November 20,2009

Grassley comment on report on the firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Walpin

Senator Chuck Grassley issued the comment below about the report released today by the Ranking Member offices of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance. Senator Grassley and Representative Issa detail in the report what they learned about the circumstances surrounding the firing in June of the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service. The report and supporting documents are posted at http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/Reports/20091120JointStaffRe port.pdf.

Senator Grassley’s comment:

“The allegations uncovered by the Inspector General were very serious, and they deserved to be fully investigated, not swept under the rug. It seems a lot of people might have been interested in protecting the AmeriCorps program and the Mayor of Sacramento from an IG who was discovering some unpleasant facts. I'm not sure whether the IG was fired for political reasons. The evidence points in that direction, but since the White House is asserting privilege over its decision-making process, we can't be sure. The report details everything we were able to learn, so people can judge for themselves.”

Senator Grassley is a long-time advocate for inspectors general, calling them “valuable and effective watchdogs over the federal bureaucracy.” For nearly two decades, Senator Grassley gone to bat for individual inspectors general who faced unjustified resistance from the agency they were charged with reviewing, and he has worked to hold individual inspectors general accountable when the position has been abused or managed improperly.

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