Commerce Department Employees Demand Prosecution of Inspector General

By Scott Horton

The Bush Administration has had a penchant for appointing the lowest grade political hacks to the position of inspector general at agencies all across Washington, as was recently noted by ABC News. Now one of those cases has the staff up in arms. ABC News is reporting that at the Department of Commerce, senior employees of the office of the inspector general have sent a letter to President Bush demanding that the inspector general be removed and that a prosecutor be assigned to investigate his official misconduct.

Johnnie E. Frazier should be dismissed…in order to conduct an effective, ‘independent’ investigation,” states the letter to Bush, which was written on official stationery bearing the logo of the Commerce Department Inspector General’s Office.

The May 10 letter also calls for the president to put Frazier’s senior aides on administrative leave, alleging they have conspired with Frazier to obstruct justice and retaliate against employees who have cooperated with investigators.

Four of Bush’s inspectors general are now themselves the subject of misconduct inquiries and rumors surround a number of others. Harper’s will shortly be carrying exclusive further reports about one of the embattled inspectors general.