By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 28, 2007

Commerce Department Inspector General Johnnie E. Frazier has been formally cited for violating the federal whistle-blower protection law and is about to retire.

Today, he'll be toasted at a going-away party -- on government property and government time. The party is from 3 to 5 p.m. at the department's Herbert C. Hoover Building headquarters.

The fete comes just a month after the U.S. Office of Special Counsel urged President Bush to punish Frazier for "egregious violations" of the law designed to protect government whistle-blowers.

While government property and time is being used for the festivities, organizers said the costs of refreshments and gifts are being footed by members of Frazier's senior staff.

Frazier, whose job includes protecting whistle-blowers and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, announced his retirement earlier this month in the midst of several investigations into his spending and travel practices and his treatment of whistle-blowers.

The farewell festivities are angering several of the lawmakers investigating Frazier.

"If wrongdoing is a cause for celebration, our ongoing investigation suggests the department may well revel in festivity in the near future," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. "Throwing a party for someone who was forced out of office for serious misconduct rewards bad behavior and sets precisely the wrong example for the rest of the department."

The Special Counsel's office concluded Frazier improperly retaliated against two subordinates who were witnesses in those investigations by demoting them. Frazier has denied the allegations, and Bush has not made a decision yet on whether Frazier should be punished.

One of those whistle-blowers had refused to approve Frazier's expense account for a week-long trip to New York and Boston last year, raising questions about the merits of the travel. Frazier's office released a letter to The Washington Post last month suggesting he had been cleared of those allegations.

But documents obtained this week by The Post under the Freedom of Information Act show Frazier acknowledged privately to investigators that he overcharged the government on his expense account for an extra day of travel, blaming a clerical error. "I signed the document without careful enough review," Frazier acknowledged in a letter to investigators.

He also acknowledged charging the government on that trip for a whole day of work to travel the few hours between New York and Boston and canceling meetings on one day of the trip because he felt ill, choosing instead to stay at a friend's apartment.