Must C TV: The Curious Mr. Beale

Update (12/20/2013):  From a devastating Wall Street Journal Editorial: John Beale's EPA (emphasis added):

...Beale's attorney John Kern says his client "has come to recognize that, beyond the motive of greed, his theft and deception were animated by a highly self-destructive and dysfunctional need to engage in excessively reckless, risky behavior." Mr. Kern adds that Beale was motivated "to manipulate those around him through the fabrication of grandiose narratives" because of "his insecurities."

Are we now supposed to believe that in contrast to his other lies, the work Beale chose to perform at EPA is the product of careful and honest analysis? What Congress needs to examine is whether the policies that the head of EPA says were shaped to a large degree by Beale were also based on fraud. Oh, and what Gina McCarthy [the EPA Administrator] knew or suspected, and why she so admired a fraudster.

C-SPAN has posted Tuesday's hearing into the investigation of the former high ranking EPA official, John Beale, that pleaded guilty to fraud; including cheating the government out of almost $1 million.

The details of this case, like the Mr. Beale's claim that he was working for the CIA at the same time he was working for the EPA, are unbelievable and more appropriate for a farce than a real-life inspector general investigation.

There probably will be add on investigations into Mr. Robert Brenner, a former EPA colleague of Mr. Beale, that testified to suspicious dealings as well in the case.