Feds probe Interior staff, oil co. impropriety: report

[swag]

Source: MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Department of the Interior is investigating personnel handling billions of dollars in oil royalties alleging they received improper gifts and had sex with energy company employees, The Associated Press reported Wednesday, citing the department's Office of the Inspector General. The allegations involve 13 Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington, according to the AP


more at NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html?hp

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/feds-probe-interior-staff-oil/story.aspx?guid=%7BE9726CAD-A7C9-4267-BBF1-51DD9A6AC654%7D&dist=hplatest

[maddezmom]

1. more info here: Gov't officials probed about illicit sex, gifts

Gov't officials probed about illicit sex, gifts
By DINA CAPPIELLO – 40 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The alleged transgressions involve 13 Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. Their alleged improprieties include rigging contracts, working part-time as private oil consultants, and having sexual relationships with — and accepting golf and ski trips and dinners from — oil company employees, according to three reports released Wednesday by the Interior Department's inspector general.

The investigations reveal a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" by a small group of individuals "wholly lacking in acceptance of or adherence to government ethical standards," wrote Inspector General Earl E. Devaney.

The reports describe a fraternity house atmosphere inside the Denver Minerals Management Service office responsible for marketing the oil and gas that energy companies barter to the government instead of making cash royalty payments for drilling on federal lands. The government received $4.3 billion in such Royalty-in-Kind payments last year. The oil is then resold to energy companies or put in the nation's emergency stockpile.

more:http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKt4CePAt-tJqdPld1mZxbC4nsXwD93418R01

[dipsydoodle]

21. Illicit sex

Don't suppose the oil companies employ sheep and goats too. :shrug:

[Changenow]

2. Gov't officials probed about illicit sex, gifts

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The alleged transgressions involve 13 Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. Their alleged improprieties include rigging contracts, working part-time as private oil consultants, and having sexual relationships with — and accepting golf and ski trips and dinners from — oil company employees, according to three reports released Wednesday by the Interior Department's inspector general.


Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKt4CePAt-tJqdPld1mZxbC4nsXwD93418R01

---

Drill baby drill.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Rick Sanchez of CNN just reported this as "Breaking News"

Afterwards, they should have cut to the tape of the republican convention attendees chanting "DRILL, DRILL, DRILL, DRILL....." :)

[CJCRANE]

4. Puts being f***ed by Big Oil

in a new light.

[nini]

11. LOL

:D

[Mari3333]

17. the thought of having relations with any of these guys UGH

oil co execs

[Blue_Tires]

5. i wonder how long that has been going on?

no one even remembers those "put the grownups back in charge", and "run the government like a business" lines from 2000 anymore, do they? this whole term has been nothing but theft and playtime

[NashVegas]

7. "Drill, Baby Drill!"

And you thought it was only a metaphor ...

[glinda]

12. Hahahahaha

So now I see the connection between the videos of the dancing Star Wars person and the "big Secret". LOL. Think Palin is on the Payola? And McCain? Viagra! I knew it!

[Blaq Dem]

25. SEX FOR OIL!

That's all we need to know.

[cobalt1999]

6. Another Teapot Dome scandal?

Sounds interesting.

[crazylikafox]

8. This will probably help McCain the Mavrik.

People already think he's Teddy Roosevelt riding into Washington to clean up the corruption.
We need something linked directly to him.

[Bette Noir]

9. Darn.

I was hoping for an Alaska connection.

Good scandal, though.

[ramapo]

10. McCain will clean it up

This one is ripe for one liners

[chill_wind]

13. Obama gets to run with a whole lot the next few days. Couple that with this:

Prices tied to speculation headline

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3481491

[no limit]

14. I guess since this has sex the media will actually pay attention.

[kirby]

15. More private sector deregulations gone awry...

From the article:

"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."


I'm just curius--was the 'private-sector energy company' it was modeled on Enron?

[madrchsod]

16. politics is pornography

[glinda]

18. US. Dept. Of Interior

http://www.doi.gov/secretary/officials_orgchart.html

[Ian David]

19. How could graduates of Regent University behave so badlly? n/t

[cstanleytech]

20. First the DOJ and now we have this, is anyone here really surprised about this?

[Dover]

22. Wow...if they open this can of worms there may be no end to prosecutions

in every state/fed agency doing royalty business with fed lands.
Since the price of oil went sky high, so does the corruption.

[SpiralHawk]

24. How very republicon

eom

[NashVegas]

23. Hey Man - They're Hiring

http://www.usajobs.org/jobs/69166418/Business%20Systems%20Specialist%20GS-1101-13.htm

[DogPoundPup]

26. Illicit Sex By Government Officials Probed

Source: NPR

September 10, 2008 · Federal investigators say U.S. officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies. Thirteen Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington may have been involved.
Audio for this story will be available at approx. 7:00 p.m. ET

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94482311&ft=1&f=1070

[Mari3333]

27. heh i thought the headline read

"Government Officials Probed in Illicit Sex"
I need to take a nap.

[jazzjunkysue]

28. Another source here with names and links:

http://www.mahalo.com/Sex_for_Oil_Scandal

Report released on September 10, 2008
Former head of Denver Royalty-in-Kind Office: Gregory W. Smith1

Head of Minerals Management Service: Randall Luthi1

Head of U.S. Interior Department: Dirk Kempthorne1

Smith allegedly used drugs and had sex with subordinates1

Employees allegedly rigged oil contracts and in return received golf and ski trips, dinners1

Employees also received tickets to Toby Keith concert, Colorado Rockies and Houston Texan games1
13 U.S. Interior Department officials named in report1

Employee Jimmy W. Mayberry pled guilty to felony conflict-of-interest charge in August 20081

Report suggests that employee Milton Dial be prosecuted1

Employee Lucy Q. Denett, wife of Paul Denett not recommended for prosecution1
Allegations
Federal investigators allege that government officials with the Minerals Management Service rigged contracts in return for dinners, golf and ski trips, and illicit sex with oil company executives. Investigators alleged that the former head of the Denver Royalty-in-Kind Office, Gregory W. Smith, used illegal drugs and had sex with subordinates.1

[Joanne98]

30. Randall Luthi...REPUBLICAN!!!!!!!

WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced the appointment of Randall Luthi as director of the Minerals Management Service (MMS). Kempthorne made the appointment based on a recommendation by Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management C. Stephen Allred.

Luthi, currently deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is a former speaker and majority leader of the Wyoming House of Representatives. He previously served in the Department of the Interior and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He is a rancher who has also worked as an attorney in private practice.

"Randall Luthi’s past experience, including as a leader in the Wyoming legislature, counselor at NOAA and attorney at Interior, make him well suited to head the MMS," Kempthorne said. “This experience, combined with his leadership skills, will enable the MMS to continue to substantially contribute to our goal of reducing America’s dependence on foreign sources of energy through safe and environmentally responsible offshore production while also ensuring that the American public receives a fair share of the value of resources extracted from our public lands and waters.”

http://www.doi.gov/news/07_News_Releases/070723b.html

In 1993, he returned to his native Wyoming and the following year, was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives as a Republican and became Speaker for the 58th Legislature in January 2005. In 2006, following the longstanding tradition in Wyoming that Speakers only serve one term and then leave the House, Luthi did not seek re-election. Luthi has been a partner in the law firm of Luthi & Voyles, LLC in Thayne, Wyoming since January 2000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Luthi

[Joanne98]

31. Dirk Kempthorne REPUBLICAN!!!!!!!

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne: ‘Unfortunately I Have To Follow The Law’»
Yesterday, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne was challenged by Glenn Beck on CNN about why he listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Kempthorne responded:

Well, I’ll tell ya, unfortunately I have to follow the law.

Kempthorne caught himself and added, “Or fortunately.” After highlighting his record trying to cripple the Endangered Species Act as a Republican senator from Idaho, Kempthorne said with a smirk, “I cannot ignore the law. I have a Constitutional requirement to, uh, uphold the law.” Watch it:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/17/kempthorne-beck/

[Bette Noir]

29. Is "probed" really the word they want to use?

[YDogg]

32. heh, heh. heh, heh. probed.

i got nuthin'.

[Blaze Diem]

33. Also on Yahoo Front Page

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080910/ap_on_go_ot/interior_oil_trysts
------------------

Every Dept under Bush is corrupt.

--------------------------------------

...The reports describe a fraternity house atmosphere inside the Denver Minerals Management Service office responsible for marketing oil and natural gas that energy companies barter to the government in lieu of cash royalty payments for drilling on federal lands. The government received $4.3 billion in such royalty-in-kind payments last year. The oil and gas is then resold to energy companies or put in the nation's emergency stockpile.

"During the course of our investigation, we learned that some RIK employees frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives," the report said. Two government employees who had to spend the night after a daytime industry function because they were too intoxicated to drive home were commonly referred to by energy traders as the "MMS Chicks."

Between 2002 and 2006, nearly a third of the 55-person staff in the Denver office received gifts and gratuities from oil and gas companies, including Chevron Corp., Shell, Hess Corp. and Denver-based Gary-Williams Energy Corp., the investigators found. Two oil marketers received gifts and gratuities on at least 135 occasions. One admitted having a one-night-stand with a Shell employee. That same individual allegedly passed out business cards for her sex toy business at work, bragging that her income from that business exceeded her salary at the Interior Department.

Devaney said the investigations took so long because Chevron refused to cooperate. An Interior Department official said Chevron would not allow investigators to interview its employees.

Don Campbell, a Chevron spokesman, said Wednesday that the company "produced all of the documents that the government requested months ago." A Shell spokeswoman said it would be premature for the company to comment on the report until it had time to review it.

The reports also said former head of the Denver royalty-in-kind office, Gregory W. Smith, used cocaine and had sex with subordinates. The report said Smith also steered government contracts to a consulting business that paid him $30,000 for his work from April 2002 through June 2003. Smith retired from the office in May 2007.

...........etc.

[Wednesdays]

34. Well, we always knew the * government was in bed with the oil industry

This just makes it official. :toast:

[bemildred]

35. It's not "illicit sex", it's bribery and corruption.

Sex is just one of the bribes.

[kurth_]

36. Some of these Bush cronies should be sent to China for expedited judicial processing

Economic treason is what they call it over there...

[Joanne98]

37. Gives a whole new meaning to "drill baby drill"

At least 13 former and current Interior Department employees in the Denver office of the Mineral Management Service -- responsible for handling billions of dollars in oil royalties -- improperly engaged in sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is seizing on the report as yet another example of why the Gulf bottom off Florida shouldn't be opened up for oil drilling. And indeed, the report does give a whole new meaning to the new Republican mantra of "Drill, baby, drill."
Read an Associated Press story on the report below:



Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties improperly engaged in sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday.
The alleged transgressions involve 13 former and current Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. Their alleged improprieties include rigging contracts, working part-time as private oil consultants, and having sexual relationships with — and accepting golf and ski trips and dinners from — oil company employees, according to three reports released Wednesday by the Interior Department's inspector general.
The investigations reveal a “culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” by a small group of individuals “wholly lacking in acceptance of or adherence to government ethical standards,” wrote Inspector General Earl E. Devaney. Devaney's office spent more than two years and $5.3 million on the investigations.
The reports describe a fraternity house atmosphere inside the Denver Minerals Management Service office responsible for marketing the oil and gas that energy companies barter to the government instead of making cash royalty payments for drilling on federal lands. The government received $4.3 billion in such royalty-in-kind payments last year. The oil is then resold to energy companies or put in the nation's emergency stockpile.
Between 2002 and 2006, nearly a third of the 55-person staff in the Denver office received gifts and gratuities from oil and gas companies, including Chevron, Shell, Hess Corp. and Denver-based Gary-Williams Energy Corp. the investigators found. Two oil marketers who received gifts and gratuities on at least 135 occasions displayed no remorse when confronted with their activities, Devaney said. He singled out Chevron as refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
Don Campbell, a Chevron spokesman, said Wednesday that the company “produced all of the documents that the government requested months ago.”
The reports also said former head of the Denver Royalty-in-Kind office, Gregory W. Smith, used cocaine and had sex with subordinates. The report said Smith also steered government contracts to a consulting business that was employing him part-time.
Smith, contacted by e-mail by The Associated Press, said he had not seen the report and could not respond. He and nine other employees in the Denver office are mentioned in the reports.
MMS Director Randall Luthi, in an interview with the AP, said the agency was taking the report “extremely seriously” and would review the allegations and weigh taking appropriate action in coming months. The Inspector General is recommending that current employees implicated be fired and be barred for life from working within the royalty program.
House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said “this whole IG report reads like a script from a television miniseries and one that cannot air during family viewing time. It is no wonder that the office was doing such a lousy job of overseeing the RIK program; clearly the employees had 'other' priorities in that office.”
One of the employees named in the investigation, Jimmy Mayberry, has already pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington to violations of conflict-of-interest laws. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Smith and former Associate Director of the Minerals Revenue Management program Lucy Querques Denett, who the report says manipulated contracts to ensure they were awarded to former Interior employees.
The findings are the latest sign of trouble at the Minerals Management Service, which has already been accused of mismanaging the collection of fees from oil companies and writing faulty contracts for drilling on government land and offshore. The charges also come as lawmakers and both presidential candidates weigh giving oil companies more access to federal lands, which would bring in more money to the federal government.
“This all shows the oil industry holds shocking sway over the administration and even key federal employees,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. “This is why we must not allow Big Oil's agenda to be jammed through Congress.”
While most government royalties for drilling on federal lands are paid in cash, the government in recent years has been receiving a greater share of its oil and gas royalties in the actual product. More of that oil is also being sold on the open market, versus being deposited in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation's emergency oil stockpile. Congress earlier this year passed a law halting deposits of oil to the reserve to alleviate high gasoline prices.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who was asked about the reports earlier in the day before they were given to him and congressional offices, said the investigation was prompted by a 2006 phone call from anemployee who said there were ethical lapses in the Denver office.
“I look forward to having the opportunity to review the inspector general's findings so we can take the appropriate actions,” Kempthorne said.


http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/09/sex-drugs-impro.html

[bitchkitty]

46. I just love these illicit sex probes. Probe on! n/t

[JBoy]

38. Illegal drug use and sex out of wedlock? Do these people think they are Palin offspring?

[Festivito]

39. Were any of these guys at Cheney's secret meeting?

I'd just wonder.

[hyphenate]

40. Interior Dept. Officials Embroiled in Energy Ethics Scandal

Source: Washington Post

By Derek Kravitz and Mary Pat Flaherty
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 10, 2008; 5:33 PM

Government officials in charge of collecting billions of dollars worth of royalties from oil and gas companies accepted lavish gifts, steered contracts to favored firms and engaged in illicit sex with employees of the energy companies, federal investigators reported today.

Investigators from the Interior Department's inspector general's office said more than a dozen employees, including the former director of the oil royalty program, accepted gifts including ski trips, sports tickets and golf outings. The report alleges that the former director, Gregory W. Smith, also arranged side deals that personally netted him more than $30,000.

The report contains fresh allegations about the culture and practices at the beleaguered royalty-in-kind program of Interior's Minerals Management Service, which last year collected more than $4 billion worth of oil and natural gas from companies given contracts to tap energy on federal and Indian lands and offshore. The revelations come as Congress is set to consider opening up federal lands in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge and offshore of Florida for drilling.

<snip>

In the report released today, investigators said they "discovered a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity." Nineteen oil marketers and other employees in the office are accused of having personal, and sometimes sexual, relationships with representatives from a group of favorite oil and gas companies from 2002 through 2006. Many of those identified told investigators that they didn't think ethics rules applied to them because of their "unique" role in the agency and that they needed to socialize with industry representatives for "market intelligence." Those identified have been recommended for internal administrative action.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/09/10/ST2008091002738.html

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/09/10/ST2008091002738.html

---

No comments necessary, eh?

[Catch22Dem]

41. What's illicit sex?

How is that different from plain ol' screwing?

[MichiganVote]

42. I think it means they have elitist sex instead of the barn yard variety.

[Pastiche423]

43. Illicit sex = screwing for treasure/bounty/bribes

IIRC, plain 'ol screwing is the fun, no strings attached kind. Or IOW, screwing for the big O, vs screwing for Big Oil.

[demokatgurrl]

44. Wide-Ranging Ethics Scandal Emerges at Interior Dept.

Source: NY TIMES

Wide-Ranging Ethics Scandal Emerges at Interior Dept.


By CHARLIE SAVAGEWASHINGTON — 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.

“A culture of ethical failure” besets the agency, Mr. Devaney wrote in a cover memo.

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 highest-ranking official criticized in the reports was Lucy Q. Denett, the former associate director of minerals revenue management, who retired earlier this year as the inquiry was progressing.

The investigations are the latest installment in a series of scathing probes of the troubled program’s management and competence in recent years. While previous reports have focused on problems the agency has had in collecting millions of dollars owed to the Treasury, 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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty....


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty

[fencesitter]

45. This is nucking futs!

The report alleges that eight officials in the royalty program 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. In sometimes lurid detail, the report also accuses him of having intimate relations with two subordinates, one of whom regularly sold him cocaine........

This administration is going down in flames and taking the country with it. But I'm gonna vote that party back in anyway 'cause they reflect my small town values! freakin' unbelievable.

[Tony_FLADEM]

47. US oil officials in sex scandal

Source: BBC News

US government officials responsible for collecting revenue from oil companies have been accused of being involved in a culture of "ethical failure".

An investigation by the Department of the Interior said some of its employees had accepted gifts from and had sex with workers whom they were overseeing.

Others are accused of rigging contracts and working as private consultants.

The department is responsible for collecting billions of dollars a year from firms drilling on US federal land.

Some of the most senior officials who have been accused of misconduct have already retired or resigned.

The oil companies named in the report were Chevron Corp, Shell Oil, Hess Corp and Gary Williams Energy Corp.


Read more: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7609597.stm

[aquart]

48. Resigned? Retired? Talk to me JAIL TIME.

This is criminal malfeasance. And I'm positive that cocaine is an illegal drug.

[DaLittle Kitty]

50. Let's Get After the Mf'N Media crooks!

[glinda]

49. Media Let This One Go Too

Big story now reduced to rubble. Retired? Hahahahahahahahaaha. So when does that make you not guilty of anything????? Oh! I forgot! That is the Republicans rule. So if I commit a crime on a job and then retired, I am safe right?

[AzNick]

51. PigLipstickGate more important, ok? n/t

[Shallah Kali]

52. How much time can someone get for pimping? I want those oil execs to do time!

I wonder if any of the Interior Department exployees getting sex for deals were married. Could the spouse sue the oil companies for alienation of affection if the state this took place in has that law on the books?

[goodhue]

53. any links to actual reports?

[goodhue]

54. found some

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2008/0910/20080910_042929_report.pdf

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2008/0910/20080910_043213_report2.pdf

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2008/0910/20080910_042047_InvestigativeReportofGregoryWSmith.pdf

[WriteDown]

55. Anybody find any background info on this guy?

Gregory W. Smith. I can't find anything.

[Liberalynn]

56. Still think its disgusting that all the nets

led with the "lipstick" non issue, and buried this story way into the coverage.

And then they claim they are not "puke shills"

If they walk like puke shills, and quack like puke shills, and stink like puke shills, they are puke shills.