Stimulus patrol: 'RAT' board gears up

by Rebecca Cole and updated

President Barack Obama today appointed Earl E. Devaney to serve as chairman, along with Vice-President Joe Biden, of the new Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board. Devaney, a former white-collar crime investigator for the Secret Service, has served as inspector general for the Department of the Interior since 1999.

Obama had high praise for Devaney when he announced the pick during a meeting of the nation's governors, with the president saying Devaney's "reputation of being one of the best IGs that we have in this town" would make him a capable "guardian of the hard-earned tax dollars the American people have entrusted us to wisely invest."

Known for his tenacious investigation into former lobbyist Jack Abramoff's criminal dealings with the Indian gaming industry, Devaney and his team also uncovered the sex-and-drugs scandal that last year that rocked the Minerals Management Service, the Interior's oil and gas royalty collection agency.

Devaney began his law enforcement career in 1968 as a police officer in his native Massachusetts. After leaving the Secret Service in 1991, he was the director of criminal enforcement for the Environmental Protection Agency.

"I mean he looks like an inspector general," Obama said. "He's tough. You know, he barely cracks a smile."

Devaney may need to be tough.

The recovery board, dubbed the "RAT-Board" by some industry insiders, is an $84 million element of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created to coordinate oversight and government-wide policy on how the overall $787 billion economic stimulus is spent. A key part of Obama's promise to provide transparency and accountability to taxpayers, the recovery board is charged with monitoring how funds are awarded and distributed and with providing information about the progress to both Congress and the public.

But to some, the idea of a recovery board is akin to closing the barn door after the cows have escaped. Former comptroller general and head of the Government Accountability Office, David M. Walker, said the focus of the board appears to be more about monitoring what is done after the money is doled out, rather than a concerted effort to fully define objectives before it is spent.

"I don't think that's going to address what the real meat is," Walker, now president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said, "and that is that we are spending a tremendous amount of money very quickly. Once the money is gone it is too late, all you can do is learn from it is what went wrong."

(Earl Devaney pictured above testifying on Capitol Hill, photo by Susan Walsh / AP)

While additional transparency and accountability are good, Walker said, the critical issue is to make sure that distribution of the stimulus money is on economic merit rather than political considerations.

Using the TARP as an example, Walker said the lesson to be learned from the $350 billion handed out to banks without stipulations or transparency is that "we still don't know what we got" from that program.

"We need to have clearly defined objectives and a mechanism of deciding what the appropriate criteria and conditions are before the money flows," Walker said. "We need to maximize effectiveness and minimize waste, because there will be waste."

"With Mr. Devaney's leadership, we will use the new tools that the recovery act gives us to watch the taxpayers' money with more rigor and transparency than ever," Obama said. "If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will put a stop to it."

The recovery board has the same power to conduct audits and reviews as that granted to inspectors general, and can subpoena non-federal officers or employees to compel testimony. And it has the authority to refer "matters it considers appropriate for investigation" to an inspector general - however, the IG can reject the request.

Yet even with the explicitly-stated independence of the inspectors general "to determine whether to conduct an audit or investigation of covered funds," some lawmakers have expressed concerns. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) told the DC Examiner last week that the authority vested in the recovery board compromises the autonomy of inspectors general.

"Anytime an inspector general has somebody questioning his authority, it tends to dampen the aggressiveness with which they pursue something, particularly if it is going to make the incumbent administration look bad," Grassley said.

Biden echoed Obama's endorsement of Devaney, calling him the "best known inspector general" and one ready to "get to work" on the stimulus rollout. Devaney still will require Senate confirmation, before he can tackle the oversight of billions of dollars in spending.