The IG Story is Growing Legs. Running Comes Next.
Stacy McCain spent the day Thursday in and around Capitol Hill doing some actual reporting on what he’s dubbed “IG-Gate”. I’ve written about that growing scandal here and here and NTC News has been all over the story with the latest developments available here.
His reporting work then has borne fruit in a piece for Pajamas Media that came out yesterday. The juicy tidbit is this:
Describing the probe into the dismissal of the AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin, one Capitol Hill source on Thursday compared Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley’s demand for facts in the case to a row of dominoes ready to tip over.
Grassley is asking questions, a team of Senate investigators is poring over documents in the case, and where the investigation proceeds now “depends on what dominoes fall next,” explained the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Already, the FBI is looking into charges that Sacramento, Calif., Mayor Kevin Johnson deleted e-mails relevant to an investigation by Walpin, whose dismissal appears to have violated a law passed last year (and co-sponsored by then-Sen. Barack Obama) to protect inspectors general from political retribution. Meanwhile, Grassley has expanded his own probe to include questions of whether the administration is undermining the independence of other government watchdogs.
I’ve said before that this is exactly the sort of scandal that can go from tiny to overwhelming in almost no time and it looks like it’s on the verge of hitting that overwhelming point right now. With the FBI’s involvement, it’s difficult to see how someone won’t be going to jail.
Some folks are likening this scandal to the Clinton’s Travelgate problems. I was talking to Stacy the other day and he brought up the comparison. I’m not quite so sure it’s apt. As I told him, one of the things that saved the Clintons’ bacon during the many scandals of his eight years was the singular loyalty of his friends and underlings. I can’t imagine that anyone inside the Obama White House is going to take a legal bullet for him. Seriously, can you imagine Rahm Emanleu going to prison to spare Barack Obama some serious legal woes? The man may inspire worship, but he as heck hasn’t inspired the kind of loyalty that Bill and Hillary Clinton enjoyed.
The other thing that separates Travelgate from this story is that the President hasn’t yet figured out how to use the power of the government to shut down his critics. Remember, the man who got the Travelgate ball rolling, Billy Dale, found himself the subject of an FBI investigation shortly thereafter. Also, don’t forget the Filegate scandal (which came out of the Travelgate scandal) wherein the White House asked for and received full FBI background investigations of between 400 and 900 people, most of whom were former Republican officials and various opponents of the Clintons. President Obama doesn’t quite have that Clintonian ruthlessness streak in him. If he had it, Gerald Walpin would be looking down the barrel of an FBI investigation right now.
I don’t think the IG story has even really gotten legs yet. It’s about to, though, and when it does, it has potential to run a long, long way.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Do We Have Another Watergate On Our Hands?
- From Little ACORNs…
- “Trust Me”, Says Obama. “Okey Dokey”, Says the MSM.
Category: Cool Columnists and Wicked Writers, President Barack Obama, The Good Old US of A
Spot-on Jimmie.
RE: the paragraph beginning: 'Some folks are likening this scandal to….': I don't know. I think you and RSM both may be right. The Emanuel types will do a Sammy The Bull, but there are certainly some true-believing Lefties in there who will keep their mouths shut and do their time to protect this thing of O's.
Oops, forgot to mention… Quoted from this posting and linked to at:
http://www.thecampofthesaints.com/2009.06.14_arch…
and at: http://www.thecampofthesaints.com/wwuam.html
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