Over in the Web Briefing, don’t miss Byron’s interview with former CNCS inspector general Gerald Walpin on his firing and the editorial from the Washington Times on why the MSM isn’t all over this story. ABC News is also reporting that Senator Grassley is asking for documents:
In an email and fax sent late Friday, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, demanded that Alan D. Solomont, the chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, provide “any and all records, email, memoranda, documents, communications, or other information, whether in draft or final form” related to President Obama’s firing of CNCS Inspector General Gerald Walpin.
Walpin had investigated Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s community service organization, St. HOPE Academy, which confessed to misusing AmeriCORPS grants. In April of this year, St. HOPE Academy agreed to pay a $423,836.50 settlement — $72,836.50 of which would be paid personally by Mayor Johnson.
“For reasons that I do not yet understand, the OIG was excluded from this proceeding and the settlement lifting the suspension, was done in complete disregard of the OIG’s findings, as well as the previous determination of wrong doing identified in the Notice of Suspension,” Grassley wrote. “Perhaps the settlement agreement was reached without any input from the OIG, because less than half of what was misused by the Corporation grantees is being returned to the taxpayer and the OIG would not have agreed to this arrangement. In fact, an argument can be made that not even half of the misused funds is being returned, because the settlement does not require that payment in full be made. Rather the settlement places the grantees on a type of payment plan that will occur over a decade; to date less than 10% of the misused money has been recovered.”