ANOTHER SENATOR WANTS ANSWERS ON WALPIN FIRING

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has apparently decided to join Charles Grassley (R-IA) in wanting to know specifics about why the Inspector General for Obama's AmeriCorps was fired when all indications are that he was simply doing his job. Gerald Walpin's story has remained consistent while Obama's stories have involved high doses of "change" and stonewalling.

BYRON YORK is back on the case. This time, he features U.S. attorney in Sacramento, Lawrence Brown who seemed to insert himself into the fray once it became apparent that his city may cease receiving stimulus funds due to what Walpin discovered about Kevin Johnson's role in misusing money that was intended for his non-profit organization, St. HOPE.

....investigators have been stymied by the White House’s refusal to answer any inquiries about any communications or other dealings it might have had on the subject. Brown has also refused to answer questions.

Now, investigators are trying a new route, examining the role of the Justice Department. Sen. Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked the committee chairman, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, for a hearing on the AmeriCorps/Walpin affair, focusing specifically on the role of Brown and his bosses at Justice.

Ah, more questions than answers when it comes to a Barack Obama scandal. Say it ain't so.

Kevin Johnson's rights to more stimulus money was reinstated. This coupled with Brown's curious involvement in it appears to have caught the eye of Sessions.

According to a senior Republican aide, Sessions’ interest was piqued by a statement made in a late March television interview by Rep. Doris Matsui, the Democratic congresswoman who represents Sacramento. Asked whether Johnson’s problems could prevent the city from receiving stimulus funds, Matsui said that, at Johnson’s request, she had “been in conversation with officials at the White House and OMB [Office of Management and Budget] and others to ensure that we don’t lose any money at all.”

Within days of Matsui’s statement, a settlement was reached. Johnson was unsuspended, and in a particularly unusual move, acting U.S. Attorney Brown issued a press release hailing the arrival of stimulus funds. “The lifting of the suspension against all parties, including Mayor Johnson, removes any cloud whether the City of Sacramento will be prevented form receiving much-needed federal stimulus funds,” Brown wrote.

Looking more and more like Walpin may have been fired for getting in the way of politicians and their pork.

But we'll reserve judgment until we get Obama's side of the story....

Mr. Obama?

Mr. Obama?

Mr. Obama?

h/t to Hot Air

White House Stonewalling on Walpin Investigation

When the president oversteps his bounds and fires an Inspector General without following the law he co-signed, damage control is sure to follow.

It did.

The firing of Gerald Walpin, by law, necessitated specific reasons be issued in writing and sent to congress. After telling Walpin via phone on June 10th that he had an hour to quit or be fired, White House counsel Norman Eisen found himself in front of investigators on Senator Chuck Grassley's staff defending the assertion that Walpin was "confused" and "disoriented" at a Board Meeting on May 20th.

Not satisfied with Eisen's answers, Grassley submitted questions to the White House in writing that sought answers by Wednesday, June 24th. Those answers weren't given and it now appears the White House has whipped out the "Executive Privilege" defense.

Byron York is once again all over it.

There are basically two possible short term outcomes.
1.) Republican Investigators, led by Grassley will dig in their heels and see how far they can push it

2.) It will be dropped, a fate far too many injustices inside the beltway seem to share.