Interior accuses Ben Carson of sending 'false information' about watchdog
Source: Politico
The Interior Department has not hired a Housing and Urban Development political appointee to be its internal watchdog despite a claim by HUD Secretary Ben Carson that the official would join the agency, an Interior spokeswoman said Wednesday,
The Interior statement disputes an email Carson sent on Oct. 12 saying that Suzanne Tufts, a GOP operative with no ethics review experience on her resume, was heading to Interior to become its acting inspector general.
“HUD sent out an email that had false information in it,” Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said in an email. “Ms. Tufts is not employed by the Department and no decision was ever made to move her to Interior."
Swift said Tufts was referred to the agency by the White House as a potential candidate for a position in the Inspector General’s office, but "
a)t the end of the day, she was not offered a job at Interior.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/18/ben-carson-false-information-allegations-860755
Apparently triggered by.....
Democratic lawmakers are asking the association of government watchdogs whether it has vetted a controversial candidate who is slated to become the Interior Department’s inspector general and take over the ongoing probes into Secretary Ryan Zinke.
The letter from Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee to the head of the inspectors general group questions whether Suzanne Tufts, a GOP political appointee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is qualified to oversee the agency's internal watchdog. Critics have alleged Tufts has no background in ethical investigations, and they worry her appointment could be an effort to undermine the probes on Zinke that the current IG has open.
“It is not clear that the new acting IG is sufficiently qualified or politically independent to take the helm of the Office of Inspector General," states the letter House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) sent to the council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, an association that normally recommends IG candidates.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/18/house-democrats-interior-watchdog-860402
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