NEW
Who railroaded the Amtrak inspector general?
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009
Watchdogs are an endangered species in the Age of Obama. The latest government ombudsman to get the muzzle: Amtrak inspector general Fred Weiderhold. The longtime veteran employee was abruptly "retired" last month -just as the government-subsidized rail service faces mounting complaints about its meddling in financial audits and probes.
Question the timing? Hell, yes.
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.
"...Eleanor Acheson is vice president and general counsel at AmTrak, where inspector general Fred Wiederhold resigned Thursday without warning or explanation. Sen. Charles Grassley says Wiederhold's unexpected resignation came after he was asked to provide "specific examples of agency interference with OIG audits and/or investigations."
A bit more Googling shows Eleanor Acheson to be a Friend of Joe - Joe Biden, that is, Amtrak's most famous rider and currently vice president of the United States. Wiederhold has said nothing publicly since his resignation five days ago.
Google doesn't tell us whether the former Amtrak IG's curious silence has anything to do with the well-connected legal honcho at Amtrak. At least, not yet...."
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LEE says: While you are still pondering the newly reported firing/retirement of ANOTHER Inspector General, I hope there are still some of us who are also keeping this entire issue and Inspector General Walpin in particular in mind.
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If you are interested, I'd be glad for you to visit, or revisit, this issue through a Gather, or Google search or by way of these articles of mine:
Inspector General Walpin fired .. videos included
This article is unintentionally the same as another one of mine (don't ask, it's a boring story), Inspector General Fired? Fired! ; but the comments are different if someone is interested in those.
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*I'd* call him MR. Walpin, Obama calls him something else
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Acorn, AmeriCorps, Walpin, and Obama
This one is related to the others irt the fired Inspector General because of the Americorp/ACORN/Obama/Ken Johnson connection which seems to validate Gerald Walpin's opinions and actions that seem to have gotten him fired. Mmmm...
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Comments: 5
Amazing, isn't it? That's 4 now?
You stop watching closely the politicians only when they leave office. Until then, they are very dangerous.
Bush administration converted lots of appointments to civil service (real jobs)! These folks were party loyalists, not experts at the job they were given. Remember Chertoff who learned about Katrina from the newspaper and "Brownie" who did a "Hell of a job"? Time to change the linens!
Check this one out. It's not about how Walpin did his job. It's that he did it at all ... and too well:
Acorn, AmeriCorps, Walpin, and Obama
This one is related to the others irt the fired Inspector General because of the Americorp/ACORN/Obama connection which seems to validate Gerald Walpin's opinions and actions that seem to have gotten him fired. Mmmm...
Renee K. Jul 2, 2009, 8:31pm EDT
Bush administration converted lots of appointments to civil service (real jobs)! These folks were party loyalists, not experts at the job they were given. Remember Chertoff who learned about Katrina from the newspaper and "Brownie" who did a "Hell of a job"? Time to change the linens!