Right: POGO Investigator Jake Wiens, photo by House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform |
By DANA LIEBELSON
When the President fails to nominate the watchdogs who expose government wrongdoing, how can Congress ensure that taxpayers are getting the oversight they deserve? That was the question legislators sought to answer yesterday morning at a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing.
POGO Investigator Jake Wiens testified at the hearing (his very first congressional testimony—woo hoo!) on the importance of promptly nominating permanent Inspectors General (IGs). Wiens is the mastermind behind POGO’s new website “Where Are All the Watchdogs?” which tracks the number and length of IG vacancies.
“POGO firmly believes that the effectiveness of an IG office can be diminished when that office does not have permanent leadership, especially when that vacancy exists for an extended period of time,” Wiens said in his opening statement.
At present, 10 of the 73 Inspector General positions are vacant. Eight of these positions require nomination by President Obama. The longest vacancy is at the State Department, where the IG office has now been without permanent leadership for almost 1,600 days.
“The president has had more than three years to make a recommendation…why hasn’t he made a decision on this? Aren’t there plenty of competent people that can do the job?” said Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), referring to the State Department vacancy. Burton is a former chairman for the House oversight committee.
Current Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) pointed out that the hearing on IG vacancies was not held in order to reflect upon the Obama Administration— but to instead determine how best to ensure that future administrations nominate IGs in a prompt manner.
“A robust group of IGs at federal agencies is the best way to prevent waste, fraud and abuse,” Rep. Issa said.
Several of the representatives made a concerted effort to recognize the good work that acting IGs have done under President Obama. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) asked one of the witnesses, General Services Administration (GSA) IG Brian Miller—whose office recently cracked the GSA Las Vegas scandal—whether he treated acting or permanent IGs differently.
“I give equal weight to both permanent and temporary IGs” Miller said. He told Rep. Maloney he believes he would have still been able to unearth the GSA scandal even if he had been an acting IG, instead of permanent. However, at the hearing, Miller also emphasized the importance of the vetting process for permanent IGs.
“Finding and nominating the right person for the job is absolutely vital” Miller said. “IGs need time and experience on the job to develop.”
POGO found in its latest investigation that:
A permanent IG has the ability to set a long-term strategic plan for the office, including setting investigative and audit priorities. An acting official, on the other hand, is known by all OIG staff to be temporary, which one former IG has argued “can have a debilitating effect on [an] OIG, particularly over a lengthy period.” Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has echoed that sentiment, saying “Even the best acting inspector general lacks the standing to make lasting changes needed to improve his or her office.”
Wiens, in reflecting upon the hearing, said that the issue isn’t about pitting permanent IGs against acting IGs, but instead determining whether “in that same position, a permanent IG could do a better job—I would make the case that the answer is yes.”
Overall, Wiens said that he was pleased to see that the Representatives “took the issue of Inspector General vacancies seriously and focused on substance, not partisanship.”
Dana Liebelson is POGO’s Beth Daley Impact Fellow.
This emphasis placed on the the need for more I.Gs is nothing more than a way of trying to stamp out corruption, but doing nothing. In most cases and judging from personal experiences, is just more of the same, but appearing to be doing something about. Something like Obama does all the time. He appears to be doing something for America and yet he delivers, except on the gay/lesbian issue which he caved in for money, the same and in many cases, worse than the guy he replaced and criticized every day until the candidate became president and then Obama became Bush the third. If the I.G. system were as good as POGO makes it out to be, we wouldn't have war crimes, torture, corruption galore; Guantanamo wouldn't have become what it is today, etc. We need an oversight committee without political ideologies, agendas and having honest people with proven integrity in charge; other than that, is like changing one corrupt system with another and that never works. Halliburton, corruption to the nth degree, is still going strong today and without any accountability.
Posted by: Emile Zola | May 12, 2012 at 01:52 PM
Obama has been a complete bust as president. Liberal Democrats have moved from initial disbelief of his actions (and lack of actions)to total disgust. He simply is not a leader. His failure to appoint watchdogs is just one example. Why don´t we draft Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic nomination? Like Obama, he is a great speaker, but he is also someone who works for what he stands for.
Posted by: Jeanne Nolasco | May 12, 2012 at 01:03 PM