Media Silent On Obama Administration Complicity In Firing Of Inspector General Walpin For Political Reasons

Remember last June, when Inspector General Gerald Walpin was fired while investigating misspent money from AmeriCorps?

There's a big stench that leads all the way back to the White House.

John Fund writes about the "Anatomy of a Cover Up," involving more than just misspent funds by Sacramento, CA Mayor (and Obama supporter) Kevin Johnson.

Now a GOP Congressional report by investigative staffers working for Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Rep. Darrell Issa of California has laid bare some of the reasons the White House acted so brazenly.

In 2008, three female students at the St. HOPE Academy, a charter school in Sacramento, claimed inappropriate advances had been made by Mr. Johnson, who ran the school and was running for mayor. Mr. Johnson, a former NBA star, had been plagued by charges of sexual misconduct ever since his days as a player in the 1990s.

Mr. Walpin's investigators concluded that Kevin Hiestand, the attorney for Mr. Johnson, had approached at least one of the complaining students and asked her to remain quiet. About a week later, Mr. Johnson himself offered her a payment of $1,000 a month until she left school, which she refused to accept. Erik Jones, the St. HOPE teacher who eventually reported one of the victims' allegations to the police, resigned in protest, claiming the school also had sought to intimidate the student into changing her story.

In addition to uncovering the possible use of "hush money," Mr. Walpin concluded that the misuse of AmeriCorps funds by St. HOPE was serious enough for him to press for criminal prosecution of Mr. Johnson, by now Sacramento's mayor. Instead, a deal was worked out that allowed the mayor to repay much of the money. It was
approved by Alan Solomont, a major Democratic fundraiser who chairs the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps.

It was Mr. Solomont who then led the campaign to have the White House fire Mr. Walpin, using trumped-up charges that he had engaged in an inappropriate persecution of Mr. Johnson. Norm Eisen, a White House counsel, upped the ante by claiming that at a May meeting, the inspector general "was confused, disoriented, unable to answer questions and exhibited other behavior that led the Board to question his capacity to serve."

Documents delivered to Senator Grassley and Rep. Issa make it clear the real motive for Mr. Walpin's firing was his aggressive investigation of Mayor Johnson. But Congress shows no interest in pursuing the ruthless firing of a government watchdog. Here's hoping that Senator Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who has shown streaks of independence in the past on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, is willing to press for a hearing on the matter.

Imagine if these allegations had been during the Bush Administration? Remember how liberals raised such a ruckus over the Bush Administration firing of a couple of federal prosecutors, who serve at the convenience of the President. Yet here, we have much more - including sexual misconduct - and there is nothing but silence and a cover-up on the part of the current Administration.

Can you say, "Culture of Corruption?" Not just for the Obama Administration, but the Democrat Party and their lapdog media.