WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that President Barack Obama had dismissed a government agency’s internal watchdog because he was incompetent and had behaved bizarrely, disputing accusations that he was fired because he had uncovered embarrassing problems in the AmeriCorps program.
Last week, Obama fired Gerald Walpin, the inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service, who was a holdover from the Bush administration, saying little except that he had lost confidence in Walpin.
But critics said Obama had not provided sufficient reason for the dismissal, as required under a recent law intended to protect the independence of the corps of inspectors general.
Walpin suggested in interviews that his dismissal was connected to reports in which he was critical of programs that received money from Ameri Corps. One program was run by an Obama supporter, Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star who is now the mayor of Sacramento, Calif.
