Who oversees the overseers? Pressure mounts on group monitoring Inspectors General

The ouster of a second federal government inspector general within two months is leading to questions about the group that oversees them.

Social Security Administration Inspector General Gail Ennis resigned on May 31 in the midst of a lengthy investigation into her office.

Inspectors general are charged with overseeing various government agencies, and are themselves overseen by a group of fellow watchdogs called the Integrity Committee of the Counsel of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.

CIGIE is increasingly finding itself accused of harassment and politicization.

“The more we learn about the Integrity Committee, the more concerns I have about the way it operates,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said. “It appears they selectively choose which allegations to fully investigate. They have weaponized their investigative process against Inspectors General who are out of step with the goals and desires of the committee itself.”

He sees Ennis as the latest example in a continuing problem.

“Gail Ennis is unfortunately not the first Inspector General impacted by their unwieldiness this year, and is unlikely to be the last,” Biggs said.

In March, President Joe Biden fired longtime Railroad Retirement Board IG Martin Dickman, who held the position for nearly 30 years but had been under a CIGIE investigation since January 2023.

CIGIE said Dickman created a hostile work environment, but his firing led to a letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) seeking more information, and to a scathing statement from Dickman’s lawyer, Justin Weddle.

Weddle said CIGIE’s Integrity Committee “lacks accountability, fairness, and transparency,” and accused it of “tossing around conclusory and amorphous phrases such as ‘toxic work environment’ — as if they had been scrutinized and found credible in a process conducted according to proper procedures. They were not.”

Two months later, Ennis resigned amid another lengthy CIGIE investigation. CIGIE’s draft report said she had obstructed its investigation and cited falling morale and reports that she levied excessive fines against people accused of disability fraud, the Washington Post reported.

However, Ennis, a Trump appointee who was confirmed for the position in 2019, wrote a strongly worded response to the report one day before announcing her resignation.

“This investigation and reporting constitute retaliation for disclosing what I and my office reasonably believed to be violations of law and policy by CIGIE and [Justice Department IG] Michael Horowitz,” she wrote. “Each step I and my office have taken to discuss our concerns in good faith has been met with further retaliation. The process has exhausted and disheartened me, as was likely intended.”

The letter was addressed to Amtrak Inspector General Kevin Winters, who leads the Integrity Committee.

“The IG community has become politicized under the influence of IG Horowitz and his handpicked CIGIE leadership, who have abused CIGIE investigatory authority to consolidate power and influence within the community,” she wrote. “I spoke up against CIGIE overreach, opposing one of these abusive policies IG Horowitz implemented… Unfortunately, I was appointed by a Republican president, and I cannot match the political patronage wielded by IG Horowitz and CIGIE leadership.”

The Washington Examiner has reached out to Winters and Horowitz for comment.

The complaints against Ennis included allegedly creating a hostile work environment, similar to those lodged against Dickman.

A third inspector general, Joseph Cuffari of the Department of Homeland Security, has been under a CIGIE investigation for four years.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed suit against CIGIE last year on Cuffari’s behalf, saying he “has been endlessly harassed and had his office’s resources drained by a series of baseless inquiries.”

That case was later dismissed on grounds that the investigation itself did not amount to unlawful harassment, but NCLA attorney John Vecchione maintains that the CIGIE process is riddled with problems.

“Although the courts say you can be investigated forever, what we say is that the process is the punishment,” Vecchione said. “From what I’ve seen, it’s just an endless series of ‘are you still beating your wife’ type questions.”

CIGIE is an independent entity within the executive branch of the federal government, and its members are not appointed by the president.

While the investigations into Cuffari, Ennis, and Dickman have lasted for months or even years, CIGIE has also faced questions about failing to investigate other matters.

In late May, Biggs and eight other Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Winters asking why his committee had not investigated allegations against DHS IG employees, which were submitted by Cuffari.

“This failure is a dereliction of the committee’s statutory duty to ensure accountability among the community of Inspectors General and has led to serious questions about the politicization of the Integrity Committee itself,” they wrote.

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Winters wrote back on June 3, saying he was limited in his response due to the ongoing nature of a related investigation.

“The fact that [the case] remains under investigation limits the degree it can be discussed,” he wrote. “While this complex investigation is ongoing, the IC is unable to provide substantive updates.”

Read More From Original Article Here: Who watches the watchdogs? Group overseeing Inspectors General under pressure