Fw: David Waker Resigns over Job Constraints as Comptroller General
Mary Ann Gould
Key links
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iff8NFNVugqI5oukb-nd55ai2SAw
Top US accountability officer quits over job constraints
7 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The head of the audit and investigative arm of the US Congress announced his resignation Friday, citing "real limitations" on what he could do.
David Walker, 51, a respected voice on fiscal matters, said he was making an early departure from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to head a new public interest foundation.
"As Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO, there are real limitations on what I can do and say in connection with key public policy issues, especially issues that directly relate to GAO's client -- the Congress," Walker said in a statement.
He did not elaborate but Walker last year issued an unusually downbeat assessment of his country's future in a report that drew parallels with the end of the Roman empire.
He had warned that the US government was on a "burning platform" of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action was not taken soon.
There were "striking similarities" between America's current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, he had said.
These included "declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government."
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1559692520080215
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jbeaTdw_Q7qsD6fkHRLxUo9PT1GAD8UQSES80
Sad day for America ... though sadder still that he couldn't effect needed change
Mary Ann