The inspector general saga causes
bad blood on Capitol Hill:
Behind closed doors on Capitol Hill last week, I asked a
Republican source about the investigative efforts of Democratic
staffers for the House Oversight Committee.
"Honestly?" the source said. "They're useless."
More than three weeks have passed since Oversight Committee
Chairman Rep.
Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) joined the committee's ranking
Republican, California Rep.
Darrell Issa, to launch
an investigation into the case of former
Amtrak inspector general Fred Wiederhold Jr. . . .
Despite the "grave concerns" expressed by Towns and Issa three
weeks ago, however, Republican sources on Capitol Hill have
complained that Democratic staffers on the Oversight Committee
have not shown much zeal for the investigation. Sources say
Democratic staffers have skipped meetings and conference calls to
which they were invited by GOP investigators, who are attempting
to work with Grassley's staff in order to prevent
unnecessary duplication of efforts. Sharing documents and
scheduling interviews with witnesses, allowing Republican and
Democratic investigators from both chambers an opportunity to
question these witnesses, is a demanding logistical task. And GOP
staffers complain that this task seems to be lacking in terms of
bipartisanship. . . .
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read the whole thing.
