Devaney to oversee recovery funds

President Barack Obama today named Earl Devaney, inspector general of the Interior Department, to oversee how the government spends the $787 billion economic stimulus package. Devaney will head the newly created Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board.

As Interior’s IG, Devaney led investigations that revealed dealings by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff with the department and wrongdoing in Interior’s Minerals Management Service, including illegal contracts, drug use and inappropriate relationships.

“For nearly a decade as inspector general at the Interior Department, Earl has doggedly pursued waste, fraud and mismanagement,” Obama said in announcing Devaney's selection. Vice President Joe Biden will oversee implementation of the law and meet regularly with federal Cabinet leaders, state governors and mayors, Obama said.

The White House has launched the www.recovery.gov Web site to track how the federal government spends the economic stimulus funds. Obama cited the governors of Virginia, Ohio and Massachusetts for having already created their own recovery implementation Web sites for monitoring the funds as they are spent at the local level.

“We cannot tolerate business as usual — not in Washington, but also not in our state capitals,” Obama said. He pledged to stop federal agency projects that waste money and to “call them out on it” when state governments do the same.

Devaney has been Interior’s IG since 1999. Before that, he was director of criminal enforcement for the Environmental Protection Agency, according to his official biography. At the time of his retirement from the Secret Service in 1991, Devaney was the special agent in charge of the fraud division and had become an expert on white-collar crime.