The Specter of Lurita

As might be expected, the ghost of Lurita Doan was present at today's nomination hearing for likely GSA Administrator Martha Johnson. After Doan's much-documented feud with GSA inspector general Brian Miller, which she says led to her ousting, the relationship between the GSA administrator and inspector general was a fairly prominent feature of today's hearing. The second question asked of Johnson in her pre-hearing questionnaire under "general management" was "what is your view of the relationship between the GSA administrator and the GSA inspector general?" I have a feeling this may have some historical context.

In her written response, Johnson said inspectors general play a "critical and valuable role" and said the relationship between the IG and administrator can and needs to be respectful, regular, open and productive. In the hearing, Johnson lavished praise on Miller individually and said that "a good IG allows an administrator to sleep at night."

As much fun as public intra-agency squabbles are for us reporters, the drama does a tremendous amount of damage to the efficiency of an agency, so here's hoping Johnson, Miller and everyone else at GSA can help each other get a good night's sleep.