How Obama Is a Threat to Good Government

I like government. I don't like what the fallout from these past few weeks might do to the public's faith in it.

You don't need to be a liberal Democrat to root for government efficiency, transparency, and solvency. Even tea-party conservatives expect certain things from Washington: a strong military; pensions and health care for the aged; student and small-business loans; safe food and drugs; secure borders; and, of course, federal police protection against terrorists, both foreign and domestic.

The core argument of President Obama during his rise to power -- and a uniting belief of his coalition of young, minority and well-educated voters -- is that government can do good things, and do them well.

But look at what clichs the past few weeks wrought. Government is intrusive, Orwellian, incompetent, heartless, secretive, overly complicated, and potentially corrupt.

The Internal Revenue Service scandal, details of blanket surveillance by the National Security Agency, and a handful of other assorted controversies all lead to a credibility crisis. The Pew Research Center found this year that fewer Americans than ever have faith in the decisions made by government. And now, all this.

Ron Fournier

OBAMA DEFENDS SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS. Answering questions at an event devoted to the Affordable Care Act in San Jose, Calif., today, President Obama defended two recently revealed government surveillance programs, The New York Times reports. "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls," Obama said. "That's not what this program is about." The president emphasized the fact that members of the legislative and judicial branches were privy to the programs. "You can't have 100 percent security and then also have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience," said Obama. "You know, we're going to have to make some choices as a society."

GOVERNMENT OBTAINS DATA FROM INTERNET COMPANIES. The NSA and the FBI are obtaining user information from nine Internet companies as part of a program codenamed PRISM, The Washington Post reports. According to a document obtained by The Post, the program involves "collection directly from the servers of these U.S. service providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple." The information collected includes "audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs," The Post reports. London's The Guardian that the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters has had access to PRISM "since at least June 2010."

OBAMA, XI TO DISCUSS KEY ISSUES IN CALIFORNIA MEETINGS. President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet this evening and Saturday at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., where they are expected to discuss contentious issues including cybersecurity and North Korea, the Associated Press reports. The two leaders also may address economic concerns, including Chinese claims of business discrimination. Obama and Xi, who first met in March, initially were not scheduled to meet again until September, but agreed to move up the meeting due to the complexity of the issues facing them. National Journal's George E. Condon Jr.who has the upper hand in the relationship.

RUBIO: 'WON'T ABANDON' IMMIGRATION REFORM. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Thursday that while he is pushing for stricter border-security measures in the comprehensive immigration bill pending in the Senate, he is not abandoning the bill, the Orlando Sentinel reports. "I'm working as hard today on immigration reform as I ever have," Rubio said. "That's what I'm committed to trying to accomplish, and that's what I'm spending all of my time on, figuring out how we can get a bill that passes the Senate and serves as a starting point to get it passed in the House as well." Rubio faces criticism from both sides of the immigration debate, as well as concerns that he is motivated by his own presidential ambitions. "I won't abandon this issue until it's done, until we get a bill passed," Rubio said.

IRS OFFICIALS SAY TARGETING INSTRUCTIONS CAME FROM SUPERVISORS. Two IRS workers said supervisors in Washington were behind the targeting of conservative groups, the Associated Press reports. But the staffers, who work in the agency's Cincinnati office, offered no proof to back up their claims. Interviewed by congressional investigators, one agent said an IRS lawyer in D.C. "closely supervised" her work. Said Gary Muthert, one of the IRS agents, about his supervisor: "He told me that Washington, D.C., wanted some cases." Meanwhile, Reutersthat some IRS officials in Washington became aware of the agency targeting conservative groups after an e-mail was accidently sent to the entire IRS Exempt Organization Rulings and Agreements unit in D.C. in 2010.

CONGRESS HAS PASSED 13 LAWS THIS YEAR, AND NONE HAVE TO DO WITH JOBS. It's tough to draw a decisive conclusion from the jobs report out this morning, but one thing is clear: At this rate, it will take nearly a decade to return to prerecession employment levels, National Journal's Niraj Chokshi reports. In the six months and four days since the 113th Congress began, it has . And, despite lawmakers constantly beating the drum on boosting jobs, none of the new measures have been focused on employment. Here's a list of what the 113th Congress has passed in its first six months.

"Were you raising your hand or flirting with me?" -- Anthony Weiner, to an elderly woman at a forum Thursday in Brooklyn, in an off-the-cuff comment that drew slightly uncomfortable laughter ()

YES, THE NSA CAN HEAR YOU NOW. With news coming out that the National Security Agency has been collecting telephone data on millions of Verizon customers, late-night comedians focused on Barack Obama's role in the program. Jay Leno made played with the idea of "big brother" and made a joke about the amount of telephone time Americans use calling for pizza. Late Night's Jimmy Fallon also used some wordplay in referencing a formerly famous Verizon slogan. On Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert asked, in light of the NSA news, about the differences between the Obama and Bush administrations. Colbert also skewered comments made by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on the topic of privacy.

AFTER MAN SPENDS 25 YEARS IN PRISON FOR WIFE'S MURDER, DNA HELPS CONVICT SOMEONE ELSE. In 1986 Michael Morton's wife, Christine, was murdered. Despite a lack of physical evidence, Morton was given a life sentence. In the fall of 2011 he was released and exonerated of the charges, after bloodstains on a blue bandana collected near the crime scene were tested. Traces of the DNA of his wife and a man named Mark Norwood, who had a criminal record, were found. Morton was released, Norwood was arrested. After a trial that lasted eight days, the jury found Norton guilty of capital murder, and he received a life sentence.

WHY THE GOP CAN IGNORE ITS PROBLEMSFOR NOW. Republicans have a problem with young voters. Democrats have a problem with young nonvoters. But as National Journal's Ronald Brownstein writes, the GOP can enjoy another strong midterm election in 2014 without doing much more to attract young or minority voters.

THE NEW JOBS REPORT IN CHARTS. The U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in May, beating expectations, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6 percent. Quartz's Ritchie King offers-- one showing the breakdown of employment status for all Americans 16 and older, and another showing what job creation and job loss looked like in various industries last month.

Ortiz sent the ball over the right-field wall for his 11th career walk-off homer to solidify Boston's (37-24) lead in the American League East, while Texas (36-23) allowed Oakland (37-25) to close within a half-game in the AL West.

The Athletics closed the gap with a 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox (25-33) in 10 innings, Yoenis Cespedes hitting two homers and Adam Rosales putting another one over the wall in the 10th.

National League Central leaders St. Louis took down Arizona, top dogs in the NL West, 12-8 after Matt Adams belted a three-run homer during an eight-run fourth inning. The Cardinals (39-21) had five homers in the game.

Arizona (34-26) pitcher Ian Kennedy allowed a career-high 10 earned runs and 13 hits in just four innings.

Detroit ace Max Scherzer (8-0) remains unbeaten after throwing a four-hitter through seven innings with nine strike outs as the Tigers took down the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2.

Victor Martinez homered and drove in three runs to push the Tigers to 32-26 and drop the Rays to 32-27.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (26-33) scored a rare win against a form team, breaking the Atlanta Braves (37-23) five-game winning streak with a 5-0 shutout, while the New York Yankees (35-25) cruised to a 6-1 win over Seattle (26-35). (Reporting by Ben Everill in Los AngelesEditing by Peter Rutherford)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc wrote its largest-ever check for a subscription-streaming deal, securing hundreds of mostly childrens' TV programs from Viacom Inc for its Internet video service and ratcheting up pressure on rival Netflix.

Amazon's deal with Viacom gives the world's largest Internet retailer broader access to hit shows including "Dora the Explorer" and "SpongeBob SquarePants." Netflix had previously conceded that losing access to those shows would be a blow.

Amazon agreed to pay more than $200 million to Viacom for the license, its largest subscription-streaming transaction ever, a person familiar with the deal said. A second person familiar said the deal would run more than two years and included a deeper library of content than the prior Netflix agreement.

The Amazon-Viacom pact comes just days after Netflix stopped streaming popular Nickelodeon programming, following the expiration of its deal with the company.

The deal includes about 4,000 TV episodes that will be available to stream for free on Amazon Prime Instant Video. This service is free for subscribers to Amazon's Prime program, which, for $79 a year offers free two-day shipping in the United States for items purchased through Amazon.

Part of the payment went to secure exclusive subscription streaming rights to several shows from Viacom's Nick Jr channel, including the "Dora" franchise, "Go Diego Go!," "Blue's Clues" and "The Backyardigans."

Amazon is spending heavily on video content as it competes with Netflix and Hulu for a piece of the fast-growing market for TV and movies delivered over the Internet. Childrens' shows are among the most-watched on Amazon's service, according to Bill Carr, the company's vice president for digital video and music.

Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings, in a CNBC interview last week, said his service still had plenty of content for children but losing the Viacom programming could hurt.

"If you're a parent and your child's looking for 'Blue's Clues,' you know, that is definitely a problem," he said, while noting that Netflix still has programming from the likes of Disney and Cartoon Network.

In early May, Netflix announced a new multiyear license agreement with Walt Disney Co that gave Netflix the exclusive right to stream "Jake and the Never Land Pirates," along with access to other Disney shows including "Handy Manny."

Viacom's shares rose 1 percent to $67.575 in morning trading, while Netflix shares were up 1.4 percent at $225. Amazon gained 44 cents to $267.34.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Additional reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Richard Pullin and Maureen Bavdek)

The report by the Treasury Department's inspector general about conference spending is set to be released Tuesday. The department issued a statement Sunday saying the administration "has already taken aggressive and dramatic action to reduce conference spending."

The White House and the agency were on the defensive before the report on conference spending. Agency officials and the Obama administration have said the targeting of conservative groups was inappropriate, but the political tempest is showing no signs of ebbing.

Three congressional committees are investigating, a Justice Department criminal investigation is under way, President Barack Obama has replaced the IRS' acting commissioner and two other top officials have stepped aside.

The chairman of one of those committees, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., also released excerpts of congressional investigators' interviews with employees of the IRS office in Cincinnati. Issa said the interviews indicated the employees were directed by Washington to subject tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to tough scrutiny.

The closest the excerpts came to direct evidence that Washington had ordered the screening was one employee saying that "all my direction" came from an official who the excerpt said was in Washington. The top Democrat on that panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said none of the employees interviewed have so far identified any IRS officials in Washington as ordering that targeting.

The conference spending included $4 million for an August 2010 gathering in Anaheim, Calif., for which the agency did not negotiate lower room rates, even though that is standard government practice, according to a statement by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Instead, some of the 2,600 attendees received benefits, including baseball tickets and stays in presidential suites that normally cost $1,500 to $3,500 per night. In addition, 15 outside speakers were paid a total of $135,000 in fees, with one paid $17,000 to talk about "leadership through art," the House committee said.

IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said Sunday that spending on large agency conferences with 50 or more participants fell from $37.6 million in the 2010 budget year to $4.9 million in 2012. The government's fiscal year begins Oct. 1 the previous calendar year.

On Friday, the new acting commissioner, Danny Werfel, released a statement on the forthcoming report criticizing the Anaheim meeting.

"This conference is an unfortunate vestige from a prior era," Werfel said. "While there were legitimate reasons for holding the meeting, many of the expenses associated with it were inappropriate and should not have occurred."

On the topic of targeting conservative groups, Issa's committee also released excerpts from interviews congressional investigators conducted last week with two IRS employees from the agency's Cincinnati office. The excerpts omitted the names of those interviewed and provided no specifics about individuals in Washington who may have been involved.

One of the IRS employees said in an excerpt that they were told by a supervisor that the need to collect the reports came from Washington, and said that in early 2010 the Cincinnati office had sent copies of seven of the cases to Washington.

One of the workers also expressed skepticism that the Cincinnati office originated the screening without direction from Washington, according to the excerpts.

Appearing Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Issa said this conflicted with White House comments that have referred to misconduct by IRS workers in Cincinnati.

Issa said, "This is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters and we're getting to proving it."

Cummings said Issa's comments conflicted with a Treasury inspector general's report that provided no evidence that the Cincinnati office received orders on targeting from anyone else.

The interviews with IRS employees were conducted by Republican and Democratic aides on Issa's committee and also involved aides from both parties with the House Ways and Means Committee. One of the employees was a lower-level worker while the other was higher-ranked, said one congressional aide, but the committee did not release their names or titles.

The IRS Cincinnati office handles applications from around the country for tax-exempt status. A Treasury inspector general's report in May said employees there began searching for applications from tea party and conservative groups in their hunt for organizations that primarily do work related to election campaigns.

That May report blamed "ineffective management" for letting that screening occur for more than 18 months between 2010 and 2012. But that report and three hearings by congressional committees have produced no specific evidence that the Cincinnati workers were ordered by anyone in Washington to target conservatives.

The latest report on IRS conferences will be the subject of a hearing Thursday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Karen Kraushaar, spokeswoman for the inspector general's office, said public discussion of a report before it is released "serves no purpose and should generally be avoided."

Werfel is scheduled to make his first congressional appearance as acting commissioner Monday when he appears before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

___

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Idoki shot a final-round 65 to vault past the field on his way to a two-stroke victory at the Bellerive Golf Club in St. Louis. The 51-year-old charged with four birdies on the front nine and two more on the back to finish on 11-under-par 273.

It was more Major disappointment for Perry, who endured playoff defeats at the 2009 Masters and 1996 PGA Championship.

The 52-year-old ended on nine under, tied for second with Jay Haas and just ahead of Mark O'Meara (eight under) and Kiyoshi Murota (seven under).

Perry had entered the final round with a two-stroke lead and built momentum with three birdies on his first five holes before falling apart on the back nine.

He made a double bogey on 13 that dropped him into a tie with Idoki, then fell out of the lead with a bogey on 16 and added another on 17.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

CMS vice president of communications Scott Cooper said after the race that all three fans were treated and released from the hospital. He said he couldn't discuss the nature of their injuries due to privacy laws.

Cooper said seven other people were treated with minor cuts and scrapes at the track and released.

Fox Sports released a statement Sunday night saying it hasn't determined the cause of the accident and it is suspending use of the camera system indefinitely.

"Our immediate concern is with the injured fans," Fox said in the statement.

Fox said the camera system consists of three ropes a drive rope that moves the camera back and forth, and two guide ropes on either side. Fox said it was the drive rope that failed near the first-turn connection and fell to the track.

"The camera itself did not come down because guide ropes acted as designed," Fox said in the statement. "A full investigation is planned, and use of the camera is suspended indefinitely."

Fox said it has used the camera system at the Daytona 500, at last week's NASCAR Sprint All-Star race and other major sporting events.

"We certainly regret that the system failure affected tonight's event, we apologize to the racers whose cars were damaged, and our immediate concern is for the race fans," Fox said in the statement. "We also offer a sincere thank you to the staff at CMS for attending to the injuries and keeping us informed on this developing situation."

The incident occurred on lap 121 of the 400-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

The race was delayed for 27 minutes while crews repaired damage to their cars.

Kyle Busch, going for a sweep at Charlotte Motor Speedway after winning the Nationwide and Truck series races, was leading when he incurred damage to the right front wheel well of his No. 18 Toyota.

Marcos Ambrose and Mark Martin also reported damage.

No drivers were injured.

The cars were initially brought along pit row as workers cleared the ropes from the track.

NASCAR first threw a caution flag before two red flags came out. It eventually allowed the cars to come into the pits, giving crews 15 minutes to work on their cars.

During the break, Busch's crew frantically worked to repair a number of problems to the right front wheel well. After completing repairs to the car, the crew slapped high-fives after getting the car back on the track.

Busch remained competitive and was running in the top five at the midpoint of the race. But his night ended in frustration when his engine blew up on lap 253.

"I commend NASCAR for taking the initiative and letting us repair our damaged cars from the issue we had," Busch said.

Busch said he never saw the nylon rope.

"I just heard a big thunk on the right-front side tire and thought the right-front tire blew out," Busch said. "That's how hard it felt... It did have an effect slowing my car down and I could feel it like, 'Whoa, that's weird.' I don't know that anybody has ever seen that. Maybe now we can get rid of that thing."

It was more bad luck for Busch, who has never won a Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and suffered his share of bad luck.

Kasey Kahne, who wound up finishing second behind Kevin Harvick, said he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when he saw something strange on the track.

"I have never seen anything like it," Kahne said. "I came off turn four and I saw it wrapped around Kyle's car and it hit mine and I thought I had to be seeing things because there's no way there could be a cable on the race track. By the time we got to turn one I saw it again and saw Kyle's fender and saw his car go down a little. That's when I knew I wasn't seeing things."

NASCAR said the camera system in question is from CamCat.

The CamCat camera system is the product of an Austrian company that does work with many outfits around the world, including the Olympics, NBC and others. The company has been handling sporting events since 2000 and hasn't had any prior known incidents with its cameras.

In May of 2000, more than 100 fans were injured outside of the CMS when an 80-foot section of the walkway fell an estimated 25 feet onto a highway below. Fans were crossing the bridge to a parking lot following the completion of the NASCAR All-Star race.

The review will be done by "experts who are entirely independent of the Pac-12 Conference," the league said. The investigation is expected to be completed by June.

Ed Rush resigned as the conference's coordinator of officials Thursday. He told The Associated Press he was just trying to "lighten the mood" in a tense locker room when he "jokingly" made offers of $5,000 or a trip to Mexico for any referee who disciplined Arizona coach Sean Miller during the league tournament.

The Pac-12's officiating program has endured a swarm of public criticism since the incident became public and questions about whether Rush was joking persist. Some reports also have accused Rush of creating a culture of bullying.

"Nothing is more important to the Pac-12, or to me personally, than maintaining confidence in our integrity," Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. "Given the conflicting media reports, it is important that we do whatever we can to understand all the facts, not only to resolve the questions about officiating during the tournament but also to learn lessons that will help us make changes and improvements to our overall program."

Oregon State President Edward J. Ray, also the Pac-12 CEO Group chairman, agreed with Scott's decision.

"I agree that an independent review is important to maintain the confidence of our members, and of the public, in the integrity of our competition," Ray said. "While the review will focus primarily on the tournament, we expect that it will inform a broader examination of our men's basketball officiating and help us provide the best possible program."

On March 15, officials whistled Miller for a technical foul in the semifinals against UCLA for arguing a late double-dribble call against Wildcats guard Mark Lyons. Arizona lost 66-64.

Miller went on a memorable postgame rant about the technical foul, waving his arms while repeating "he touched the ball" five times in a row. He was later handed a $25,000 fine from the Pac-12 for what the conference said was confronting an official on the floor and acting inappropriately toward a staff member in the hallway.

Scott said last week that Arizona officials alerted him to Rush's remarks the night of March 17, a day after Oregon won the league tournament. He said he launched an internal investigation into the matter the next day and he concluded that it was not a "fireable offense," just a bad joke that stained the Pac-12's official program.

Rush said his remarks were part of an overall "point of emphasis" to crack down on coach misconduct on the sideline after Arizona's 79-69 win over Colorado in the Pac-12 quarterfinal March 14. In the course of that meeting, Rush said he called out officials who worked the game Michael Greenstein, Tony Padilla and Brett Nansel for not disciplining either Miller or Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle for their behavior.

Officials who were working the California-Utah game next Verne Harris, Deron White and Dave Hall also were in the locker room getting ready.

"I said, 'The game cried out for a bench warning. It would have been very simple to take care of that. It cried out for bench warnings,'" Rush said in a phone interview with the AP last week. "Another crew was waiting in there, getting ready for the next game. I would say there was a level of tension in the locker room, just because the disappointment that they worked this game, but they didn't take care of something that was a point of emphasis.

"So in an effort just to lighten the mood, I said to them, 'Hey, guys. What's it going to take? Do you think we could give you a trip to Cancun or maybe $5,000? Or who wants what?' And now they're all laughing, which is basically what I wanted to do. So I said, 'I know you guys, you probably want $5,000, you want the money, you won't take the trip to Cancun. So I'm going around, 'What would you take?' At that point, I said, 'By the way, you know my wife's not going to go for this. I'm going to have to pull this off the table.' They all laughed, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, bud.' That was it, and I walked out."

The 70-year-old Rush, a longtime NBA referee and the league's former director of officiating, had been a consultant to the Pac-12 since 2007 before becoming conference coordinator of officials last May. He said he offered his resignation to Scott by phone Thursday afternoon once it became clear it was going to be difficult to rebuild the trust of the coaches, players and public.

Rush said he plans to continue helping the NBA Development League find and train officials.

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Antonio Gonzalez can be reached at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The doors of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch closed for the last time on Thursday as NBC's "The Office" wrapped up after a nine-season run with a nostalgic finale featuring a long-awaited wedding and the return of the show's biggest star, Steve Carell.

Emmy-winning mockumentary "The Office," adapted from Ricky Gervais' British series of the same name, saw a documentary crew filming the daily lives of employees at the Dunder Mifflin paper company, led for several years by hapless boss Michael Scott, played by Carell.

On Thursday's 75-minute finale, set six months after the fictional documentary was released, the colleagues all reunite for the marriage of Machiavellian office manager Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), and accountant Angela Martin (Angela Kingsley).

Carell entered the episode as a surprise guest at the wedding, uttering one of Michael Scott's best-known phrases - "That's what she said."

Later as he considered the romances that had formed at the workplace, Carell's character told the camera, "It's like all my children grew up and they married each other."

Over nine seasons, audiences have been treated to numerous office fights, friendships and romances on the NBC sitcom. One of the most compelling storylines was the growing romance of Jim and Pam, played by John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer, as audiences watched them transition from friendship to marriage and parenthood.

For fans of the show, the season finale saw most of the long-standing cast members get their happy ending.

Stanley finally retires, Erin finds her birth parents, Andy capitalizes on becoming an unwilling viral video star, Kelly and Ryan run off into the sunset (albeit abandoning a baby in the process) and Jim and Pam decide to move to Austin, Texas.

The final scenes featured a montage of key moments, including Jim and Pam's romance and the numerous friendships that developed over the years.

"I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you've actually left them," Andy Bernard, played by Ed Helms, said wistfully.

The cast also reflected on the documentary that captured nine years of their lives at the company, which Jim described as "this stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing job."

"Imagine going back and watching a tape of your life. You can see yourself change ... watch yourself fall in love, become a husband, a father. You guys gave that to me," Jim said to the cameras.

LAUNCHING STARS, FALLING AUDIENCES

"The Office," which first aired in 2005, began with a relatively unknown cast, led by Carell, whose breakout film "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" came out the same year.

The show made stars of many of its cast members, leading to high-profile movie roles, and its producers said last year that the outside success of "The Office" actors played a role in the decision to wind it down.

Carell left the show in season seven to focus on his rising film career, which has included roles in "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone."

Helms also made the move to the big screen with roles in "The Hangover" franchise, and Krasinski starred in the recent film "The Promised Land" with Matt Damon.

Mindy Kaling, who plays office mean girl Kelly Kapoor, landed her own Fox sitcom "The Mindy Project," while Craig Robinson, who plays warehouse manager Darryl, scored film roles in "Pineapple Express" and upcoming "This Is the End."

After Carell's exit in 2011, audiences began to turn away from "The Office" and viewership fell to about 4 million last year per episode from a high of about 8 million in 2008.

The show's culmination comes on the heels of another NBC comedy, "30 Rock," bowing out after seven seasons in February.

Prior to the finale, an hourlong retrospective of the show featured cast members and producers talking about the impact of "The Office" on their careers and why fans were drawn to it.

"This is a perfect time for the show to come to a close," Wilson said. "There's a finality to it and a sadness to it."

Wilson had sought to create a spin-off show led by his character Dwight, but it was not picked up for broadcast.

The unlikely star of the show has been the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, which prior to the show was known for coal mining but not anymore.

As the series drew to a close, tens of thousands of people gathered in Scranton earlier this month to give a rousing send-off to the sitcom that changed the image of the city forever.

"Thank you, Scranton," Carell told the crowd. "This all is because of you."

NBC is a unit of Comcast Corp.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bill Trott)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the White House already reeling from three major controversies, some Republican lawmakers are zeroing in on what they perceive is another possible scandal tied to President Barack Obama's landmark health reform law just as it nears implementation.

On top of the troubles the administration is facing over its handling of the attack on the Benghazi mission, the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups, and the Justice Department's seizure of Associated Press phone records, Republicans hope to target Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

They are questioning her soliciting of funds on behalf of a non-profit group, called Enroll America, from two private entities, a practice which if not unprecedented is at the very least unusual. Federal law bars officials from soliciting any organization or individual with whom they do business or regulate.

Enroll America is run by the president's former campaign backers to do something Congress refused to fund: sell "Obamacare" to the public.

An HHS statement last week said that since March Sebelius solicited financial donations for Enroll America from H&R Block Inc, the tax preparation company, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropic entity devoted to public health issues. Asked Monday for a list of all solicitations before or after March, an HHS spokesman referred Reuters to the department's original statement.

Neither H&R Block nor the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are regulated by HHS, the department's spokesman said, so there was nothing improper or illegal about soliciting them.

Enroll America is intended to serve as the private sector flagship for a massive public outreach campaign intended to get millions of uninsured Americans to sign up for subsidized insurance coverage through new online marketplaces, or exchanges, that will begin open enrollment on October 1.

NO COMMITMENT

H&R Block said it has made no commitment to Enroll America. "We received a phone call from the Secretary during which the Secretary discussed supporting Enroll America," the company said in a statement. "While we took her suggestion under consideration, we have made no commitment," it said.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said in a statement that it had "recently approved new funding" for Enroll America, bringing its total contributions to the group to nearly $14 million since 2010. It did not say how much of that, if any, came in response to Sebelius' solicitation.

It's the second controversy over the novel method used by the Obama administration to promote its agenda: using campaign-style organizations staffed with loyalists and former campaign or White House aides to mobilize grassroots support for government policies. The first involved Organizing for Action, an independent non-profit group seeking to harness both the energy and personnel from Obama's re-election campaign in support of the president's legislative agenda.

The Enroll America issue is complicated by the fact that Republicans in Congress have succeeded in blocking proposed government spending that otherwise could have been used to achieve the ends pursued by the independent group.

That has given lawmakers, such as Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, an opening to allege a violation of the federal "anti-deficiency" act, which bars agencies from accepting "voluntary" services except when authorized by law.

In defense of the help the department is getting from Enroll America, an HHS spokesman said it is permitted by a section of the Public Health Service Act that allows the secretary to encourage support for new and innovative health programs.

Some conservative legal experts say finding a clear-cut violation of the law is a long shot. "I would be skeptical of the claim that it's illegal, unless someone made a really compelling case. However, the appearance is such that it at least raises questions," said Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western University who opposes healthcare reform.

But legal issues may be the least of the concerns for supporters of the healthcare law.

They worry that a political storm over Obamacare, with congressional hearings likely, could discourage private donors to Enroll America and jeopardize the administration's ability to find the funds needed to reach a public that is already largely unaware of the healthcare reforms.

One of the biggest concerns is that younger, healthier people will not sign up for health plans on the exchanges, driving the costs up for coverage of the people who do sign up.

"The danger" to the health program, said former Obama healthcare adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle, "is that people don't come and enroll and get insured. That leaves the health plans in the exchanges trying to cover people without any young, healthy people, and it drives the price up."

REPUBLICANS PROMISE PROBES

Republicans certainly see an opportunity.

"Our guys on the Hill think this is the fourth scandal," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak. "It fits into that narrative Republicans are building not only about incompetence in the executive branch but also dishonesty."

"This is a good issue for Republicans," Mackowiak added. "We want to maximize it."

The Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee has launched an investigation into the fundraising to determine whether it involved regulated companies and has asked nearly a dozen healthcare firms including major insurers such as Aetna Inc, a member of Enroll America's advisory council, to say whether they have received solicitations.

Republicans in the House and Senate have also called on the non-partisan Government Accountability Office to investigate.

"People are watching it very closely. We're hearing about it from constituents, people who are incredibly concerned," said Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn.

Enroll America was launched in September 2011 in part by leaders of Families USA, a key backer of the healthcare reform effort as it moved through Congress in 2009 and 2010. It is led by Anne Filipic, who worked on public engagement projects in the Obama White House. It's managing director, Chris Wyant, directed Obama's eastern Ohio field operation during the 2012 election campaign.

It includes on its boards of directors and advisers, executives of Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente, and CVS Caremark as well as officials of major health-related trade associations, such as the American Hospital Association and the National Association of Health Underwriters.

Filipic said she is confident that Enroll America will get the funds it needs for the outreach campaign. "We feel really good that we'll have the resources we need," she said.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Additional reporting by David Ingram and Fred Barbash; Editing by Fred Barbash, Martin Howell and Eric Beech)