WHAT A HEEL: DOJ Official’s Dalliance On Taxpayers’ Dime
An investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) determined that Darryl Foster, then a supervisor in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, misused thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on airfare, hotel rooms in FL and Washington, DC, cash advances, and other charges apparently unrelated to his work to "facilitate a physical relationship” with a Miami woman in 2007 and 2008.
IA Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in late September wanting to know why Foster was not prosecuted, fired, disciplined or required to reimburse the government after the caught him misusing thousands of dollars of taxpayer money, The Washington Times reports:
Mr. Foster continued to use his government credit card and make personal charges on it – including cash advances – even after the OIG investigation ended.
Mr. Foster was suspended for seven days and reassigned to a different job in the Civil Rights Division's Voting Section. Mr. Grassley said the transfer was ordered despite "his egregious misuse of travel funds" and that Mr. Foster remains eligible for a $25,000 buyout for early retirement. …
Sources said Mr. Foster made more than 10 taxpayer-paid trips to Miami in 2008 alone. His female friend was identified only as the president of an organization. Mr. Grassley called the relationship a possible conflict of interest because Mr. Foster was able to approve government contracts for the woman's organization.
The OIG began investigating Mr. Foster in June 2009 after Justice Department employees filed a whistle-blower complaint. … [T]he whistle-blowers charged that Mr. Foster had engaged "in a long pattern of travel abuse," adding that the OIG review did not address all the allegations against him.
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