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McCaskill's action on whistleblower's tip leads to Labor Department resignation

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 28, 2011 - WASHINGTON - Vowing to root out wasteful federal "management consultant" contracts, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Thursday that she is encouraging whistleblowers to come forward with tips like the one that led this week to the resignation of a high-level Labor Department official.

"We've got to start taking a hard look at all these management consultant contracts in government," said McCaskill, who had asked the department's inspector general to investigate the tip. "Government leaders should be sharing best practices with each other; they shouldn't be hiring consultants for $700,000."

McCaskill,who chairs the Senate subcommittee on contracting oversight, said she was pleased that the department's inspector general had aggressively investigated the complaints of cronyism and waste in contracts of the Labor Department's Veterans' Employment and Training Services (VETS) program, which provides job training for veterans and helps find employment opportunities.

The assistant secretary of Labor for VETS, Raymond Jefferson, resigned this week after an IG report (summarized here) found a pattern of conduct, "which reflects a consistent disregard of federal procurement rules and regulations, federal ethics principles and the proper stewardship of appropriated dollars."

Jefferson, a political appointee of President Barack Obama's administration, was highly qualified, McCaskill said, but had circumvented rules and regulations to help secure government contracts for friends and colleagues. One of those contacts, McCaskill said, "made $700,000 from a veterans business program in a year and a half, when there are thousands of veterans out there trying to figure out how they can bring home a modest income. It's just wildly inappropriate."

The same consultant billed the department $275 an hour for a report "that talked about how you should light the work place and what color you should paint the walls and what the furniture should be," McCaskill said. "The irony ... was the color he told them to paint the walls was not allowed under government regulations."

Said McCaskill: "This is the kind of boondoggle that taxpayers have every right to expect would come to a screeching halt."

In response to the inspector general's inquiry, Labor Department officials said they had taken over contracting authority in the VETS program to make sure that no future contracts are awarded without prior approval of senior outside officials.

In a conference call with reporters, McCaskill said this was an example that federal whistleblowers are "incredibly important." As a former Missouri state auditor, she said, "I want the federal workforce to know that they ... should always feel comfortable calling here. I will stand in front of a train to protect their identity."

McCaskill, who says more effective inspectors general are needed to police federal agencies, said their inquiries can benefit greatly from whistleblowers. "There are lots of people out there in the federal government that know bad things are going on, that know about money that's being wasted," she said. "They do a patriotic duty when they step up."

Rob Koenig is an award-winning journalist and author. He worked at the STL Beacon until 2013.