The Obama Chicago Mafia Strikes The IG
Jun 14, 2009 Political
When George W. Bush fired a handful of attorneys, something he is allowed to do, there was a big uproar because of claims that he fired them for political reasons. The attorneys serve at the president’s discretion but the appearance of impropriety is often enough to cause problems. Bush’s mistake was not firing them all. Bill Clinton fired them all in order to get rid of one investigating a political friend and nothing was said about it.
Remember, it is often the appearance of impropriety that causes the problem. Of course in the case of Republicans the left will keep spreading falsehoods to perpetuate and exaggerate the issue. Look at how they trumped up the Plame issue and look how they claim the economic downturn was all Bush’s fault when the record clearly shows that Democrats developed and defended the very programs that caused the problem. They paid their buddies lots of money to run businesses into the ground but they continue to blame it on Bush.
How will the media handle the firing, by Barack Obama, of an inspector general, Gerald Walpin? Walpin was fired by Obama and the trumped up reasons say that Obama needed someone he could trust. Does he mean someone he can trust to help cover up crime and corruption, the Chicago way? You see, Walprin was investigating and had discovered fraud in AmeriCorps. Particularly, one of Obama’s supporters was at the heart of the investigation and he been shown to have misappropriated money. Obama released Walprin saying he had lost confidence in him but this is not in accordance with the law which states that Congress must be given reasons that an inspector general is fired in order to prevent removal for political reasons. This appears to be the case with Walprin:
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. [emphasis mine]
An Obama supporter is involved in misuse of federal grant money and agrees to pay half of it back and the guy who found the problem is fired. Why did Obama lose confidence in him? Was he looking for someone who could help cover up the crimes? Even if there were plenty of reasons, the appearance is of a political firing. It appears as if they played politics, the Chicago way.
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. Yahoo News
There appears to be a difference of opinion in this matter but Walprin found money that was misspent. Brown calls it sloppiness but that is what all politicians and other criminals do when they get caught. They claim to have made a mistake, they claim to have been sloppy, they claim that it is all an unfortunate misunderstanding.
Assuming that it was just an oversight, do we want people this sloppy with our tax dollars actually having access to them?
They called the allegations meritless but it seems to me Walprin found enough that this was not meritless and it was not sloppy. It was corruption at its finest and the guy who found it was fired for political reasons.
That is how it looks to me and appearance is often reality.
If this were on the up and up Obama would have provided Congress with the reasons. Losing confidence is not one because, as it applies to this case, it looks political.
Expect to see more of this as people who fail to toe the line for Obama are kicked out of their jobs.
UPDATE: Ms Underestimated has a great video with more about the Obama Chicgo Mafia. Part of the transcript:
Robert Manzo, Chrysler restructuring expert: “I hope you think it’s worth giving this one more shot.”
Matthew Feldman, attorney on the President’s Auto Task Force: “I’m now not talking to you. You went where you shouldn’t.”
Manzo: “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say the wrong thing and I obviously did. I was trying to make sure that if we had to contribute to the solution you knew we had some room. Sorry I did not realize the mistake!!”
Feldman: “It’s over. The President doesn’t negotiate second rounds. We’ve given and lent billions of dollars so your team could manage this properly….And now you’re telling me to bend over to a terrorist like Lauria? That’s B.S.”
I’m sorry Godfather, please give me one more chance. Godfather Obama does not give second chances. Put your feet in the cement…
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Tags: chicago way, inspector general. illegal firing, Obama, political cronyism