Obama is Asked to Explain Firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General

Obama Is Asked to Explain Firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General

The investigation of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson appears to be a key reason that President Obama fired the inspector general, who oversees the Corporation for National and Community Service, reports the Associated Press.

Mr. Obama told Congress he had lost confidence in the inspector general, Gerald Walpin. Sen. Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who praised Mr. Walpin for finding money that had been wasted, had asked the president to explain the firing.

Mayor Johnson, an Obama supporter, was under investigation over charges that he misused federal grants at a nonprofit education group he headed. The group received hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal money from the Corporation for National Community Service, which runs the AmeriCorps program.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento declined to prosecute Mr. Johnson after the investigator general submitted the results of his examination. The office said it was concerned that the inspector general had overstated his conclusions about possible wrongdoing and that his report on the Johnson case had not accurately reflected all the information gathered in the investigation.