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In Other News, What’s Happening with the IG Scandal?

Jimmie | July 3, 2009 | Comments (1)

While the MSM, the rabid left, and certain feckless and self-aggrandizing Republicans go haring after Sarah Palin, the Inspectors General scandal is still moving forward.

Michelle Malkin has been digging into the Amtrak part of the story and has found little but the stench of cronyism and some shiny glimmers of real trouble for the administration:

On June 18, Weiderhold met with Amtrak officials to discuss the results of an independent report by the Washington, D.C. law firm, Willkie, Farr & Gallagher. The 94-page report has been made publicly available through the office of whistleblower advocate Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). It concluded that the “independence and effectiveness” of the Amtrak inspector general’s office “are being substantially impaired” by the agency’s Law Department. Amtrak bosses have effectively gagged their budgetary watchdogs from communicating with Congress without preapproval; required that all Amtrak documents be “pre-screened” (and in some cases redacted) before being turned over to the inspector general’s office; and taken control over the IG’s $5 million portion of federal stimulus dollars.

Moreover, the report revealed, Amtrak regularly retained outside law firms shielded from IG reach. In another case, Amtrak’s Law Department appeared to meddle in an inspector general investigation of an outside financial adviser suspected of inflating fees. The consultant ran to the Law Department when the IG demanded documents; the Law Department repudiated the IG’s instructions on complying with a subpoena.

These interventions (ongoing since 2007) have “systematically violated the letter and spirit of the Inspector General Act,” according to Sen. Grassley. IG staffers now fear retaliation – and with good reason. Their boss, Weiderhold, lost his job on the very day Amtrak received the Willkie, Farr & Gallagher report. It may be hot and humid in the rest of the Beltway, but every inspector general’s office is feeling an Arctic chill.

Weiderhold’s replacement is a former Amtrak human resources exec and long-time Democratic donor named Lorraine Green. Green has no experience as an inspector general, or anything even close to it. The big feather in her hat was as the manager of “diversity initiatives” for Amtrak.

As Michelle says, “Watchdog out. Lapdog in.” I’ve heard that refrain before.

Byron York has also been on this story since the very beginning. His latest column at the Washington Examiner outlines how much the White House has been trying to make the GOP investigators go away. As they say, where there’s smoke…