Imagine you come to work one day, let’s say a Wednesday, and all seems well. It is the middle of the week and you are going about your normal business when you get a phone call. You are surprised to hear a member of the President’s staff on the other end. They are demanding your resignation from your job! What would you do? Would you say OK and get to typing, or would you stand on principle and demand to find out what is going on?
Gerald Walpin - Former Americorps Inspector General
Well that is what happened to the Inspector General for Americaorps Wednesday. He refused to give his resignation and demanded to know why he was being required to give one. Thursday, President Obama fired Gerald Walpin. When President Obama was asked the reason publicly by the press, he stated that Gerald Walpin was so “confused” and “disoriented” that there was reason to question “his capacity to serve.” (Foxnews).
Important point to note is that the president did not follow his own law. Yes, Obama ignored a law that he co-authored and signed into law that requires a 30 day notice to the individual inspector and the Congress before being allowed to fire them. Why is this law good. Inspector Generals are independant so that their integrity in matters of inspecting crooked individuals can be maintained. The underlying fact is that this inspector was investigating one of the president’s friends. Mr. Johnson was a major contributor to the Obama campaign and personal friend. The investigation was authorized by Americorps, and it was found that the friend, Mr. Johnson, had illegally used more than 1 million dollars in funding that was to be used for Americorps agenda’s, for things such as washing his personal car!
Coincidence? You be the judge. This seems like thuggery to me. If you stand for principles and values, you have to go! One by one they are getting rid of the people who oppose them and can help keep this country on the right road.
Mr. Walpin was given a test that they give to “disoriented” people to determine their level of sanity and orientation. He passed perfectly. Imagine that.
Remember when President George W. Bush got in all that hot water when he fired 8 justice department officials? Those were politically motivated firings much like this was. Yet the news was all over those even though Bush was within his legal rights to fire people who serve at the pleasure of the president. What strikes me as fishy is that the IG’s are supposed to be neutral and independent and are supposed to be above politics. Apparently this guy did not buy into the Obama Machine and was canned. It’s perhaps even worse than when Bush fired those 8 but it will get considerably less coverage in the state controlled media. Big shock.
Left by James Alexander Courtney on June 22nd, 2009