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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Figure fired during probe of Kevin Johnson is cleared By Sam Stanton Gerald Walpin, the AmeriCorps inspector general fired by the White House in July during his probe of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, has been cleared of a complaint by the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento that he had acted improperly. Now, he says, he wants his job back. "It takes away any basis belatedly set forth by the White House as a reason for my termination," Walpin said this morning in an interview from his home in New York. "So I am certainly looking forward to a final determination by the court and to be reinstated." Walpin filed suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., in July alleging that he was fired improperly while investigating whether Johnson had misused federal grant funds. The government is trying to have the case dismissed, but Walpin filed documents in court late Monday opposing that. Among the documents was an Oct. 19 letter from the Integrity Committee of the Council of the Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency telling him that the probe against him had been closed. "After carefully considering the allegations described in the complaint together with your response, the IC determined that the response sufficiently and satisfactorily addressed the matter and that further inquiry or an investigation regarding the matter was not warranted," committee Chairman Kevin L. Perkins wrote. The investigation had been prompted by an extraordinary April letter from Lawrence G. Brown, then the acting U.S. attorney for the Sacramento area, complaining to the Integrity Committee that Walpin had "overstepped his authority," withheld "potentially significant information at the expense of determining the truth" and engaged in a campaign in the media that damaged the image of the AmeriCorps program. "He sought to act as the investigator, advocate, judge, jury and town crier," Brown wrote in the April 29 letter. By then, the investigation of Johnson and how he had used federal funds for his St. HOPE agency to run schools and other endeavors had been closed without criminal charges. The federal government agreed to settle the matter with Johnson and St. HOPE agreeing to repay $400,000 in funds. Walpin denied any wrongdoing but was fired June 11 by the White House, which said he had been in a "confused, disoriented" state during a May meeting of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps. As inspector general, Walpin's job was to act independently to investigate potential problems in federally funded programs, and he says he believes the decision to settle the case rather than pursue it stemmed from "media pressures and political considerations," including the fact that Johnson is seen as an ally of President Obama. Members of Congress raised concerns about whether the firing was justified, but to date no hearings into the matter have been scheduled. Instead, the case is being fought out in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Brown is no longer acting U.S. attorney. He now serves in the No. 3 spot in the office, and officials there did not immediately respond to a request for comment this morning. Steve Maviglio, who acted as a spokesman for Johnson during the probe and was a vocal critic of Walpin, said he and Johnson attorney Matthew Jacobs would decline to comment.
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