Wall Street and government elites. If people can't figure that out, they should read a comic book instead of TAS or American Thinker. Because you are not thinking or learning a thing.
One if by land...| 3.7.12 @ 5:27PM
It sure is nice to hear others say this.
xosmwk| 3.7.12 @ 8:02AM
Let's get the facts straight. The Senate cut the IG's budget in conference, not the President. If this fact, the premise for this piece, is wrong, then can we believe any of the rest of it?
Mike Hawk| 3.7.12 @ 8:41AM
Last I checked the Senate is run by the dementia of Dingy Harry and his Democrat hacks. Are you saying then that your guys are responsible for this??
Timothy L. Pennell| 3.7.12 @ 8:42AM
The DEMOCRAT Senate IS the President.
If all you can do is spout Sh*t? Then maybe you'd be happier at SALON or with Ariana's bunch, or Moveon/Moveover, Bendover. Whatever it is.
Your ignorance will thrive at those sites.
Just what this site needs. Another fckeweDredvtwinunaware Douche Bag.
boogalie| 3.7.12 @ 11:34AM
If you are aware that the % cut is right, then what's the diff. Who runs the Senate for goodness sake. How does the point that the Senate cut it versus POTUS alter the point of the article. Clearly WHOEVER proposed and then AUTHORIZED the cut is suspect. Good God man, what is your thinking here, critical thinking applauds your distinction, but does NOT alter the smell of anchovy no matter WHO was the catalyst.
boogalie| 3.7.12 @ 11:34AM
If you are aware that the % cut is right, then what's the diff. Who runs the Senate for goodness sake. How does the point that the Senate cut it versus POTUS alter the point of the article. Clearly WHOEVER proposed and then AUTHORIZED the cut is suspect. Good God man, what is your thinking here, critical thinking applauds your distinction, but does NOT alter the smell of anchovy no matter WHO was the catalyst.
hardcard| 3.7.12 @ 8:35AM
Yes troll back to the basement.
kwan| 3.7.12 @ 9:18AM
When is the electorate going to wake-up? Democrat Politician = Career Criminal. The current state of the country is due to the leftist policies of the traitorous fifth-columnists that now control the Democrat Party.
David W| 3.7.12 @ 10:05AM
Not sure why you are complaining, the democrats need a slush fund to pay off ACORN and the other activists to help further voter fraud so that Obama can be re-elected. Once that happens, then the money will be used to pay those people who will suddenly start suggesting that we should remove the restriction on the president only having two terms... Just you wait.
SUBVET| 3.7.12 @ 10:09AM
So now what do we do about it........looks like barry's 1/2 brother might get elected on the R side. What's the difference ??? Just like bush we will be sold down the river under the R banner. I guess "we" are the only ones that see the storm again I ask what are "we" going to do about it.
Tim .....I read your words they ring true ....this miss direction everyday of the truth and the "in your face" if you don't like it makes me all the more resolve. I vowed to uphold the Constitution in 1965 and they are not going to get me without a fight.
boogalie| 3.7.12 @ 11:29AM
I took the Oath in 1969, same with me...as long as there is breath in my lungs, I will go out like a lion (God willing). I would urge you to remember 'all politics is local'. Please contact your congressman, make wome noise SV.
1ConservativeUSA| 3.7.12 @ 10:52AM
Ah, it's good to be the King, or a friend of the King!
boogalie| 3.7.12 @ 11:25AM
I must say. this type of activity is shameful. Whild I am open to a rational explanation of why this occurred, it certainly does advance the aroma of anchovy. My belief is that there a many agencies that are allocated taxpayer dollars, and thus have 'power of the purse' in allocating those dollars to the senior beaureaucras interest dujour. Discilined and just oversight is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE! My belief is that this is a pronounced problem in our Government. I just contacted my Congressman and asked that this issue be reviewed by the proper committee, and I assure you I will stay on this until I find out it has been! All of the junk in the news does not alter my keeping my eye on the ball...this Nation is on a road to fiscal tauma as is our civil society. THAT is the baseline concern above all else, excluding only a proper vote in November.
littlecheese| 3.7.12 @ 2:29PM
For spending federal $$ both the house and senate must agree in conference.
jim olson| 3.7.12 @ 2:56PM
Come on, either you are against government regulation or you are for it. Make up your mind. Oh,........ That's right,.............I forgot.
albert constantine jr.| 3.7.12 @ 7:56PM
Hey, at least there's a photo of Jack Park today. I thought he was of Korean extraction until now.
shipley130| 3.7.12 @ 9:33PM
Vett The Prez!
POST American| 3.7.12 @ 11:55PM
--Great piece!
and speaking of 'oversight',
WHEN is someone going to
give some oversight to the
programs and even the stats and studies
of the unelected, elite, banking
and rabid EUGENICS borg 'U.N.'?
----------------NEVER QUESTIONED
-------------------------NEVER TALKED ABOUT
--------------------------------------------------EVER
Richard| 3.8.12 @ 4:37AM
This administration is corrupt through and through. One reason Leftists want to control our lives is that the Leftists get to do the controlling and reap the traditional perqs of power.
danshanteal| 3.8.12 @ 1:37PM
PRETTY SCUMMY.