"Watchdog [Clark Kent Erwin] details confrontations with Ridge"

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department's former independent watchdog says he was twice summoned to then-Secretary Tom Ridge's office last year and asked why his reports criticizing the agency were being sent to Congress and whether they could be presented more favorably to the department...

During a June 9 meeting, "Ridge said a couple of times, 'Look, are you my IG?' and I said, 'No, I'm not your IG,'" Ervin recalled.

Ervin said that when he told Ridge that the inspector general served the public, the former Pennsylvania governor replied, "I had an IG in Pennsylvania and he didn't release things to the Legislature or to the press."

Ervin said he answered: "But I do here. I have a reporting obligation" to Congress.

Ervin said the meeting "was two hours of 'Why are you doing this? Why are you being negative to the department? Why are you releasing reports?' It was a long come-to-Jesus meeting, angry and confrontational. I just spent the whole time trying to educate him about the role of the inspector general."

Ridge had just endured an uncomfortable morning on Capitol Hill. Senators had used one of Ervin's reports to question Ridge about problems, including lost and stolen passports, in a program that allows citizens from certain foreign countries to enter the United States without a visa.

In a subsequent meeting five weeks before the Nov. 2 election, Ervin said, Ridge talked about presenting the inspector general's reports in a way that would make them seem less critical of the department...

Immigration2005a · Mon, 03/14/2005 - 11:55 · · Importance: 1