Stimulus overseer Devaney will retire

The Obama administration's stimulus overseer announced Thursday that he is retiring after 41 years of work in the federal government. 

Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board that keep tabs on how money from the 2009 economic stimulus is spent, submitted his resignation to the White House on Thursday saying he will leave his post at the end of the month. 

He will depart the Recovery Board, also known as the RAT Board, a label Devaney has said he doesn't like, after nearly three years. 

He also is leaving two other posts — inspector general at the Interior Department and chairman of the Government Accountability and Transparency Board (GATB).

Devaney, a former Secret Service agent, praised his staff in his resignation letter for working "tirelessly to uncover inefficiencies, waste and fraud — some instances of which have no doubt shocked the nation.’’

His office took its fair share of criticism, especially in its infancy when lawmakers on Capitol Hill pressed the group to ensure all spending was current and accurate. 

The board operates Recovery.gov, a site that provides all information on the stimulus and gives the public a place to express concerns about fraud. 

He has worked closely with Vice President Joe Biden on the board that oversees $840 billion in stimulus money while leading a group of more 50 staffers who keep up with where every dollar goes. 

In his resignation letter, he said the GATB, created by President Obama in June, was preparing to propose "concrete methods" for improving oversight and transparency of all federal funds.

In 1999, President Clinton appointed Devaney as Interior's inspector general where he oversaw investigations that led to the convictions of Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist, and J. Steven Griles, the deputy decretary at Interior.

At Interior, Devaney discovered that staffers at the Minerals Management Service, which runs the oil industry royalities program, had engaged in "a culture of ethical failure’’ and were involved in inappropriate behaivor from 2005 to 2007 that included accepting gifts, meals and tickets to sporting events from the oil companies they oversaw, along with illicit sexual misconduct and drug abuse, leading to the agency's demise. 

Deveney told the Washington Post in a Wednesday interview that he plans to retire to Florida with his wife and will consider part-time employment as a consultant or on corporate boards.

“There has been fraud, very little,” Devaney said in the Post interview, saying the biggest issue has come from the Energy Department’s award of millions to Solyndra, a solar energy company that went belly up. 

The board was has until Sept. 2013 to complete its oversight of the spending program. Obama will need to appoint a new director.