WASHINGTON – Sens.
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and
Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are calling on the Biden Administration to remove Federal
Housing and Finance Agency’s inspector general (IG) Laura Wertheimer. The request
follows separate years-long reviews by Congress and the Council of the
Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).
The
Senators outlined their concerns about Wertheimer’s consistent failures, contempt
for congressional oversight and whistleblower retaliation in a letter today to
President Joe Biden.
“In
this case IG Wertheimer has failed to meet the duties described by the IG Act.
Her behavior certainly falls far short of your calls for unity, transparency,
and integrity. To put it mildly, the only thing this watchdog appears to hunt
is her own employees. She should be removed from office, in a manner consistent
with applicable statutory notification requirements,” the senators wrote.
Shortly
following Wertheimer’s appointment as IG in 2014, the lawmakers began receiving
whistleblower complaints ranging from abuse of authority, privacy act
violations, age and gender discrimination and whistleblower retaliation. The
complaints prompted a series of oversight letters from Grassley and Johnson and
a
separate
review by CIGIE’s integrity committee, which substantiated some of the complaints,
and was obstructed by the IG in its efforts to examine others. As a result,
CIGIE recommended substantial disciplinary actions, including removal. In today’s
letter, Grassley and Johnson called on President Biden to remove the IG in a
manner consistent with applicable statutory notification requirements.
“IG
Wertheimer’s willful actions to impede an investigation into her own alleged
misconduct and support of an environment that condones the intimidation of
witnesses show that she lacks the attributes reasonably expected of an IG,” Grassley and Johnson wrote.
Grassley
has long advocated for protecting IGs from political interference by any
administration, while ensuring that IGs faithfully execute their duties to
conduct aggressive oversight of the federal government.
“If
inspectors general are doing good work, they should stay; if not, they should
go. If the president is going to remove an inspector general, there’d better be
a good reason. And there’s absolutely no good reason to leave an IG seat vacant
for an extended period,”
Grassley said
last year in a
Washington
Post column.
April 28, 2021
VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The
Honorable Joseph R. Biden
President
United
States of America
1600
Pennsylvania Ave
Washington
D.C. 20500
Dear President
Biden:
On
April 14, 2021, the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s
(CIGIE) Integrity Committee (IC) sent your office a letter, and corresponding
supporting documentation, regarding their findings which substantiate
allegations of misconduct by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)
Inspector General (IG) Laura Wertheimer and several of her employees.
[1]
Further, in the letter the IC “conclude[d] misconduct of this nature warrants consideration
of substantial disciplinary action, up to and including removal.”
[2]
The
IC’s report is long anticipated, following a series of separate letters from
our offices to various governmental bodies requesting documents, evidence, and
interviews.
[3]
Those letters include requests from 2017 to the Office of Special Counsel and
the IC to investigate allegations brought to us by multiple whistleblowers of
misconduct by the IG.
IG
Wertheimer was nominated by then-President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in
September of 2014.
[4]
Just over a year later, in October 2015, we began investigating whistleblower allegations.
These allegations ranged from blatant abuses of authority involving coercive
personnel actions, to flagrant violations of the Privacy Act by sharing
personal identifying details of an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint with
unauthorized personnel. Whistleblowers also reported that IG Wertheimer expressed
a desire to discriminate on the basis of age and gender as well as severely
hindered the audit mission of the OIG. Worse, reports indicated that IG
Wertheimer, and other OIG employees, sought to identify and disparage those who
brought these complaints to Congress.
The
IC’s April 14 letter substantiates some of these allegations, and more. For
other allegations, the IC reports it could not reach a conclusion due to the
IG’s obstruction.
[5]
Specifically, the letter notes that the IG showed disdain for Congressional
oversight and disregarded the IC’s multiple requests for documentation and
employee interviews. IG Wertheimer’s willful actions to impede an investigation
into her own alleged misconduct and support of an environment that condones the
intimidation of witnesses show that she lacks the attributes reasonably
expected of an IG.
[6]
The
IC’s findings largely parallel what our offices uncovered. The work that we did
in addition to the public letters, was only possible thanks to the brave whistleblowers
that came to us and exposed themselves to the potential of, and in some cases
actual, retaliation. Their testimony, evidence, and dedication throughout this unreasonable
five year ordeal was pivotal in discovering much of what has now been confirmed
by the IC. In short, without these whistleblowers, this IG’s abhorrent behavior
would have likely gone unnoticed.
In
this case IG Wertheimer has failed to meet the duties described by the IG Act.
[7]
Her behavior certainly falls far short of your calls for unity, transparency,
and integrity.
[8]
To put it mildly, the only thing this watchdog appears to hunt is her own
employees. She should be removed from office, in a manner consistent with applicable
statutory notification requirements.
[9]
Sincerely,
Charles
E. Grassley
Ranking
Member
Senate
Judiciary Committee
Ron
Johnson
United
States Senator
cc:
Laura
Wertheimer
Inspector
General
Federal
Housing Finance Agency
Office of the Inspector General
400
7th Street, S.W.,
Washington,
D.C. 20219
Kevin Winters
Chair
of the Integrity Committee
Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity
and Efficiency
1717 H
St N.W.,
Washington,
D.C. 20006
[1] Letter from Kevin H. Winters, Chair of the Council of
Inspectors General, Integrity Committee to Joseph R. Biden, President of the
United States (April 14, 2021) (enclosed).
[3] Letter from Charles E. Grassley, United States Senator
to Laura Wertheimer, Inspector General Federal Housing Finance Agency (Oct. 8,
2015); Letter from Charles E. Grassley, United States Senator to Laura
Wertheimer, Inspector General Federal Housing Finance Agency (March 14, 2016);
Letter from Charles E. Grassley, United States Senator to Beth Cobert, Acting
Director Office of Personnel Management (March 15, 2016); Letter from Charles
E. Grassley, United States Senator to Laura Wertheimer, Inspector General
Federal Housing Finance Agency (March 24, 2016); Letter from Charles E.
Grassley, United States Senator and Ron Johnson, United States Senator to Laura
Wertheimer, Inspector General Federal Housing Finance Agency (May 17, 2016);
Letter from Charles E. Grassley, United States Senator and Ron Johnson, United
States Senator to Laura Wertheimer, Inspector General Federal Housing Finance
Agency (June 8 2016); Charles E. Grassley, United States Senator and Ron
Johnson, United States Senator to Michael E. Horowitz Chair of the Council of
the Inspectors General of Integrity and Efficiency (June 30, 2016); Charles E.
Grassley, United States Senator and Ron Johnson, United States Senator to Scott
Dahl, Chair of the Council of Inspectors General, Integrity Committee and
Carolyn Lerner, Special Counsel (April 4 2017); Charles E. Grassley, United
States Senator and Ron Johnson, United States Senator to Tristan Leavitt,
Acting Special Counsel (October 16 2017).
[5] Supra note 1
at 3 (stating that, “[t]his unprecedented impediment prevented IC investigators
from having access to a complete record of the facts, as detailed below and in
the enclosed Report to the Integrity Committee … notwithstanding these
impediments, the IC determined that there was sufficient evidence to make
preliminary findings of wrongdoing and, in accordance with section 11(d) of the
IG Act, provided [subjects of the investigation] the opportunity to respond to
the draft report”).