interior department is completely "devoid of both ethical standards and internal controls"

[nageov3t]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09...hington/11royalty.html

Wide-Ranging Ethics Scandal Emerges at Interior Dept.

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

As Congress prepares to debate expansion of drilling in taxpayer-owned coastal waters, the Interior Department agency that collects oil and gas royalties has been caught up in a wide-ranging ethics scandal ? including allegations of financial self-dealing, accepting gifts from energy companies, cocaine use and sexual misconduct...

The reports portray a dysfunctional organization that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior and a free-for-all atmosphere for much of the Bush administration?s watch...

the new set of reports raises questions about the integrity and behavior of the agency?s officials.

In one of the new reports, investigators conclude that a key supervisor at the agency?s minerals revenue management office worked together with two aides to steer a lucrative consulting contract to one of the aides after he retired, violating competitive procurement rules.

Two other reports focus on ?a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity? and unethical behavior in the service?s royalty-in-kind program. That part of the agency collects about $4 billion a year in the form of oil and gas rather than cash royalties.

Modeled on a private-sector energy company, the decade-old royalty-in-kind program transports, processes and resells the oil and gas on the open market. But while its officials interact with energy company executives, they are subject to government ethics rules, such as restrictions on taking gifts from sources with whom they conduct official business.

One of the reports says that the officials viewed themselves as exempt from those limits, indulging themselves in the expense-account-fueled world of oil and gas executives.

In addition, the report alleges that eight royalty-program officials accepted gifts from energy companies whose value exceeded limits set by ethics rules ? including golf, ski and paintball outings; meals and drinks; and tickets to a Toby Keith concert, a Houston Texans football game and a Colorado Rockies baseball game.

The investigation also concluded that several of the officials ?frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives.?

The investigation separately found that the program?s manager mixed official and personal business, and took money from a technical services firm in exchange for urging oil companies to hire the firm. In sometimes lurid detail, the report accuses him of having intimate relations with two subordinates, one of whom regularly sold him cocaine.

The culture of the organization ?appeared to be devoid of both the ethical standards and internal controls sufficient to protect the integrity of this vital revenue-producing program,? one report said.

what kind of sad, sad world are we living in where Toby Keith concert tickets are a "gift"? seems more like torture to me; I wouldn't make an inmate at Guantanamo listen to that crap.

say what you will about either presidential candidate, I can't imagine either of them would be as wildly and flagrantly incompetent as the Bush administration is.

 

[GrGr]

The Bush administration is not incompetent. It is blatantly criminal at all levels. It gets full marks for competency.

 

[MustISO]

This is just a small sample of what goes on in our government.

 

[DealMonkey]

When we complain that this administration is in bed with the big oil interests, we meant it figuratively! My oh my, color me unsurprised by yet another gov't agency politicized and in bed with the industry it's supposed to regulate. It's almost like Bush gave standing orders upon taking the White House to deregulate everything, politicize everyone and every agency and let corporate america write its own rules.

 

[sandorski]

You're all mistaken. Bush has returned Integrity, can't you see the Integrity?

 

[Lemon law]

What do we expect when the interior department has driven anyone with integrity away and replaced them with the politically corrupt GWB boot lickers.

In any war, its said that the truth is the first causality, and that interior department war was lost long ago. Its now the last place Diogones should look for a honest man or woman. And now we suddenly, in our hour of need, expect to find honesty or real answers to pressing current problems in the interior department?

We need to start over with a clean sheet of paper and then ask scientists and real unbiased industry experts cause Mr. Cheney's energy task force done spoiled this one.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I knew I should have taken that job with the Department of the Interior...

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: loki8481

say what you will about either presidential candidate, I can't imagine either of them would be as wildly and flagrantly incompetent as the Bush administration is.

Yes, and Iran Contra was 'competent government'.

Yes, and Nixon's dirty tricks organization with different government agencies literally planting spies against one another was 'competent government'.

It's not Bush, it's the ideology. As has been said many times, those who think something is wrong - representative democracy's government - are unlikely to run it all that well.

Reagan's 'the government is the problem, not the solution' statement was self-fulfilling.

Too little government = tyranny by private concentrated power. Representative government = society thriving, as in the democrats slashing elderly and general poverty, increasing health care, creating a thriving middle class from the poor. But modern Republican government = big government serving the powerful private interests - the worst of both worlds.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: sandorski
You're all mistaken. Bush has returned Integrity, can't you see the Integrity?

That's really the problem in our system today, in large part:

The party (theoretically speaking) who actually does implement integrity gets little if any public credit for it politically at election time.

The party (forget theoretical here, the modern Republicans) who abandon integrity for all the political benefits of selling out, and use the funds to put out mass advertising *saying* that they are the party who will 'bring integriry' get a lot of political points with voters who fall for the marketing.

It's ironic, perverse, and it's happening a lot. The bigger the lying, the bigger the budgets to hide the lies.

The effect isn't the pulbic zeroing on the 'bad party', instead they become cynical about government more generally. Hence low Bush ratings - but McCain running equal in polls.

Can it be any more obvious, any more dishonest, any more galling than McCain picking a central figure in the most infamous government waste scandal in a decade - the bridge to nowhere - who supported the spending, and run her *in her nomination speech* in a flat out lie as the person who stopped the waste? And she has a net BENEFIT to the ticket?

 

[jackace]

LOL i just saw this story on the news. Pretty crazy stuff and just confirms any suspicions the American people have about the oil industry.

here is the video from NBC news.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#26644559

 

[Napalm]

Whats the issue here?

So they played golf, went to some games and concerts on Industry tab? The horror!!

They drank at some Industry functions? OMG!!!

There were affairs between some government officials and some people in Industry? Perverts!!!

And one guys dated two women he worked with and he used coke? One guy???? One too many!!!!!


This is the dumbest story I've ever read.

 

[Zedtom]

n/m

 

[IronWing]

As bad as this story is, this is a step up in ethics for Bush's Interior Department. This is the department that supplied contract torturers for Bush's Abu Ghraib prison. Sexual perversion seems to be a trend in this administration.

 

[ProfJohn]

If laws were broke people should go to jail.

If rules were grossly violated then people should lose jobs.

And any company that grossly violated any rules should lose their contracts.

 

[Lemon law]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
If laws were broke people should go to jail.

If rules were grossly violated then people should lose jobs.

And any company that grossly violated any rules should lose their contracts.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh well, there goes Halliburton according to PJ.

 

[zinfamous]

say what you will about corruption and incompetence, yada yada blah blah; but never let it be said that Geologists don't know how to party.
:beer:

 

[chucky2]

Originally posted by: Napalm
Whats the issue here?

So they played golf, went to some games and concerts on Industry tab? The horror!!

They drank at some Industry functions? OMG!!!

There were affairs between some government officials and some people in Industry? Perverts!!!

And one guys dated two women he worked with and he used coke? One guy???? One too many!!!!!


This is the dumbest story I've ever read.

x 2.

Can we get a non-partisan (does that even exist anymore??), competent review of these peoples actual results vs. expected results?

If actual closely lines up with expected (hindsight is always 20/20), then I personally don't give a F if the chicks were doing 3 somes while the guy was doing coke off their @sses. It's funny how many of the people in this thread will go on bashing spree about the current Admin abusing civil liberties, but they themselves can't give the same liberties to others.

So they had sex. So they did some blow & weed. So the F what?

Did they do their jobs? That's the only F'ing thing this investigation should be telling us.

Chuck

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: chucky2

Originally posted by: Napalm
Whats the issue here?

So they played golf, went to some games and concerts on Industry tab? The horror!!

They drank at some Industry functions? OMG!!!

There were affairs between some government officials and some people in Industry? Perverts!!!

And one guys dated two women he worked with and he used coke? One guy???? One too many!!!!!


This is the dumbest story I've ever read.

x 2.

Can we get a non-partisan (does that even exist anymore??), competent review of these peoples actual results vs. expected results?

If actual closely lines up with expected (hindsight is always 20/20), then I personally don't give a F if the chicks were doing 3 somes while the guy was doing coke off their @sses. It's funny how many of the people in this thread will go on bashing spree about the current Admin abusing civil liberties, but they themselves can't give the same liberties to others.

So they had sex. So they did some blow & weed. So the F what?

Did they do their jobs? That's the only F'ing thing this investigation should be telling us.

Chuck

The report was written by the department's own inspector general. Now that I see the relaxed attitude that conservatives take toward bribery, corruption, and theft of public funds, I better understand how Republicans keep getting elected.

 

[PokerGuy]

Originally posted by: ironwing
The report was written by the department's own inspector general. Now that I see the relaxed attitude that conservatives take toward bribery, corruption, and theft of public funds, I better understand how Republicans keep getting elected.

No, real conservatives don't have a relaxed attitude towards that stuff, partisan hacks do, they feel everything is fine as long as it's not the "other side" doing it. As a conservative it makes me mad that this is allowed to happen, I want jail time for those involved.

 

[UNCjigga]

Still waiting for "Dept. of the Posterior" jokes...

This just proves that Big Oil is as corrupting an influence on (and off) The Hill as Big Tobacco was back in its heyday of the 70s and 80s.

 

[UNCjigga]

Originally posted by: chucky2

So they had sex. So they did some blow & weed. So the F what?

Did they do their jobs? That's the only F'ing thing this investigation should be telling us.

Chuck

If only Clinton was held to the same standard...

 

[Thump553]

Originally posted by: MustISO
This is just a small sample of what goes on in our government.

Not true by a long shot-post specific evidence if you disagree. Too many people who know nothing claim all government employees are corrupt, which does not but foster low morale and corruption. This is a horrendously corrupt government office by US standards. It has little, if anything to do with the Bush administration (other than fostering a atmosphere of government as an adjunct to big oil).

One of the allegations is that a guy was taken for a weekend "treasure hunt"-I guess that's more imaginative than just handing over a bag full of money.

 

[CycloWizard]

I thought ethics could be tossed out the window unless you're a religious zealot. Funny how they are invoked on a whim when politically expedient.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: UNCjigga

Originally posted by: chucky2

So they had sex. So they did some blow & weed. So the F what?

Did they do their jobs? That's the only F'ing thing this investigation should be telling us.

Chuck

If only Clinton was held to the same standard...

Technically, Clinton had a different problem because a huge conspiracy existed to use the legal system to attack him for sexual harrassment, and that made his behavior an issue.

While the judge erred, it seems, in allowing him to be required to answer questions on his sex life with Monica, the judge did do that.

The radical right on the Supreme Court ruling that Clinton could be tried on this civil matter while in office empwered the conspiracy as well.

It's important to note the differences, in part because they show how the right has a lot of resources for forcing their political desires, and we can all worry about that.

Look in contrast at the Bush administration's ability to dodge accountability with pretty much the sole exception being Scooter Libby for helping Cheney successfully cover up.

 

[PokerGuy]

Originally posted by: Craig234
The radical right on the Supreme Court ruling that Clinton could be tried on this civil matter while in office empwered the conspiracy as well.

Huh? Conspiracy? Last time I checked, there was no doubt that he had "inappropriate" relations with "that woman", and later lied about it. Whatever conspiracy you envision, it doesn't change the facts.