{"id":57926,"date":"2023-12-06T17:40:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T18:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=57926"},"modified":"2023-12-06T19:07:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T19:07:59","slug":"architect-of-capitol-calls-its-watchdog-back-to-the-office-cq-roll-call-bc-capitol-faillacon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=57926","title":{"rendered":"Architect of Capitol calls its watchdog back to the office [CQ-Roll Call :: BC-CAPITOL-FAILLA:CON]"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Architect of the Capitol\u2019s watchdog \u2014 whose office won an award for a report that led the president to fire<\/a> the agency\u2019s leader for misuse of government vehicles for vacations \u2014 has been told he will be fired if he doesn\u2019t start working on Capitol Hill by March.<\/p>\n

Acting Architect of the Capitol Chere Rexroat notified Christopher P. Failla, the AOC inspector general, that his position does not qualify for an exemption from a November policy memorandum that limits remote work.<\/p>\n

Leading lawmakers on the House Administration Committee, which oversees the agency, support the move and say it\u2019s time for Failla to get back to Washington for work.<\/p>\n

Failla, who moved to the South during the pandemic and has worked remotely from there full-time, said complying with the demand would raise questions about the independence of the inspector general\u2019s office and \u201cif I as an IG can be swayed by fear or favor in the future as well.\u201d Failla currently lives in Florida.<\/p>\n

The AOC, which is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the Capitol complex, including the grounds, buildings and works of art throughout the campus, didn\u2019t get an inspector general until 2007. The law that established the office says the architect, now Rexroat, hires and supervises the inspector general. But the law also states the inspector general is an \u201cindependent objective office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AOC\u2019s website says that the inspector general \u201coperate[s] independently while having administrative reporting relationships with the Architect of the Capitol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rexroat, in a Nov. 14 letter reviewed by CQ Roll Call, acknowledges that employees chose to relocate out of the local commuting area during the Covid-19 pandemic. But she wrote that those decisions were \u201cpersonal\u201d and \u201cnot directed by AOC management.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAccordingly, the agency did not change your official duty station pursuant to an earlier decision to make such changes, if appropriate, after the pandemic had ended,\u201d Rexroat wrote. \u201cSince you are being required to return to work onsite, your official duty station will not be changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The telework policy memo, which took effect Dec. 4, says the agency\u2019s senior rated and statutorily appointed workers \u201care required to be on campus, in person, to have a first-hand understanding of campus conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rexroat asked Failla to coordinate his return with her and noted that the Architect of the Capitol will not pay for relocation expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlternatively, if you choose not to return to work onsite as required, you may voluntarily resign your position, or the agency will terminate your employment for failure to comply with the requirement to return to work onsite by March 3, 2024,\u201d Rexroat wrote.<\/p>\n

Failla, in an emailed statement, said he not yet made a decision about Rexroat\u2019s call for him to return from his \u201capproved remote location\u201d to Washington.<\/p>\n

He said he is considering, at his staff\u2019s urging, to commute from Florida to Capitol Hill at his own expense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would do this to in order to support the tremendous award winning work by the AOC OIG staff who have done proper oversight and produced 100s of reports and investigations as well as 100s of recommendations that improve the economies and efficiencies of the AOC and have identified millions of dollars of funds put to better use ensuring American\u2019s hard earned tax dollars are not wasted,\u201d Failla said.<\/p>\n

Failla cited the Inspector General Act of 1978 and wrote, \u201cwithout independence, an OIG cannot conduct themselves objectively, affecting the impartiality and fairness of their audits and investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if an OIG cannot conduct objective audits and investigations, the organization itself lacks internal checks and balances \u2014 the domino effect is in full force and by capitulating to this demand, it would bring into question if I as an IG can be swayed by fear or favor in the future as well,\u201d Failla said.<\/p>\n

Failla has uncovered government waste and misconduct at the agency since joining as the AOC\u2019s top watchdog in 2017. In 2022, he issued a blistering report<\/a> on the former head of the agency, J. Brett Blanton, finding that Blanton misused his official, government-issued vehicles, allowed his family to use them for \u201cfree gas,\u201d and for vacation trips. That report prompted President Joe Biden to fire Blanton.<\/p>\n

While Failla worked remotely, his watchdog office has been efficient and garnered recognition for its work.<\/p>\n

His office was awarded honors from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency last month for the Blanton investigation<\/a> and for the office\u2019s work on the AOC\u2019s security badging program to bolster security on the Capitol complex.<\/p>\n

Failla joined the AOC from the Defense Department inspector general\u2019s office, where he led 19 engineers who reviewed major acquisition defense programs and military facilities, and oversaw complaints and congressional inquiries. He served 26 years in the Navy and retired as a captain.<\/p>\n

Rexroat did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Leaders on the House Administration Committee agree that Failla should be working in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support the AOC\u2019s policy for senior leaders to report in person, in D.C.,\u201d Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said in a statement. \u201cWe need to get federal workers back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., the ranking member on the panel, said it\u2019s important for the inspector general to have a presence on Capitol Hill and that he supports Rexroat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is near impossible to effectively work and oversee the Capitol complex and all the responsibilities in his capacity and do it remotely,\u201d Morelle said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how you could do that job and not be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

\u00a92023 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com.<\/a> Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON \u2014 The Architect of the Capitol\u2019s watchdog \u2014 whose office won an award for a report that led the president to fire the agency\u2019s leader for misuse of government vehicles for vacations \u2014 has been told he will be fired if he doesn\u2019t start working on Capitol Hill by March. Acting Architect of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57927,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57926\/revisions\/57927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}