Walpingate – The Plot Thickens
ByThe plot thickens in the scandal involving the firing of AmeriCorps IG Gerald Walpin. The Obama administration tried to portray him as some senile old man, when in fact, he may have just dug up a little too much information to keep him around. It all began when Walpin discovered that Sacramento Mayor (and Obama supporter) Kevin Johnson had misused federal funds. When Walpin was fired Senator Charles Grassley began his own investigation.
The Washington Examiner reported:
The investigation began after the AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin, received reports that Johnson had misused some of the $800,000 in federal AmeriCorps money provided to St. Hope, a non-profit school that Johnson headed for several years.
Walpin was looking into charges that AmeriCorps-paid volunteers ran personal errands for him, washed his car, and took part in political
activities. In the course of investigating those allegations, the congressional report says, Walpin’s investigators were told that Johnson had made inappropriate advances toward three young women involved in the St. Hope program — and that Johnson offered at least one of those young women money to keep quiet.Johnson’s office did not respond to calls for comment Friday morning.
At the time, Rhee was on the board of St. Hope. A former St. Hope employee who reported one of the allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by Johnson told Walpin’s investigators that Rhee “learned of the allegations and played the role of a fixer, doing ‘damage control,’” the congressional report says.
The employee told investigators that Rhee told her that “she was making this her number one priority, and she would take care of the situation.” A short time later, the employee learned that the girl who had complained about Johnson had received a visit from Johnson’s personal attorney.
The congressional report quotes the girl as saying the attorney “basically asked me to keep quiet,” and Johnson offered her $1,000 a month for the duration of her time with St. Hope. Once investigators learned about that, the report says, they had “reasonable suspicions about potential hush money payments and witness tampering at a federally funded entity.”
Rhee did not respond to calls for comment Friday.
Walpin included the allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct, along with evidence of misuse of federal money, in a criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento. The acting U.S. Attorney, Lawrence Brown, reached a settlement with Johnson under which St. Hope was obligated to pay back some of the money, but took no action on the other matters.
The White House fired Walpin on June 10. The sexual misconduct allegations he was investigating have been secret until now.
White House spokesman said he had not seen the report yet, and declined comment. …..
Read the full story at the Washington Examiner.
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Funny, but I didn’t see anything about this on ABC news. Maybe it was on MSNBC. In your dreams!