Administration's Firing of Walpin May Have Been Part Of Cover-Up to Protect Ally

Doing things the Chicago Way:

A congressional investigation of the volunteer organization AmeriCorps contains charges that D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee handled "damage control" after allegations of sexual misconduct against her now fiance, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and a prominent ally of President Obama, The Washington Examiner has learned.

The charges are contained in a report prepared by Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa, ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The investigation began after the AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin, received reports that Johnson had misused some of the $800,000 in federal AmeriCorps money provided to St. Hope, a non-profit school that Johnson headed for several years.

It's really quite simple.

IG Walpin got too close to discovering Johnson and Rhee had misappropriated AmeriCorps funds, including using some of it as "hush money" to keep one or more women from filing charges of sexual misconduct against Johnson. As a favor to Johnson, someone in the Administration—perhaps even Obama himself, considering their relationship—ordered Walpin fired before he could ferret out the truth. But Walpin refused to go quietly.

The White House's orchestrated smear campaign kicked into gear to label Walpin as senile. The tactic failed. Instead, it simply made people wonder just what they was trying to cover up, and why the White House was trying so hard to discredit Walpin.

The media will certainly try to downplay this unfolding drama as much as possible. Solid evidence of the Administration's involvement will certainly be difficult to obtain, and that which found will be shaped and spun to deflect criticism away from the President.

That allowed, it is very difficult to believe that Johnson would have confided his need in this to have Walpin removed to an underling when he has direct access to the President's ear. After all, President Obama has had his own suspected dalliances and cover-ups, so who would Johnson trust more to clean his dirty laundry than his old friend Barack?