Posted: June 22, 2009
9:09 pm Eastern


By Drew Zahn
© 2009 WorldNetDaily


Former AmeriCorps watchdog Gerald Walpin is only the first – yet still the most controversial – of three inspectors general to leave their posts prematurely since President Obama took office, and now he's asking for a congressional hearing into his suspicious firing by the White House.

As WND has reported, inspectors general are supposed to be protected from political interference so they can root out fraud and waste of government grant money wherever it may lie.

Questions have been raised, however, about the White House's firing of Walpin and have been further exacerbated by the subsequent resignation of Amtrak's watchdog Fred E. Weiderhold, the International Trade Commission's termination of Inspector General Judith Gwynn's contract and the Treasury Department's request for a ruling on how much power it has over Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Walpin told CNSNews that when the White House fired him with a paper-thin explanation following his investigation into Obama supporter Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, it created "a chilling effect" on other inspectors general.

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