Federal Eye

Some federal workers will get to take an early dismissal on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday if it's granted by their agency bosses, the Office of Personnel Management announced this afternoon.

The early pass is appropriate only for nonessential executive branch employees scheduled to work on Wednesday.

In a statement, OPM Director John Berry cited President Obama's Thanksgiving message, which asks Americans to lend a hand to needier family, friends and neighbors during the holiday.

"I ask all Federal employees to reflect on the president’s message and renew their commitment to serving their communities," Berry said.

Despite Wednesday's early dismissal and Thursday's holiday, Friday is a normal work day for federal employees -- unless they take a vacation day.

A rendering of GSA's Washington headquarters once renovations are completed in 2016. (Courtesy Shalom Baranes)

Roughly 1,200 General Services Administration employees will temporarily relocate starting in Spring 2011 as the agency's headquarters undergoes a massive renovation.

The workers will move from the agency's F St. NW location to One Constitution Square, at 1275 First Street NE in the rapidly gentrifying "NoMa" district.

GSA headquarters -- site of the Teapot Dome Scandal -- is one of Washington's older federal buildings and is in definite need of a makeover. (The Eye has seen the place. Nothing personal, but woah.)

The agency will temporarily displace workers in two waves, with individuals in two of the building's four wings moving at a time. The entire project should be completed by early 2016, GSA said.

GSA Senior Sustainability Officer Stephen R. Leeds said the building "will be transformed into an iconic national landmark of sustainable building design." Planners hope the renovation will earn LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and an energy-star rating. The renovations will add 105,000 square feet of space, a light-filled atrium and almost 800 photovoltaic panels to generate on-site renewable energy.

The temporary lease is one of the largest in D.C. and will absorb a major commercial vacancy, Leeds said.

Highlights of Tuesday's Post Politics Hour live chat with The Eye:

St. Paul, Minn.: Hi Ed -- Thanks for taking questions today. Another publication had an article yesterday talking about how the dismal jobs picture could be Obama's "Katrina." What do you think about that notion? Even though I support the president, I tend to agree...the public isn't really paying attention to health care or Afghanistan. Unemployment is the big issue, and it doesn't look like the administration is getting that, at least not right now.

Ed O'Keefe: This is why you saw President Obama speak for 8 minutes after Monday's Cabinet meeting mostly about jobs -- not health care or the Afghanistan plans. It's pretty clear to folks at the White House that it's all about jobs right now, which is why you see an urgency to get the Afghanistan decision made and health care passed by the State of the Union.

As for calling it Obama's "Katrina," that's a bit strong, at least for now.

--

New York: President Obama now has had 10 judicial appointments confirmed (vs. about 28 in GWB's first year in office). Do you think there will be a bunch of confirmations in December? (I noticed the most recent two Christina Reiss and Abdul Kallon, were confirmed by unanimous consent).

Ed O'Keefe: They may push a few through before the Christmas break, but it depends on the status of health care. Just about everything else the Senate has to do will wait until health care is resolved.

--

Arlington, Va.: You did nice work following the firing of the Americorps IG when it happened. Now, thanks to Sen. Grassley, we know that the IG was pursuing not just a fraud case against a prominent Obama supporter but also a sex scandal involving a sixteen-year-old girl. We also know that Michelle Rhee was questioned.

Will there be any repercussions?

Will the Post ever let this story see print?

washingtonpost.com: D.C. Wire: Report: Rhee spoke to feds on Johnson's behalf

Ed O'Keefe: My colleague Bill Turque wrote about this late last week and over the weekend. He covers the D.C. school system, so Rhee's mention in the report caught his attention.

I've so far passed on reporting on the new GOP investigation, because it makes explicit reference to some of my reporting. Better to stay out of it, at least for now.

By Ed O'Keefe and Carol Morello

Updated 2:43 p.m. ET

The Census Bureau employee found dead in September killed himself and staged his death to look like a homicide, state and federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

William E. Sparkman Jr. died of asphyxiation and was found with hands, feet and mouth bound with duct tape, a rope around his neck and the word "FED" written on his chest, investigators concluded. Passersby spotted his body on Sept. 12 in a remote area of the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Witnesses said Sparkman had discussed ending his own life, recent federal investigations of public officials in Kentucky and negative perceptions of federal agencies expressed by Clay County, Ky. residents, investigators said.

Sparkman also secured two life insurance policies that would not pay out for suicide shortly before his death, investigators said. Authorities decided to share some, but not all of the details of their investigation on Tuesday due to the high level of national interest.

Sparkman was a substitute teacher and one of 5,900 part-time Census field workers that conduct the annual American Community Survey and dozens of other government surveys each year. Such workers are typically called in by the Census Bureau for assignments as needed. The agency said it will hire roughly 700,000 temporary workers to conduct follow-up interviews for next year's decennial Census.

Normal census operations will resume in Clay County next month, Census spokesman Stephen Buckner said.

“The death of our co-worker, William Sparkman, was a tragedy and remains a loss for the Census Bureau family,” Buckner said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”

Some lawmakers really want President Obama to fund trips back to the Moon -- and beyond.

Happy Tuesday! On a day when President Obama spent some time discussing the importance of math and science education, a bipartisan group of lawmakers urged him on Monday to adopt the recent recommendations of a blue-ribbon panel that studied the future of NASA. The nation's economy and national security depends on future human space flight, according to the lawmakers.

The NASA House Action Team, co-chaired by Reps. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) and Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), most especially want Obama to give NASA a $3 billion annual budget increase, as recommended by the so-called Augustine panel. Obama established the group earlier this year to study the future of Space exploration.

"Congress will continue to fight to maintain America's leadership in space exploration in order to inspire this and future generations to imagine, innovate, and create new science and technology for the 21st century and beyond," Kosmas said in a statement.

The Post's Joel Achenbach recently wrote that the whither-NASA issue was supposed to have been decided already:

Under a new NASA administrator [during the Bush administration], the agency put together the Constellation program, which called for two new rockets, a new crew capsule, a lunar lander and a lunar habitat. Crew and cargo would no longer ride to orbit together in a huge space truck such as the shuttle. Instead, NASA would return to an Apollo-style architecture, with astronauts in a capsule on top of a rocket.

But considering the nation's economic climate and priorities, the plan is a bit too ambitious for some, and President Obama hasn't spoken publicly about NASA in quite awhile. Hence the lawmaker's outreach:

"If we allow a gap in human space flight our nation will have lost valuable skills that will be costly and difficult to replace," their letter said. "In addition, we also will have given up on our hard-won space preeminence over other nations, including Russia and China, who will surely step in to fill the void."

It should come as no surprise that the House NASA coalition's members come from states (Alabama, California, Florida, Maryland, Ohio and Texas) that house most NASA facilities and factories owned and operated by major Space or defense industry companies. But many would argue they have a valid point: NASA has served as one of the government's leading innovators and as a source of national pride. The Chinese, Russians and others could very well surpass American Space capabilities in the near future. Plus, if you want to discuss the benefits of a math and science education, look no further than NASA, which uses both all day long.

But even still -- is human space flight still worth the hefty price tag?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

• Chat with The Eye!: At 11 a.m. ET during Tuesday's Post Politics Hour.

• Cabinet and Staff News: Obama told his Cabinet on Monday to get a little bit of rest this week, "particularly the people who have been traveling around the globe for day in and day out and don't know what time zone they're in," he said following the meeting. Regardless, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke -- recently back from meetings in Asia -- visits Philadelphia today to promote the 2010 Census. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry told to prepare to testify about Obama's Afghanistan war strategy. Is Ambassador Tim Roemer key to the U.S.-India relationship? We should find out today who's on the Obama's first state dinner guest list.

Updated 1:46 p.m. ET

A Monday seminar on climate change has lost two sponsors following the organizer's decision to not open the event to the press.

Contrary to earlier reports, organizers insist the event is indeed open to the press with one condition: That participants and audience members abide by the "Chatham House Rule," which could severely hamstring reporters eager to share the thoughts of certain people in attendance.

Tonight's speakers include a mix of government and private climate change experts from the U.S. and Great Britain.

The seminar's organizer is Natalia Galin, a Fulbright scholar at NASA's Goddard Space Center. In an e-mail she explained that the rule "would allow for the speakers and audience to engage in free and unrestricted discussion for the benefit of all present."

The rule dates back to the late 1920s and states that "participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed." It's designed to encourage open and frank discussion by cloaking the identity of speakers at an event.

But her decision has cost her the support of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Fulbright Association's National Capital Area Chapter.

The Fulbright chapter withdrew its support "because the chapter, like the national association, is dedicated to the free and open discussion of ideas," said executive director Jane Anderson.

AAAS, which planned to host the event at its building, said it backed out when the group learned of the plans to curtail press access.

"It is our policy that any events we sponsor in our building that are open to the public also must be open to the press," AAAS spokesman Earl Lane said in an e-mail.

That means tonight's event -- running from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. -- has a new location, at NASA headquarters at 300 E St. SW in Washington.

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Sen. John McCain has a message for the Agriculture Department: "Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow (in Arizona)!"

The former Republican presidential candidate said he will block the confirmation of USDA nominees until the U.S. Forest Service allows an Arizona ski resort to make artificial snow with treated wastewater.

McCain's decision means at least two USDA nominees remain in limbo awaiting Senate confirmation, according to The Post's Head Count. President Obama has not nominated anyone to fill three other political positions at USDA.

McCain and Grand Canyon State colleague Jon Kyl (R) first wrote to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in June asking why the Forest Service had not approved the Arizona Snowbowl's request to use snowmaking equipment on its peaks in the Coconino National Forest.

The agency has the legal right to approve the request following years of litigation by several Native American tribes that had fought to block the use of snowmaking equipment on mountains they consider sacred. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the tribes' case in June. Snowbowl officials have said they will not move ahead until they get final clearance from Washington, and they're still waiting.

"The Department continues to delay this project despite repeated requests to move forward from Arizona Snowbowl, myself, and fellow members of the Arizona Congressional delegation," McCain wrote last week in another letter to Vilsack.

Happy Monday! Follow The Federal Eye on Twitter and submit your news tips and events listings here.

• The Government's Art: A cool Wall Street Journal sideshow depicts some of the most notable pieces from the collections of the House, Senate and State Department.

• More Obama Nominees Announced: The president on Friday tapped Maria Sally Matiella to serve as assistant secretary of the Army for financial management; Paul L. Oostburg Sanz to serve as the Department of Navy's general counsel; Solomon B. Watson IV to serve as the Department of Army's general counsel; Kathleen S. Tighe to serve as the Education Department's inspector general; Orlan Johnson to serve as chairman of the board of directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporatio; and Sharon Y. Bowen to serve as the vice-chair of the board of directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Track all of Obama's nominees with The Post's Head Count.

• Cabinet and Staff News: President Obama meets with the Cabinet Monday, then meets separately with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. (The man who took hostages at Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office set free.) Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits Canada, but can't push them for more troops. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren host a live chat to discuss the administration's efforts to boost science, technology and math eduction. Gen. Carter Ham will lead the Army's Ft. Hood probe. Veterans Affairs undersecretary for benefits stepping down. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, HUD Deputy Secretary Ron Sims and former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske making Washington State proud.

Watch above as The Eye discusses the Postal Service's Letters to Santa program on MSNBC on Sunday morning.

By Bill Turque in The Post's D.C. Wire blog:

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee had several conversations last year with a federal inspector general investigating Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson for alleged financial misconduct and inappropriate behavior with female students at a charter school he operated, The Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee

The paper said Rhee, who once served on the board of the St. Hope school, spoke on behalf of Johnson -- whom she is now engaged to -- calling him "a good guy."

Rhee's previously undisclosed involvement in the investigation is described in a 62-page congressional report on the White House's firing earlier this year of Gerald Walpin, the inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service. The report is scheduled to be released today by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) and Sen Charles E.Grassley (R-Iowa).

Johnson has not been charged with any crimes. Republicans contend that Walpin's firing was politically motivated because Johnson, a former NBA star with the Phoenix Suns, was a high-profile supporter of President Obama. Administration officials said the corporation board had lost confidence in Walpin, 78, who appeared confused and disoriented at a May board meeting. The paper said Walpin is receiving free legal help from a conservative public relations firm associated with the "swift boat" ads that attacked Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry in the 2004 campaign.

Continue reading this post in D.C. Wire >>>

RELATED: Previous Federal Eye reports on inspector general firings