Sounds like a party, paid for with your natural resources.
NYTimes | Wide-Ranging Ethics Scandal Emerges at Interior Dept
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.
In three reports delivered to Congress on Wednesday, the department“s inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, found wrongdoing by a dozen current and former employees of the Minerals Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually and is one of the government“s largest sources of revenue other than taxes.
… 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.
Wow, the roaring 80s are making a comeback, what with the coke snorting and rampant insider trading. Is it time to wear leg warmers and take tips from Gotcha! again?
VERY surprising. MMS has always attracted criticism for the close links between regulator and regulatee. People hop back and forth between sides all the time. All MMS workers are former oil. I’d always thought they were relatively honest. This sounds like it’s just the tip of the iceberg, though.
Also, I thought it was getting back to the 70’s, with stagflation and gas guzzling cars giving way rapidly to econoboxes.
As a former employee of MMS/MRM/RIK I can say that these findings ARE the tip of the iceberg. The general public has no idea how much corruption, fraud, waste & abuse this agency has been getting away with for years. A culture of sexual misconduct and mismanagement of taxpayer’s money and interests. Further more, honest employees received harassment & intimidation by upper management to get in line and “play ball & be a team player”. It would be interesting if the press would investigate how many complaints have been filed by employees trying to bring attention to this. Also, it’s not just the Denver and D.C. offices. Houston, Texas was a septic pool in itself. The “Kingpin” of that particular office has recently retired, but not before securing several “nest-eggs” for him and his cronies.
To quote a character from my daughter’s favorite movie, “I think I’m going to have a heart attack and die, from not surprise.”
And please, no legwarmers. My calves are huge enough already and don’t need extra attention drawn their way.
CNBC named the story Lewd & Crude