Obama's got Inspector General problems

This all got started with the firing of Gerald Walpin who was investigating Americorps and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson who is nowcaught up in an FBI investigation of an official from a nonprofit he started. That dovetails into revelations that two other IGs are either being let go

Separately this week, the International Trade Commission told its acting inspector general, who is not subject to White House authority, that her contract would not be renewed. Grassley had become concerned about her independence because of a report earlier in the year that an agency employee forcibly took documents from the acting inspector general. "It is difficult to understand why the ITC would not have taken action to ensure that the ITC inspector general had the information necessary to do the job," Grassley wrote on Tuesday. Less than three hours after the letter was e-mailed to the agency, the acting IG, Judith Gwynne, was told that her contract, which expires in early July, would not be renewed.

Or having their powers as IGs trying to be curtailed.

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Matt Jaffe report: Officials of the Treasury Department admitted late Thursday that they have asked the Justice Department to weigh in on how much power they have over the Special Inspector General for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as SIGTARP. The push for a legal ruling on SIGTARP's independence came after Special Inspector General Neil Barofksy had asked Treasury Department officials to hand over documents regarding a TARP recipient, a request that was denied. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a letter to Secretary Tim Geithner earlier this week, said that he understood the denial to have been based on "a specious claim of attorney-client privilege."

A Treasury Department challenge to the authority of government bailout watchdog Neil M. Barofsky came just as he had begun a sensitive investigation of the department's role in approving bonuses to executives of insurance giant AIG, sources said Thursday. Department lawyers had sent a message to Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, suggesting that lawyer-client privilege could restrict some of his inquiries. Within a day, Barofsky was assured there would be no impediment to his audits, and all requested documents were provided to his office. But the proximity of the department's challenge to Barofsky's investigation has raised concerns about the timing of the two events. And though the matter was resolved for the AIG inquiries, it leaves open the possibility of conflict in the future as audits of the massive program multiply. Asked why Barofsky's legal authority was challenged by the department just as the AIG inquiry began, Treasury Department spokesman Andrew Williams said: "It is entirely a coincidence."

Walpin who called basically senile by the WHite House is not crawling away and fighting back hard. The explantion of Walpin's firing was plain goofy and was just being asked to dig deeper. As it stands now it looks like Obama is running interference for a supporter. The Treasury is acting guilty and looks to be trying to impede oversight.

But I don't expect the MSM to do any hard journalism about it.