Compensation not top motivator: Pay for performance won’t fix problems By DAVID FRICK, OpEd to Federal Times - August 22, 2010
…Does pay, by itself, motivate the typical fed? I looked at this specific question in my doctoral project in which I surveyed 132 senior federal employees across all agencies. My conclusions: While pay does have […]

Analysis: The great federal pay debate By Howard Risher, Special to GovExec.com - August 19, 2010
Federal pay has been a contentious issue since the earliest days of the country. Now, in the middle of a deep recession with public concern about deficit spending, it is not at all surprising to learn that critics contend federal […]

GAO Access to Intel Obstructed by 1988 OLC Opinion Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, a publication of the Federation of American Scientists - Aug 5, 2010
The current dispute between the Obama Administration and some members of Congress over whether to strengthen oversight of intelligence programs by the Government Accountability Office is rooted in a 1988 opinion […]

Bill with 1.4 percent federal pay raise clears Senate committee By Elizabeth Newell, Govexec.com - July 30, 2010
An appropriations bill including a 1.4 percent raise for civilian federal employees cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. The Fiscal 2011 Financial Services and General Government spending bill includes a 1.4 percent increase for federal employees, the […]

For Budget Chief, Not All Farewells Are Fond: Budget Chief Tilted to Executive Branch By MATT BAI, NYTimes Political Times - Published: July 28, 2010
…President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. are the first tandem to move directly from Capitol Hill to the White House since 1960, and they consciously designed what you […]

Outgoing OMB chief: Public has a point about government waste By Norah Swanson, Govexec.com - July 28, 2010
In his farewell address on Wednesday, the director of the Office of Management and Budget said the public is onto something when it criticizes the federal bureaucracy… Government inefficiency can be attributed largely to agencies’ failure to adopt […]

Nancy Pelosi: ‘How Dare The Administration’ Threaten To Veto Intelligence Reform (VIDEO) Elyse Siegel, The Huffington Post - Posted: 07-27-10
House Speaker Nancy Pelsoi issued a warning to the Obama administration over the weekend on the importance of the White House standing behind Democratic efforts to expand the scope of intelligence oversight programs, including proposals to […]

Obama nominates Clinton budget director to lead OMB By Robert Brodsky, Govexec.com - July 13, 2010
…Jacob Lew, who ran OMB during the Clinton administration from 1998 to 2001, will return to the office in August as he takes over for outgoing budget chief Peter Orszag, the White House announced on Tuesday.  Known in political […]

Clay: Modernize Records Management By Rep. William Lacy Clay (PDF of Article) , Special to Roll Call - July 12, 2010
Federal electronic records that document our nation’s history, preserve our rights and maintain critical archival materials are at great risk.
There is growing concern, inside and outside of Congress, about federal agencies’ management of vital electronic […]

Sen. Feinstein blames Pelosi for intel block By Alexander Bolton, The Hill - July 2, 2010
Speaker Pelosi met with National Security Adviser James Jones on Wednesday to push the administration to grant Congress greater oversight of covert intelligence activity. Her demands: She wants to empower Congress to use the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate […]

Myths of Austerity By PAUL KRUGMAN, New York Times, Op-Ed Columnist - July 1, 2010
For the last few months, I and others have watched, with amazement and horror, the emergence of a consensus in policy circles in favor of immediate fiscal austerity. That is, somehow it has become conventional wisdom that now is the time to […]

U.S., Europe At Odds Over Economic Recovery: Guy Raz talks to Ex-Comptroller General David Walker about short and long term fiscal issues, National Public Radio - June 27, 2010
Excerpts from interview with David Walker, former comptroller general of the United States and president of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation:
Mr. WALKER: …we have an uncertain economic recovery […]

Peterson Fdtn. Head Nostalgic for Debtor’s Prison; Is Indentured Servitude Next?
By: Jon Walker, firedoglake.com - Tuesday June 15, 2010
David Walker is the president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, founded by billionaire financier Peterson as a think tank on fiscal issues. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box” recently, Walker seemed to long for a return […]

Re-applying the Lipstick: The Next Generation of Merit Pay By Robbie Kunreuther, www.fedsmith.com - Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The article discussed below mentions GAO and how PFP helped motivate the formation of the GAO union.
Robbie Kunreuther, Director of Government Personnel Services (GPS), who has 35 years in the government’s trenches (13+ in the civil service and 22 more teaching seminars […]

Unions fight proposed pay freeze for feds: Federal employee groups mount offensive against House, Senate attempts to freeze federal pay in fiscal 2011 By FederalDaily Staff, Federal Computer Week - Jun 01, 2010
Unions and federal employee groups have had their hands full working to turn back attempts in the House and Senate to freeze federal […]

Platts out of GAO mix: Platts rules out GAO nomination, focuses on 19th Congressional District, Scot A. Pitzer, Times Staff Reporter, Gettysburg Times - Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Rep. Todd Platts, R-PA 19, in an interview late Tuesday evening following his convincing primary victory over Republican challenger Michael Smeltzer, addressed questions regarding his candidacy for […]

Davis_ECF_Appeal_Reply_Brief_as filed_051810
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
_______________________________
No 10-5044
_______________________________
Civil Action No. 06-1002
_______________________________
ARTHUR L. DAVIS,
JIMMIE GILBERT,
JAMES D. MOSES, for themselves
and all others similarly situated,
Appellants,
V.
GENE l. DODARO, ACTING
COMPTROLLER GENERAL,
of the United States Government
Accountability Office (GAO)
and
Michael Wolf, Chair,
The Personnel Appeals Board of the GAO,
Appellees.
Appellants, Arthur L. Davis, Jimmie Gilbert and James D. Moses hereby
Reply to […]

The GAO Must Perform a Diligent Independent Audit of the More Than $2 Trillion Issued By the Fed Robert Auerbach, Professor, Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin | The Huffington Post - Posted: May 13, 2010
Senator Bernie Sanders’ amendment for a partial audit of the Federal Reserve’s operations […]

Former U.S. Comptroller General: ‘People starved for truth and leadership’ by Karen Brune Mathis, Managing Editor | The Daily Record - Jacksonville, Florida - May 12, 2010
A man who ran government accountability is demanding more of it.  David Walker, a 10-year veteran as U.S. Comptroller General and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, brings his […]

Senate approves toned-down Fed audit By Silla Brush | The Hill - May 11, 2010
The Senate on Tuesday, with overwhelming support, passed legislation requiring new audits of the Federal Reserve.
The 96-0 vote came after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) modified an earlier version of the audit legislation that was strongly opposed by the White House and Federal […]

What was wrong with Paul Light’s OpEd The right choice for a federal watchdog (PDF) published today by the Washington Post? (Light’s OpEd also was published previously by the Post on Apr. 30 under the title “Who best could lead the GAO?”) By GAOUnion.org - May 7, 2010
Professor Paul Light recently has opined on the issue of who should be selected as the next Comptroller […]

Who best could lead the GAO?  (PDF) by Paul C. Light, Professor at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, Washington Post Op-Ed - April 30, 2010
It is not clear whom President Obama will select, but no matter the nominee, three criteria should be at the fore:First, the comptroller general must be […]

McCaskill Presses to End Secret Holds By Jessica Brady, Roll Call Staff - April 29, 2010
McCaskill announced that along with Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), she would no longer put secret holds on any names. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation last week that would ban the use […]

Is GAO As Neutral as Everyone Assumes? (PDF) By Rebecca Adams, CQ Staff: CQ Weekly - April 26, 2010
The job of comptroller general of the United States, the person who oversees the Government Accountability Office and its many audits and investigations, generally has been seen as above partisanship. But that hasn’t prevented Democrats and Republicans […]

I Beg to Differ: The US GAO’s Bid Protest Process Defense Industry Daily - Military Purchasing News for Defense Procurement Managers and Contractors - April 22, 2010
This free-to-view DID Spotlight article takes a look at the GAO’s authority and process for reviewing defense contract protests, the effects its decisions have, charges of process abuse, alternative protest venues, […]

Big Government and Its Discontents By David Paul Kuhn, RealClearPolitics.com - April 20, 2010
Trust in government is not at new lows. It was this bad in the early 1990s. Who knows what the public thought of Washington when Herbert Hoover or Andrew Johnson were president. The American tension with government long precedes us. “I heartily […]

Senator calls health care reform ‘mother of all implementation challenges’ By Elizabeth Newell, Govexec.com - April 19, 2010
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., warned federal managers on Monday that implementing health care reform and getting it right will be “the mother of all implementation challenges.” The effort will be even harder than getting the $737 billion in […]

GAO Journal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The GAO Journal was an American magazine published during the late 20th century that succeeded The GAO Review. It was published by the Government Accountability Office of the United States Congress. It began in 1988 and ceased publication in 1992.
The purpose of the Journal was to cover government and […]

Murkowski Critical of Health Care as Legislative Branch Agencies Seek Budget Increase (PDF) By Tricia Miller, Roll Call Staff - April 15, 2010
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on Thursday blamed the yearlong debate over health care reform for budget problems at legislative branch agencies … during a hearing of Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, […]

Gene Dodaro
Current Position: Acting Comptroller General of the United States (since March 2008) 
Why He Matters
As acting comptroller general, Dodaro is the leader and public face of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). With the government shelling out billions to rescue and revive the American economy, the GAO’s watchdog role over federal spending has never been more […]