NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

Committee Opens Investigation into Allegations
Of Misconduct by Commerce IG

Letters to Commerce Secretary, Special Counsel, Commerce IG and FBI

Washington, D.C. – Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday opened an investigation into allegations regarding Department of Commerce Inspector General Johnnie Frazier.

Committee Chairman John D. Dingell, D-Mich., ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and subcommittee ranking member Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., wrote joint letters to Frazier, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Special Counsel Scott Bloch and James Burrus, chairman of the FBI’s PCIE Integrity Committee, asking for information within two weeks.

“The allegations against the Department of Commerce Inspector General are very serious and raise disturbing questions about who is watching the watchdog,” Dingell said. “The committee will carefully and thoroughly gather the facts on this matter. Improprieties or wrongdoing by this or any other inspector general will not be tolerated.”

“It looks like something’s been very wrong with Mr. Frazier’s operation for a very long time. Initial evidence suggests that he’s somehow managed to become exempt from the norms of honest behavior, and that’s especially troubling in someone who is trusted to gauge the honest behavior in others,” Barton said. “If even a fraction of the allegations bear up under scrutiny, Mr. Frazier is in serious trouble. The inspector general should be preventing these problems, not causing them.”

“Americans should be able to trust that our Inspectors General are trustworthy, impartial, and effective individuals who are looking out for the taxpayers best interest,” said Rep. Bart Stupak, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “Unfortunately, the inspector General at the Department of Commerce appears to have betrayed the trust placed in him.”

Allegations surrounding Frazier relate to travel fraud, contracting irregularities, wasteful expenditures, favoritism, pre-selection of Senior Executive Service candidates, retaliation against whistleblowers, destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice.

It is “grievous when serious questions are raised about whether this trust you have hold since July 1999 may have been violated,” said the letter to Frazier. “Numerous current and former employees have made serious allegations against you and the way that you have managed your office. They have provided the Committee on Energy and Commerce with credible allegations of serious and widespread fraud, waste and abuse within your office that involves not only you personally, but also many members of your current management team.”

Read the Letter to Inspector General Johnnie Frazier
Read the Letter to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
Read the Letter to Special Counsel Scott Bloch
Read the Letter to Chairman James Burrus

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