Controversy continues to simmer around the firing of Gerald Walpin, inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service, with the latest development coming Thursday from Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Issa issued a statement asking acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence G. Brown, who is based in Sacramento, to detail the legal basis for a complaint he filed against Walpin to the oversight council for inspectors general on April 29.
"The allegations that form the basis for your complaint seem very ordinary, which makes the fact that you pursued sanctions against Mr. Walpin seem extraordinary by contrast," Issa wrote to Brown.
Walpin's office conducted the original investigation into allegations that St. HOPE Academy, a nonprofit founded by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, improperly used some of the $847,673 in federal money received between 2004 and 2007.
After reviewing Walpin's findings, Brown's office negotiated a settlement in April that called for Johnson, St. HOPE and its former executive director to repay more than $400,000 in grants.
Walpin opposed the settlement as insufficient and asked Congress to review the case.
Brown, in turn, took issue with Walpin's performance during the investigation, alleging that Walpin withheld key information and questioning his decision to publicize the findings before the U.S. attorney's office had weighed the evidence. Brown asked a branch of the FBI that polices inspectors general to review Walpin's performance.
President Barack Obama fired Walpin last week, saying in a letter to Congress that he had lost confidence in the Corporation for National and Community Service's inspector general.
In response to questions raised by Issa, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., the White House this week released a more detailed account of the firing. Norman L. Eisen, special counsel to the president, issued a letter Tuesday listing concerns about Walpin, among them that he had become "confused, disoriented, unable to answer questions" during a meeting on May 20, had been insisting on working from his New York home and had "become unduly disruptive." Eisen also cited Brown's complaint. That letter did not satisfy Issa.
"If the White House does not offer a fuller and more complete explanation and supporting evidence of the reasons and process for firing Mr. Walpin, it will have a chilling effect on Inspectors General who consider launching investigations that target waste, fraud and abuse by friends of the President," Issa wrote.
Call The Bee's Melody Gutierrez, (916) 326-5521.
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