Lawmakers: NASA {Bu**sh**-appointed} watchdog lacks bite, needs to go (CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Abbie Boudreau and Scott Zamost
CNN Special Investigations Unit

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Key members of Congress from both parties want NASA's internal watchdog fired, arguing he can't be trusted to oversee the $1 billion in additional money the space agency is getting under the Obama administration's economic stimulus package.

Government reports dating back to 2006 have accused NASA Inspector General Robert "Moose" Cobb of ineffectiveness, of profanely berating employees and being too close to the agency's leadership. Calls for his ouster have intensified in the past month, since NASA is getting additional stimulus money for space exploration, research, and aeronautics.

"Apparently, Mr. Cobb thought he was supposed to be the lap dog, rather than the watchdog, of NASA," Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tennessee, told CNN.

Gordon, chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, has asked President Obama to remove Cobb. In a letter co-authored by Rep. Brad Miller, D-North Carolina, who leads the House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, the lawmakers argue that "NASA cannot afford another four years with an ineffective inspector general." Watch NASA watchdog under fire »

"It's incredibly ironic for members of Congress who have scolded the inspector general for lousy oversight to dump a billion dollars into the agency," said Pete Sepp, vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog group that monitors government spending. "The first thing you do when you're digging a hole is to stop digging. Congress doesn't seem to get that message."
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/11/siu.nasa.watchdog/index.html




Yeah, we really need to see NASA run by somebody called "Moose".