Appointment Runs Out For DHS Inspector General (was admin critic)

[Rose Siding]

Clark Kent Ervin is out as the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general after the Senate failed to confirm him and the White House appeared unlikely to nominate him again.
...
Some critics of the administration suggested that Ervin, a former inspector general at the State Department, was forced out for being overly critical of DHS operations and management practices. Ervin has attributed his departure to the Senate's unwillingness to act on his nomination.

In October, Ervin issued a report assailing the Transportation Security Administration, a DHS agency, for an employee awards ceremony at a hotel here that cost nearly $500,000, including nearly $200,000 on travel and lodging for attendees. The same investigation found that TSA senior managers received bonuses averaging $16,000 each -- higher than in any other federal agency.

Another Ervin report in October said TSA screeners were poorly trained to handle deadly weapons and were not tested on passengers' rights. Last week, on his last day, Ervin issued one report criticizing "weaknesses" in DHS accounting systems and another identifying problems with grant and contract management at the nearly two-year-old department.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5719-2004Dec16.html

[LynnTheDem]

1. No wonder bush admin fired the guy! Pointing out all those problems!

He's there to fill his own and bush's friends' pockets, NOT to make bush & Cartel look like what they actually are!

[Cooley Hurd]

2. They value loyalty over sanity...

...that's the reason Iraq's a massive failure.:grr:

[truthisfreedom]

3. what we need are insiders who expose the admin from the inside out.

not people who complain or switch sides, like david brock... we need people who change their views while on the inside, get information, leak it secretly, and disrupt the administration from the inside.

the media won't help. we need moles. everywhere.

[maddezmom]

4. an earlier link: pledges to investigate Haitian Pastor's Death

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: December 10, 2004


WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 -The inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, Clark K. Ervin, who has delivered a series of hard-hitting reports on management problems at the agency, was replaced Thursday. Officials said the White House had concluded that the Senate would not confirm Mr. Ervin, who had been serving as a recess appointee.


Mr. Ervin was chosen for the job nearly two years ago. But his nomination sputtered because of a dispute over his handling, during his tenure at the State Department, of an investigation into several Americans' claims that they were sexually harassed at an international monitoring organization where they worked.

That led the White House last December to give Mr. Ervin a recess appointment, which the president is permitted when Congress is not in session. That appointment expired at midnight Wednesday, however, and officials said that although it could have been extended for a time, the White House had told Mr. Ervin that it did not believe the Senate was likely to confirm him.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/politics/10homeland.h...

very, very interesting timeing:

Pastor's death in custody is probed

Fri Dec 10, 3:51 AM ET Local - Miami Herald


BY JACQUELINE CHARLES, [e-mail]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General is looking into the circumstances surrounding the death of an 81-year-old Haitian pastor who died in Miami last month while in U.S. immigration custody.



At the same time, the office is conducting a review to see if there are systematic problems of abuse in DHS facilities throughout the country, including the Krome immigrant detention center in Southwest Miami-Dade, DHS Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin said.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1060706