Ethics in the Interior Department

In the fall 2008, the U.S. Interior Department won an annual award from the federal Office of Government Ethics, they were praised for "developing a dynamic laminated Ethics Guide for employees" that was a "polished, professional guide" with "colorful pictures and prints which demand employees' attention." The Interior was also given a great deal of praise for having held a four-day seminar for its ethics advisors nationwide. It is not known if those seminars included the In-Kind Royalty office, where not a week later, the U.S. Inspector General released a report that reveled a long running ethics scandal during the Bush administration involving the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) In-Kind Royalty offices in Denver and Washington ("Inspector General Reports," 2008).

The MMS is responsible for collecting royalty revenues from the companies who extract oil and other natural minerals from federal land. Last year alone they collected over 11 billion dollars from the oil and gas industry; making it the second largest source of income for the federal government, with the IRS being the first

The report portrays a dysfunctional organization of in In-Kind Royalty Office that is anything but ethical. 19 members of the Royalty-in-Kind program (1/3 of the department), have been; receiving gifts, rigging oil/gas contracts, using illegal drugs and engaging in elicit sexual acts with subordinates and company representatives (Savage, 2008). Two of the employees "received combined gifts and gratuities on at least 135 occasions from four major oil and gas companies; Gary Williams, Shell, Hess, and Chevron, with whom they were doing business--a textbook example of improperly receiving gifts from prohibited sources," Inspector General Earl Devaney ("Inspector General Reports," 2008). The report said that the officials told investigators that the gift and socializing did not affect how they treated the companies in their official duties (Savage, 2008). I think this shows an appalling lack of accountability and arrogance from the Bush Administration. The head of MMS, Randall Luthi said that "the public had not suffered financial losses as a result of the employees' behavior" (Savage, 2008). However, Inspector General also found 118 cases of companies being allowed to pay less than what the contracts had been bid out for, costing the tax payers an estimated 4.4 billion dollars ("Inspector General Reports," 2008). Along with that extreme loss, it also cost the public 5.3 million dollars for the Inspector General to investigate these allegations for 2 years ("Inspector General Reports," 2008). I think that these numbers prove that the Bush Administration is too close to the oil industry.

The department of justice did not get to prosecute two of the highest ranking employees due to their resigning before the investigation was completed (Savage, 2008). First there was Lucy Q. Dennett; who is the former associate director of minerals revenue management and also the wife of Paul A. Dennett. Mr. Dennett was the procurement policy administrator for the white house office of management until also resigned. Then there is Gregory W. Smith, the former program director of the royalty-in-kind office; Mr. Smith worked in Denver and reported to Ms. Dennett in Washington. Mr. Smith was a key player throughout the report; he accepted gifts from oil/gas companies, had sexual relations with a subordanat, purchased illegal drugs from said employee with office check, and worked part time for a consulting company ("Inspector General Reports," 2008). During the investigation they found evidence that Ms. Dennett worked with an assistant named Jimmy Mayberry to steer a very high priced consulting contract his way after he retired, violating competitive procurement rules. Mr. Mayberry drafted a "statement of work" before he retired for a consulting contract to perform essentially identical functions to his own. He then retired, started a company of his own and won the contract with help from Ms. Dennett. Jimmy Mayberry pleaded guilty to a felony conflict-of-interest charge in August 2008 and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine ("Inspector General Reports," 2008).

If I were the Department of Justice, I would diligently try to find away to prosecute both Ms. Dennett, and Mr. Smith. If they walk away from this unharmed, it is setting the example that it's ok to do these things as long as you get out before you get caught. The government should be looking deep into this department to find all wrong doings and do what is possible to fix them. The Bush administration looks like a mother who cannot control her unruly children. And if your government officials are acting in