Fired National-Service Inspector General Says He Acted Properly

Gerald Walpin, who was fired from his post as inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service, said he acted properly and questions the timing of the decision.

“I and my office acted throughout with the highest integrity in reports and dealing with the corporation and its management in performing the IG’s responsibility to be an independent overseer of the corporation’s activities,” he said in an interview. He said he told the White House it might not appear coincidental that the president’s decision to remove him followed two reports he issued that criticized the national-service agency.

But the White House said the decision was made solely because of Mr. Walpin’s conduct, citing a decision by an acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento to file a complaint against him.

“We are aware of the circumstances leading to that referral and of Mr. Walpin’s conduct throughout his tenure and can assure you that the President’s decision was carefully considered,” Gregory B. Craig, White House counsel, said in a letter to Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

President Obama told Congress on Thursday he planned to remove Mr. Walpin from his post because he no longer had the “fullest confidence” in him. Mr. Craig wrote to Mr. Grassley after the senator raised questions about whether the administration had properly notified Congress of the reasons for the decision.

“Inspectors general need to know they have independence and won’t be removed for arbitrary reasons,” Sen. Grassley said in a statement.

The U.S. attorney complained about Mr. Walpin’s conduct in a case involving St. Hope Academy, a nonprofit group started by Kevin Johnson, a former basketball star who is now mayor of Sacramento. The Corporation for National and Community Service last September barred the group from receiving any federal grants or contracts for up to one year after finding that it had misused members of AmeriCorps, the national-service program.

Mr. Walpin referred the case to the U.S. attorney’s office so it could consider prosecuting Mr. Johnson and a colleague for misusing federal funds. The office reached a settlement with the academy that required the group repay some of the money it had received — an agreement that Mr. Walpin criticized in a report that he issued in May.

The acting U.S. attorney, Lawrence Brown, filed a complaint against Mr. Walpin with the integrity committee of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, a federal body. The complaint was not immediately available, but Mr. Walpin’s defense refers to charges that he overstepped his authority as an auditor and improperly communicated to the press. Mr. Walpin denies both charges.

Mr. Walpin also filed a report month criticizing spending on an AmeriCorps program at City University of New York.

He said that the White House asked him to resign on Wednesday, giving him one hour to decide. He said he declined to make such a hasty move, telling the White House in an e-mail that “it would do a disservice to the independent scheme that Congress has mandated.”

The president is required to give Congress 30 days’ notice before removing an inspector general, so Sen. Grassley questioned the propriety of the ultimatum. The White House told him it had contacted Mr. Walpin as a way to start the 30-day notification clock ticking.

Mr. Walpin, who lives in New York, was appointed to his post in 2007 by President George W. Bush. A White House spokesman noted that the decision to remove him was supported both by Democrat Alan Solomont, the corporation’s board chair, and Republican Stephen Goldsmith, the vice chair.

— Suzanne Perry