The Biden administration appears to have engaged in combat with the most unlikely foe you can imagine. Biden dismissed the Capitol Architect in February. Currently, the White House has dismissed a number of top figures from the Architect’s office.
The Architect of the Capitol and their office are in charge of overseeing and maintaining the entire 570-acre facility that houses our government, despite the fact that most Americans have probably never heard of them. J Brett Blanton served as the Architect until February, but for almost two years, lawmakers and others had been criticizing the way he was handling the office.
The office’s inspector general found a number of infractions in a report from November 2021, including the use of official cars without authorization, transgressions of ethical standards, and the use of funds to purchase an SUV for the office that was really tailored for use by Blanton’s family. Biden was finally forced to move after receiving enough complaints from lawmakers, and on February 13 he fired Blanton and named top engineer Chere Rexroat as interim Architect.
Several senior Architect of Capitol leaders fired in latest shake-up https://t.co/JxNEHSESc1 pic.twitter.com/4V2YCOlVNf
— The Hill (@thehill) April 9, 2023
It appears that Blanton wasn’t the only issue in the office, though. Rexroat fired numerous senior employees, including the office’s general counsel, chief financial officer, chief administrative officer, and chief of staff, as part of the department’s management team purge on April 7.
An email announcing the terminations made no mention of the reasons behind the officials’ removal. None of them have been the subject of any public accusations. The office’s CEO for visitor services was sacked at the same time, but it’s thought that this was due to a different problem; last week, a different IG investigation revealed that she had been dating one of her colleagues in an “inappropriate” way.
Rexroat’s email to staff stated that the Government Accountability Office will also conduct an assessment of the Architect’s office, and staff members were surprised by the most recent round of terminations; one termed it a “massacre.”
