Obama to Remove National-Service Inspector General

June 11, 2009

Obama to Remove National-Service Inspector General

President Obama plans to remove Gerald Walpin, the inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service, from his post, the corporation announced today in a statement.

Mr. Walpin recently issued a report critical of an AmeriCorps program that provides money to the Teaching Fellows project at City University of New York that was contested by the corporation, according to an article in the publication Youth Today.

But an official at the corporation, which operates AmeriCorps and other national-service programs, said the decision to fire him was not connected to that report and was made before the document was issued on June 4.

“The president has lost confidence in the inspector general and wants to appoint someone in whom he has full confidence,” the official said.

The corporation’s statement said Alan Solomont, the agency’s board chair; Stephen Goldsmith, the vice chair; and Eric Tanenblatt, chair of the board’s management, audit, and governance committee, all strongly support the president’s decision.

The corporation official said Mr. Walpin, who was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served in the position since January 2007, will be required to leave his post in 30 days.

Kenneth Bach, the agency’s assistant inspector general for support, was named acting inspector general.

Mr. Walpin, who lives in New York, could not be immediately reached for comment.

— Suzanne Perry

Comments

Got to have a liberal in that office.

— Gary Sweeten Jun 11, 06:24 PM #
At a time when more transparency is badly needed, this decision by the administration is depressing…expect more of the same.

— Ron Vassallo Jun 12, 10:49 AM #
Transparency and honesty are needed. Is Obama firing someone because the person is doing his job well and uncovering non-profit fraud? That’s not the kind of change I voted for.

— marcus Jun 12, 03:06 PM #
Transparency isn’t the issue. This is the man who thinks it’s fun to tell people he’ll come to your office with his gun loaded, literally, to take you out if you make honest mistakes. Most in the non-profit world aren’t trying to defraud the government, but with all the rules, mistakes are made. What happened to our society that people can’t make mistakes. I can understand if actual defrauding the government is found of if major mistakes happen time and again, but this man didn’t allow for small mistakes. Thank goodness some people see that.

— Carole Jun 12, 07:55 PM #
Hey Carole…do you call $800,000.00 a small mistake? You need to get your head examined. Walprin did a great job and Obama booted him because of cronyism plain and simple.

— Trish Jun 20, 12:39 PM #

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