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Grassley: Amtrak 'Systematically Violated' IG Law
Officials of Amtrak have "systematically violated the letter and spirit of the Inspector General Act," Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) charged Thursday, making public a 94-page legal report prepared at the request of the Amtrak inspector general who resigned suddenly a week ago.
Fred Wiederhold, a veteran IG, retired without notice or explanation June 18 after a meeting with Amtrak officials where he presented the report by the law firm of Willkie, Farr & Gallagher.
"The allegations are serious, including third parties being told to first send documents under subpoena by the Inspector General to Amtrak for review, and the Inspector General being chastised for communicating directly with congressional appropriations and authorizing committees," Grassley said in a statement.
Grassley's accusation of illegal actions by Amtrak, including failure to comply properly with subpoenas, is the most serious to date in an investigation that has expanded quickly since the IG for the AmeriCorps program was given an ultimatum two weeks ago to resign or be fired.
In a letter to Amtrak Chairman Thomas Carper, Grassley said the legal report "suggests a long-term and unrelenting interference with the activities and operation" of the IG's office. Grassley said his staff believes that members of the Amtrak IG office "be fearful of retaliation if they were to discuss the matters set forth in this letter with anyone, including Congress."
Grassley requested that Carper make four Amtrak employees "immediately available for interviews": D. Hamilton Peterson, Deputy Counsel to the Inspector General; Edward Puccerella, Director of Congressional & External Affairs; Colin C. Carriere, Counsel to the Inspector General; and E. Bret Coulson, Deputy Inspector General.
The American Spectator reported earlier Thursday that, according to sources with knowledge of the case, Amtrak vice president and general counsel Eleanor "Eldie" Acheson -- a close friend of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- had been involved in several of the disputes between the money-losing passenger rail service and the IG's office.
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Pingback| 6.25.09 @ 9:00PM
UPDATED: Senator Grassley’s IG-Gate Clearinghouse « The Rhetorican links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Bob Belvedere| 6.25.09 @ 9:00PM
Quoted from and linked to at:
http://www.thecampofthesaints.com/2009.06.21_arch.html#1245977620571
and linked to at:
http://www.thecampofthesaints.com/wwuam.html
lexslamman| 6.25.09 @ 9:08PM
Mr. Grassley is making this up as he goes along, quite clearly. He's grasping at straws and tilting at windmills, just like most of those in his party.
Pingback| 6.25.09 @ 9:39PM
The Greenroom » Forum Archive » Grassley: IG Document Shows Amtrak ‘Systematically Vi links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Jim B| 6.25.09 @ 9:40PM
Lex -
And you know this because?
Because you're you're talking out of the wrong orifice. You're a bitter partisan.
The reality is that there's smoke, and Grassley is finding out if there's fire. If you actually cared about good government, you'd want to know. But you don't care about anything other than your party politics.
Pathetic.
Pingback| 6.26.09 @ 2:44AM
Report on Amtrak / Inspector General case | Fire Andrea Mitchell! links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 6.26.09 @ 9:37AM
Moe Lane » The Report that triggered the Weiderhold ‘retirement.’ links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 6.26.09 @ 9:40AM
The Report that triggered the Weiderhold ‘retirement.’ - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 6.26.09 @ 10:55AM
The Report that triggered the Weiderhold ‘retirement.’ - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 6.26.09 @ 2:33PM
Chuck Grassley Just Fired the First Shot in the IG Scandal. : The Sundries Shack links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
George A. Pins| 6.26.09 @ 4:31PM
The "money-losing pasenger rail service?" Would you say "money-losing Highway Trust Fund?" "Money-losing Federal Aviation Administration? Why the gratuitous negative kick in the pants, which has nothing to do with the thrust of the article? Some things just seem to go together, I suppose, to stroke the congregation.
Pingback| 6.28.09 @ 8:12AM
The Inspector General Scandal Getting More “Sunlight”? What Americans Need To Know. « links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 7.14.09 @ 11:30AM
The Greenroom » Forum Archive » The Inspector General Story: It’s Real– And (Potentia links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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Behind Closed Doors | America Watches Obama links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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The Greenroom » Forum Archive » IG-Gate UPDATE:Behind the Scenes of the Investigation links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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The Greenroom » Forum Archive » IG-Gate Update: Questions on Capitol Hill links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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