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Henry II’s supposed lament – “who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” – led a loyal knight to bury his sword in Thomas Beckett’s head, thus conveniently removing the Archbishop of Canterbury as a thorn in the side of the English king.
A scene reminiscent of that infamous martyrdom occurred in the White House late last week, as one of President Obama’s senior aides gave the AmeriCorps inspector-general an offer he supposedly could not refuse – resign within an hour or be fired.
President Obama’s options here are circumscribed by the Inspector-Generals Reform Act of 2007, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama. The IGs are appointed by presidents but do not serve at the Chief Executive’s pleasure as do other presidential appointees.
The AmeriCorps case illustrates why IG independence must be zealously protected. Walpin found that Johnson used AmeriCorps funds for personal and political benefit.
Fortunately, IG Gerald Walpin, refused to go quietly despite threats from the assailant, Norman Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform. Walpin reminded Eisen that the law required a president to give Congress 30-day notice of his intent to remove an IG and a detailed justification for the removal.
This is to prevent presidential politics from interfering with the independence and integrity of IGs, whose sole job is to ferret out waste, fraud and corruption in federal spending.
Eisen was last seen defending a proposed White House rule depriving the First Amendment rights of “anyone else seeking to influence the process” of economic stimulus grant awards. The proposed rule would enable Obama and company to dole out stimulus pork behind closed doors, away from prying eyes... [snip]
The key issue now is whether Congress will permit this latest illustration of what The Examiner’s Michael Barone calls Obama’s “gangster government”...
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