Doan Resigns

As you know by now, GSA chief Lurita Doan has resigned. She said she did so at the request of the White House, but no one has been able to answer the question: Why now?

After all, both she and the White House stood firm in the face of intense criticism for almost a year, since the Office of Special Counsel urged the president to discipline her "to the fullest extent" for alleged violations of the Hatch Act. She has kept her head low for the most part in recent months.

Another questions: Where is the agency headed?

There are scads of issues up in the air, involving personnel, pricing practices, and whether the agency provides proper oversight.

Matthew Weigelt at Federal Computer Week had this piece.

Robert Brodsky and Elizabeth Newell had this piece in Government Executive.

Their logic doesn't hang together exactly, but they may be onto to what could have been a key, annoying factor for folks at the White House:

"In the end," they wrote, "it wasn't an investigation into potential Hatch Act violations, pressure from Capitol Hill or alleged interference in General Services Administration contract negotiations that brought down GSA Administrator Lurita A. Doan.

"While each of these controversies may have pushed the White House to the breaking point, Doan appeared to have survived them. Ultimately, her turbulent two-year tenure as head of the General Services Administration apparently came to an end Tuesday as a result of her ongoing and public feud with her agency's inspector general, Brian Miller."

Here's a link to Washington Post stories about Doan and the GSA.

By Robert O'Harrow |  May 1, 2008; 11:39 AM ET
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Posted by: Hector | May 2, 2008 12:59 PM