“Karla Corcoran has instituted a culture of waste,” Paige says

(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today called on the United States Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors to remove USPS Inspector General (IG) Karla Corcoran from her position due to extensive, ongoing mismanagement.  Specific and credible allegations of abuses in her office have sparked an investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee as well as the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, the IG community's self-policing body. 

“CAGW has been watching with growing alarm frequent reports of mismanagement within the USPS OIG, headed by Ms. Karla Corcoran,” CAGW Vice President Leslie Paige wrote in a letter to Board of Governors Chairman S. David Fineman.  “Reports of rampant waste, cronyism, questionable management and personnel practices, and substandard performance when it comes to uncovering waste, fraud and abuse have prompted us to contact you to respectfully request that the USPS Board of Governors ask for Ms. Corcoran’s resignation as soon as possible.”

Numerous allegations have been made by current and former auditors and investigators involving a team-building program invented by Ms. Corcoran, in which employees are regularly indoctrinated in the “values” of the program.  The program, dubbed TLC3 (Teamwork, Leadership, Communications, Creativity and Conceptualization), requires frequent all-hands-on-deck meetings where the “values” are promoted and celebrated, and employees who “live the values” are often rewarded with cash bonus checks.  In one instance, several employees received bonuses of $1,000 each for writing letters to get a senior IG executive relieved of his military reserve duty in Afghanistan.  In addition, very year since her hiring date in 1997, the IG has convened an annual week-long meeting that requires all 750 employees to fly to Washington, D.C. where they sing songs, play games, build sand castles, dress in costumes, and mimic animals.  These annual events have already cost taxpayers more than $1 million each, not counting lost employee work time.

There have been rampant abuses of relocation benefits within the OIG.  Documents reviewed by CAGW indicate that one employee received $198,000 in moving expenses between 1997 and 2002, but moving expenses of between $60,000 and $80,000 were not uncommon in the documentation reviewed, often for multiple relocations.

Ms. Corcoran has retained the services of a private law firm even though the OIG has a coterie of staff attorneys.  The private attorneys, billing up to $300 per hour, are being paid to do work on whistleblower matters and to conduct legal research on compensation, pension and retirement issues for the IG herself.  However, the payments have been buried under the category of legal advice on government accounting standards.  “Theses kinds of accounting shenanigans in an IG’s office are inappropriate, if not downright suspicious,” Paige said.    

In its letter, CAGW cited the fact that “Other federal OIGs with smaller budgets and fewer investigators and auditors issue more work product and produce more savings to the taxpayers than USPS’ OIG.  According to the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, the USPS OIG, with a staff of 750 and a budget of $117 million, identified $56.2 million in funds that could be put to better use in FY 2001.  In contrast, the NASA IG, with a staff of 200 and $23.7 million budget, identified $892.6 million in potential savings.”

“Enough is enough.  Tens of millions of dollars have been wasted by this IG.  She has lost her credibility and her effectiveness.  Chairman Grassley has been a great champion of having a strong IG program and his staff is working hard to get to the bottom of these allegations.  But it is up to the USPS Board of Governors to ask this IG to resign and appoint new leadership,” Paige concluded.  “It would be a slap in the face of postal ratepayers, the USPS and Congress, to permit Ms. Corcoran to remain in her position.  CAGW hopes that the Board of Governors will take immediate action on this issue at its upcoming meetings next week.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.