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Amtrak's Inspector General was swiftly retired this last month and replaced by Lorraine Green. Who is she?
http://tinyurl.com/mmxwt5 Who is Lorraine Green? She's a former Amtrak human resources executive and faithful Democrat donor with no experience in the inspector general business. Her expertise? Managing "diversity initiatives" for the agency. Watchdog out. Lapdog in.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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I agree with you Mr. Smith, this story does seem to be "growing legs". Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal ran a headlined story essentially setting forth the sames facts as has your web based newssource:
A House committee is investigating the resignation of Amtrak’s inspector general, raising concerns about oversight at a time when the publicly funded passenger rail corporation is set to spend more than $1 billion in federal stimulus funds.
Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the committee’s ranking Republican, launched the investigation today. Fred Weiderhold, Amtrak’s long-time IG, stepped down June 18 after delivering a report that concluded the “independence and effectiveness” of the IG’s office was “being substantially impaired” by Amtrak managers.
Amtrak issued a statement saying “there was no relationship between the timing of Mr. Weiderhold’s retirement” and the report critical of Amtrak management. “We would like to maintain an open line of communication and are looking forward to cooperating fully with the committee concerning its request for information,” said Amtrak Chairman Thomas Carper.
The matter is the latest controversy to rock the government’s inspector general ranks. Most of the cases have involved charges of managerial interference with IG offices, which are charged with weeding out waste, fraud and other wrongdoing on the part of the federal employees and contractors. The action by Towns and Issa is one of the first formal, bipartisan investigations to emerge since President Barack Obama took office.
Of interest, The New York Times has been silent with regards to this issue.
Further, I respect that Michelle Malkin is a recognized journalist, even if some of her positions can be considered "mainstream contrary":
Finally, I should note that as a CPA, I find it difficult to accept that both the Contract and Internal Audit activities at Amtrak report to the IG. While having Internal Audit report directly to the CFO bypassing the Comptroller represents proper Internal Control, I have to question the efficacy of these activities reporting to an office more grounded in investigative work than accounting.
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