WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that President Obama
had dismissed a government agency’s internal watchdog because he was
incompetent and had behaved bizarrely, disputing accusations that he
was fired because he had uncovered embarrassing problems in the AmeriCorps program.
Last week, Mr. Obama abruptly fired the watchdog, Gerald Walpin, the
inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community
Service, who was a holdover from the Bush administration, saying little
except that he had lost confidence in Mr. Walpin.
But the
president quickly encountered resistance from the Senate, including
from a fellow Democrat, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who said Mr.
Obama had not provided sufficient reason for the dismissal, as required
under a recent law intended to protect the independence of the corps of
inspectors general.
Mr. Walpin suggested in interviews that his
dismissal was connected to two recent reports in which he was critical
of programs that received money from AmeriCorps, which provides living
allowances and education grants to volunteers for community groups.
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