Michelle Rhee Gerald Walpin: Michelle Rhee Kevin Johnson: Michelle Rhee Covered up Kevin Johnson Sex Scandal?

Michelle Rhee is the Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. Public School system. She recently became engaged to Kevin Johnson, the former NBA basketball star and current mayor of Sacramento, California. Johnson, a good friend and donor to Barack Obama, is in the middle of a financial and sexual scandal involving underage girls. Former Inspector General Gerald Walpin ran smack into the Johnson controversy when he began an investigation in AmeriCorps. See video below. See update below:

Michelle Rhee

The result of Walpin's investigation showed that AmeriCorps misused $75 million of taxpayer monies, and Kevin Johnson was a part of that misuse - he diverted funds from AmeriCorp for his personal use. That's not all, three young girls accused him of inappropriate behavior. When Walpin's report went to Congress, Barack Obama fired the IG without cause, according to Senator Charles Grassley.

Now, through Grassley, we find that the powerful Ms. Rhee, was in the middle of a coverup for her future husband, Kevin Johnson. According to Grassley, Rhee was on the board of Johnson's  St. Hope Academy. A former employee at St. Hope allegedly says that Rhee told her "she would take care of the situation." Shortly after, one of the girl's at St. Hope said Kevin Johnson's personal attorney visited the girl and offered her $1,000 a month during the rest of her time at the non-profit St. Hope.

 Michelle Rhee (38), according to some in Washington, D.C. is "one of the most feared Asian Americans." She has two children, ages 10 and 7, in the DC public school system. Rhee, while feared by teachers performing less than adequately, is also considered a powerful role model. She has championed both school vouchers and charter schools - yet she allegedly tried to cover-up Johnson's despicable behavior. And even if it found this allegation is untrue, she knows the details of these charges. What is she thinking?

Rhee, responsible not to a school board but only to the mayor, went on a spree almost as soon as she arrived. She gained the right to fire central-office employees and then axed 98 of them. She canned 24 principals, 22 assistant principals, and, at the beginning of this summer, 250 teachers and 500 teaching aides. She announced plans to close 23 underused schools and set about restructuring 26 other schools (together, about a third of the system). And she began negotiating a radical performance-based compensation contract with the teachers union that could revolutionize the way teachers get paid.

The Kevin Johnson story is an ugly one. When Walpin submitted his report to Congress, Johnson was attempting to move into his position as Sacramento mayor. He had a huge problem on his hands, as no federal monies could come to his city because of the St. Hope scandal. Attorneys got involved and claimed that Walpin overstepped his authority.

Barack Obama and Kevin Johnson

In the meantime, an acting U.S. Attorney struck a deal with the government for some funds to be paid back by Kevin Johnson and St. Hope and AmeriCorp. That little deal got Johnson into the Mayor's office. Gerald Walpin objected.

The deal was made by Brown and top officials at the Corporation for National and Community Service -- Walpin was cut out of the process.  He strongly disagreed with the arrangement, suspecting that it came about more for political reasons than prosecutorial ones.  The new report takes his side, saying Brown's "motivation to reach a settlement was not to protect the financial interests of the United States, but rather to remove Johnson from the suspended parties list in order to ensure Sacramento's eligibility to receive stimulus funds."

Walpin continued investigating St. Hope and found that the organization had destroyed evidence. From there, things began to spiral down for Walpin who was eventually fired by Obama's White House counsel, and it looks like the firing was due to the information Mr. Walpin revealed.

For an Inspector General to be fired by the White House, there are specific guidelines that must be followed. Obama's only reason for firing Walpin was that he had "lost confidence" in him. Walpin was recently cleared of any misuse of his authority by an independent panel, and the White House has still not met the procedural guidelines for his firing. Now it has come to light that Walpin's replacement was instructed by the White House to shred documents concerning Walpin's investigation - which the acting Inspector General, Kenneth Bach, did! Senator Charles Grassley is outraged.

Gerald Walpin

Now we learn that this school Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, was allegedly willing to attempt a cover-up of sexual misconduct with minors, and then became engaged to the perpetrator, Kevin Johnson.  What a great pairing. A woman with two children still in elementary school,  who runs the D.C. school district and an accused sexual predator. I have written many articles about Gerald Walpin, Kevin Johnson and AmeriCorps. Please browse through those, listed below the video, and understand the corruption coming right out of the White House. It is a sordid story of corruption at the highest levels, including the DOJ, and it exposes the lengths AmeriCorp will go to, to hijack taxpayers.




 Kevin Johnson (video) 

Update 11-20-09 Related and background:

Johnson's home town paper has the story now. He was in Boston and could not be reached for comment. Rhee wasn't talking either.

Update 10-8-10: Chris at WyBlog has an informative and insightful update on Michelle Rhee.

 Related and Background:

Kevin Johnson - St. Hope Scandal: Rick Maya Resigns, Gerald Walpin Investigates 

Who is Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson - Walpin-Johnson Investigation

U.S. Attorney Larry Brown and CnCS Displeasure with Walpin's Investigation

Gerald Walpin Firing Update: AmeriCorp $75 Million Misused: Michelle Obama Hires?

Gerald Walpin Fired by President Obama: Inspector General Walpin Fired

Kenneth Bach Shreds Gerald Walpin Documents

Former AG Michael Mukasey says Walpin was fired illegally