Weer'd World

This is a hum-dingier of a story! You can’t make this crap up!

A high-ranking federal Environmental Protection Agency official who admitted to cheating the government out of nearly $1 million by pretending to be a secret agent, smugly refused to answer questions from lawmakers Tuesday, invoking the Fifth Amendment – even though he’s already pleaded guilty.

John Beale, who got himself a cushy four-day workweek for years by telling his bosses he had a one-day-per-week gig at the CIA, refused to answer even the most basic questions from Rep. Darryl Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Although Issa said his committee hauled Beale, 64, in not to “ridicule” him, but to ensure that the fraud he committed wasn’t being duplicated by other government employees, Beale calmly refused…..Inspector General Arthur Elkins, whose office unraveled Beale’s long-running deception, called it an “egregious and almost unbelievable case.” He testified that in addition to bilking the government for salary, Beale also had a longstanding requirement that he fly first-class due to a dubious back injury. One flight, to London, cost taxpayers $14,000, when a coach ticket would have cost just $1,000, according to Elkins.

Elkins said Beale was able to get away with the fraud for so long because of “an absence of even basic internal controls at the EPA.” But Elkins was never able to directly question Beale because inspectors general, who serve as auditors of federal agencies, cannot compel former federal employees to talk. Beale retired just before the probe began….In 2005, an EPA manager approved a research project that Beale had proposed, despite the fact that it had no internal controls or oversight. From 2005 to 2007, Beale took about five trips to Los Angeles for the project and was reimbursed for $57,000. The statement of offense says that he used the project to have the EPA pay for his personal travel, which included visiting family members in California.

Amazing, and he RETIRED before these charges were leveled! Again, he ALMOST got away with this! And we’re supposed to be upset that the government is currently shut down?

Oh and the icing on the cake:

Beale came under suspicion when EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy expressed concerns about his expenses. Assistant Inspector General Patrick Sullivan, who led the probe, said he interviewed some 40 people, only one of whom ever suspected Beale’s life as a secret agent was a fraud. Investigators also compared Beale’s cellphone records to his travel expenses and determined that when he claimed to be in Pakistan and other locations on CIA business, he was really at his Massachusetts vacation home.

This is why I always say “I’m from Maine, I just LIVE in Massachusetts!” The partisan hack in me wants to give a VERY smug guess on how he voted in the last few decades.

Yeah….