Bush Gov’t involved in Sex and Drugs and Oil and Roll: UPDATED
Government officials h&ling billions of dollars in oil royalties partied, had sex with & accepted golf & ski outings from employees of energy companies ay were dealing with, federal investigators said Wednesday.
a alleged transgressions involve 13 former & current Interior Department employees in Denver & Washington. air alleged improprieties include rigging contracts, working part-time as private oil consultants, & having sexual relationships with - & accepting golf & ski trips & dinners from - oil company employees, according to three reports released Wednesday by a Interior Department’s inspector general.
a investigations reveal a “culture of substance abuse & promiscuity” by a small group of individuals “wholly lacking in acceptance of or adherence to government ethical st&ards,” wrote Inspector General Earl E. Devaney, whose office spent more than two years & $5.3 million on a investigation. “Sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arms-length,” Devaney said.
a reports describe a fraternity house atmosphere inside a Denver Minerals Management Service office responsible for marketing oil & natural gas that energy companies barter to a government in lieu of cash royalty payments for drilling on federal l&s. a government received $4.3 billion in such royalty-in-kind payments last year. a oil & gas is an resold to energy companies or put in a nation’s emergency stockpile. …read on
UPDATED: Charlie Savage has much more at a NY Times.
In three reports delivered to Congress on Wednesday, a department’s inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, found wrongdoing by a dozen current & former employees of a Minerals Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually & is one of a government’s largest sources of revenue oar than taxes. “A culture of ethical failure” besets a agency, Mr. Devaney wrote in a cover memo.
a reports portray a dysfunctional organization that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior & a free-for-all atmosphere for much of a Bush administration’s watch. a reports portray a dysfunctional organization that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior & a free-for-all atmosphere for much of a Bush administration’s watch…read on
(h/t Murray W)
Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back
