Bill Ruth has run away - (Texas)

[ensho]

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1254


INSPECTOR GENERAL SWOOPS DOWN ON BORDER AGENCY — Commissioner Takes Leave as Agents Arrive to Scour Files and Computers




Washington, DC — A team of investigators from the State Department’s Office of Inspector General descended on El Paso, Texas this week, following claims of fraud, waste and abuse by top officials at the United States Section, International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC), according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Investigators may not be able to interview the head of the agency, however, because Commissioner Bill Ruth has abruptly departed on personal leave.

The Inspector General is launching a wide-ranging investigation into disclosures by USIBWC General Counsel Robert McCarthy that the agency violated numerous federal laws and regulations, including alleged mismanagement of a $220 million Recovery Act program to raise levees along the Rio Grande.
On July 28, 2009, McCarthy reported to the Inspector General that USIBWC officials had conducted secret surveillance of agency employees, altered official government records, made false reports to the Inspector General, manipulated payrolls, misappropriated funds, built substandard levees and operated unsafe dams and wastewater treatment plants.

Three days later, on July 31, 2009, Commissioner Ruth, a holdover Bush appointee, terminated McCarthy’s employment on the grounds that the attorney was insufficiently “congenial.” McCarthy has challenged that action through an appeal with the United States Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which reviews illegal personnel actions, charging unlawful retaliation for protected whistleblowing.

-snip-

The Inspector General will not be looking into McCarthy’s claims of retaliation. “That issue is separate from other illegal conduct that Mr. McCarthy disclosed,” noted PEER Staff Counsel Christine Erickson, who filed the retaliation complaint on McCarthy’s behalf. “We are seeking to rescind Mr. McCarthy’s removal as soon as possible. The law is supposed to ensure that public servants need not risk their careers in order to shine a light on malfeasance.”
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where oh where can Billy boy be......

[redqueen]

1. LOL

So good to see this happening. I hope it drags out for a while. If it came to a head next summer, that'd be great.

[BR_Parkway]

2. "a holdover Bush appointee" speaks volumes for corruption, huh?

[ensho]

3. I keep thinking about the levees, dams, treatment plants not built to specs

shouldn't neighbors of these places know about it - for their own safety and health?

[MineralMan]

4. He's Fleein' The Interview!

But, I hope he got a breakfast.

[3waygeek]

5. So I guess the investigators will scour the records

ruthlessly.

[Frustratedlady]

6. Something just dawned on me...

By allowing these people to stay onboard, the Obama administration wouldn't look like they were "going hunting" for Bush people, but would be able to prosecute and fire present employees while pointing out they were from the Bush administration...all the same in the end.

[damntexdem]

7. So now it's a Ruth-less investigation?

Well, I guess it needs to be. ;-)