Let’s unwind the timeline a bit to test this new allegation. Walpin pressed hard to prosecute Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson for defrauding the government over more than $400,000 in community service grants. Johnson, an Obama supporter, got a deal from the White House that allowed him to manage federal funds again and avoid paying back at least half of the grant money he used illegally. The White House cut Walpin out of those negotiations, and Walpin went to Congress about it.Read it all.
At that point, the White House called Walpin and told him he had an hour to resign or be fired. Now, if the White House thought that Walpin was somehow incapacitated or disoriented, why bother to make that call at all? In fact, wouldn’t an employer with an ounce of empathy send the employee to a physician for diagnosis first? Even without the empathy, the proper course would have been to address the issue with Congress first instead of making an intimidation attempt to someone the White House now paints as all but senile.
This is nothing more than a bare-knuckled smear job, a despicable attempt to use allegations of mental illness to discredit someone who ran afoul of Barack Obama for taking the independence of his job seriously. That may play in Chicago, and it used to play in Moscow, but it shouldn’t play in Washington DC and America.
Senator Claire McCaskill became the first Democrat in Congress to demand a better explanation:
“The White House has failed to follow the proper procedure in notifying Congress as to the removal of the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service. The legislation which was passed last year requires that the president give a reason for the removal. ‘Loss of confidence’ is not a sufficient reason. I’m hopeful the White House will provide a more substantive rationale, in writing, as quickly as possible,” McCaskill said.
They can’t provide the real reason, which is that Walpin went after a political ally of the President’s. That’s why they’re calling him senile instead. Let’s hope that a few more Democrats with principle stand up to the White House’s bullying and politicization of the Inspectors General.
Update: The IG was objecting to a settlement agreement between Obama buddy Kevin Johnson and the United States Attorney in which Kevin Johnson would repay less than the full amount stolen (uh, misused). Now the Attorney General is investigating allegations that emails were deleted as part of a cover up of the stolen (misused) money. Read it all.
More on this and Mr. Walpin's response in detail from the Washington Examiner.
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