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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
you're letting your hatred of republicans/conservatives show again. Care to take a guess as to why these agencies are under executive authority? Because congress put them there. Not only that, but most legislation that created these agencies, also empowered said agencies to regulate themselves. YOUR congressional representatives made these agencies super independent to the point that they can make their own rules on just about anything they have the authority to regulate. They only fall under the executive because congress has no power to enforce the law, only the executive does.
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dk....once again, you only have it half right.
Every agency has an semi-autonomous Inspector General that is responsible for oversight of waste, fraud and abuse within the department. The IGs have a dual and independent reporting relationship to both the agency head and to the Congress. While Congress cant enforce the law, it does have oversight authoriity, with subpoena power and the power to recommend legal action for potentially criminal activities within the exec branch....as well as controlling the funding for all discretionary executive branch programs through the annual appropriations process.
Ironically, its explained pretty well in material developed by
Bush's Council on Integrity and Efficiency.
It worked reasonably well since its inception under a law signed by Pres Carter in 1978....at least until 2000, when many IG appointments became politicized by Bush (with numerous current IGs under investigation) combined with the Repub Congress' lack of oversight from 2001-2007.
Over 60% of the IGs appointed by President Bush had prior political experience, such as service in a Republican White House or on a Republican congressional staff, while fewer than 20% had prior audit experience. In contrast, over 60% of the IGs appointed by President Clinton had prior audit experience, while fewer than 25% had prior political experience.
NASA IG Robert Cobb allegedly suppressed investigations and penalized his own investigators for pursuing allegations of theft, safety violations, and other wrongdoing.
Commerce IG Johnnie Frazier is under investigation for taking trips with no apparent official purpose at government expense, retaliating against employees who objected and refused to sign the travel vouchers, and destroying emails after he was informed of an investigation into his travel. A report from the Office of Special Counsel recently concluded that he illegally
retaliated against employees who challenged his conduct by demoting them.
Acting EPA IG Bill Roderick recently announced plans to cut 60 of 360 staff positions in the IG’s office due to potential budget cuts. However, the IG office budget increased for FY 2007
DOD IG Joseph Schmitz resigned in 2005 during a Congressional investigation into whether Mr. Schmitz had blocked criminal investigations of senior Pentagon officials. Sen. Charles Grassley also investigated whether Mr. Schmitz had submitted a report to the White House for review before it was issued. Senior officials in the IG’s office reportedly used code
names in referring to persons under investigation, out of fear that Mr. Schmitz would tip off Pentagon officials to pending investigations.
Former HHS IG Janet Rehnquist, the daughter of late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, resigned in 2003 amid investigations into charges of interfering with an investigation and mismanagement.
http://governmentmanagement.oversigh...0620214436.pdf
Its not hatred of republicans....its the facts.