09-13-2019, 01:51 PM
The Inspector General for Carson's department cleared him. And it took more than a year to do so.
“Given that the plain language of governing appropriations law expressly prohibits obligating in excess of $5,000 to purchase ‘furniture’ for use in the ‘suite of offices’ ” controlled by the department head, the report said, “we believe that department officials involved in this process should have been aware that notification to Congress was required here. The fact that evidently no one involved in this procurement had such awareness indicates a systemic failure.”
See? An obvious systemic failure. Probably couldn't be prevented! No one knows how to fix those!
Nevermind that the officials who "caused" it work for Carson. Because ultimately no one can be to blame. Did we mention how it's systemic?
except ... remember the person who blew the whistle and then got shitcanned because of it?
“The people involved in this furniture procurement all reported to me, and everyone was aware of the $5,000 limit and the requirement to notify Congress,” [Helen] Foster said in an interview Thursday. “They were not clueless. The decision to pursue the dining set happened the month after I was removed."
Foster, who was not mentioned in the inspector general’s report, said she was interviewed as part of the investigation."
I wonder if part of the department's fix for preventing this systemic failure includes not pushing out people tasked with preventing this from happening?
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/business...ral-finds/
“Given that the plain language of governing appropriations law expressly prohibits obligating in excess of $5,000 to purchase ‘furniture’ for use in the ‘suite of offices’ ” controlled by the department head, the report said, “we believe that department officials involved in this process should have been aware that notification to Congress was required here. The fact that evidently no one involved in this procurement had such awareness indicates a systemic failure.”
See? An obvious systemic failure. Probably couldn't be prevented! No one knows how to fix those!
Nevermind that the officials who "caused" it work for Carson. Because ultimately no one can be to blame. Did we mention how it's systemic?
except ... remember the person who blew the whistle and then got shitcanned because of it?
“The people involved in this furniture procurement all reported to me, and everyone was aware of the $5,000 limit and the requirement to notify Congress,” [Helen] Foster said in an interview Thursday. “They were not clueless. The decision to pursue the dining set happened the month after I was removed."
Foster, who was not mentioned in the inspector general’s report, said she was interviewed as part of the investigation."
I wonder if part of the department's fix for preventing this systemic failure includes not pushing out people tasked with preventing this from happening?
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/business...ral-finds/