Pentagon investigators say A Defense Department inspector general investigation has cleared President Obama’s nominee to become the Navy’s next top officer did not break the law when he encouraged a special interest group to seek congressional support for a multibillion-dollar weapons program, Navy Times has learned Adm. John Richardson of wrong doing after accusations that he illegally engaged in grass-roots lobbying for the Ohio Replacement Program.
The Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, had accused Adm. John Richardson, who has been nominated as the next Chief of Naval Operations, in June of violating breaking of anti-lobbying laws with his public remarks last fall when he appealed to special interest groups to contact their congressmen about supporting the nearly $80 –billion Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement program. Richardson is pending Senate confirmation to become the next chief of naval operations. Obama nominated him for the post in June.
“The Department of Defense Inspector General Investigations of Senior Officials Directorate investigated the allegation and did not substantiate the allegation,” wrote Brad Carson, the Pentagon’s acting under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, in an undated letter sent to Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain.
The allegations of improper lobbying stem from comments Richardson and Rear Adm. Joe Tofalo made in October at the annual public meeting of the Naval Submarine League’s annual meeting in October. Richardson told the audience that, despite momentum for funding towards getting the Ohio replacement program funded, he foresaw the potential for failure and that they could help by contacting their elected representatives members needed to drive home their case for more money.
Another senior Navy officer in attendance at the meeting, Rear Adm. Joe Tofalo, currently the director of undersea warfare, spoke after followed Richardson. He told the audience saying that if anyone with had any questions about on how to speak to Congress was welcome to, they could call his office for guidance. Tofalo, currently the director of undersea warfare, also was has also been cleared of wrongdoing, according to a Navy official with knowledge of the report.
Rear Adm. Joe Tofalo
Photo Credit: Navy
The Navy’s chief spokesperson, Rear Adm. Dawn Cutler, said the Navy Secretary Ray Mabus trusts Richardson and stands by his their nomination of Richardson to become the next CNO and Mabus moving forward. “Secretary Mabus has full trust and confidence in Adm. Richardson and fully supports his nomination to be Chief of Naval Operations,” Cutler said in a statement to Navy Times.
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POGO head Danielle Brian, who heads the Project on Government Oversight, wrote in June that the comments by Tofalo and Richardson violated were a violation of the 1913 Anti-Lobbying Act that “prohibits the use of taxpayer funds by federal agencies to conduct grassroots lobbying efforts to pressure Congress to support ‘any legislation or appropriation by Congress.’”
“Taken together, these remarks seem to indicate a troubling coordinated campaign by Navy leadership to engage in grassroots lobbying to secure support for the Ohio Replacement Program,” Brian said in a letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.
Experts who evaluated looked at the allegations for Navy Times called said the admirals’ comments were objectionable but not a clear violation of the law. David Sheldon, a prominent Washington D.C. attorney who handles military law cases, said the comments weren’t specific enough for Richardson and Tofalo to have violated the law. “The admirals have certainly “entered a gray area when speaking, … but I do not think it was specific enough to be categorized as indirect lobbying, such as suggesting an individual lobby a particular senator or congressman.”
