CNN is reporting breaking news that at least 10 Interior Department Employees have broken ethics violations.
Apparently they've had "illicit sex" relations with the oil company execs, and have gone out on golfing trips, and more.
Sorry for the rather short diary, but this is pretty huge news, considering that the Interior Department are the ones that deal with drilling. There are "questionable activities" and a report will be released shortly.
Update I: According to Glenn Thrush of Politico, this is a scandal that involves the Bush Administration...
Update II: Included portions of a NYT article (which I trimmed down, sorry) about the incident. As a side note, I really like CNN's tagline for this story: "Lewd and Crude."
More info to follow...
We have a NYT story about this:
WASHINGTON — As Congress prepares to debate expanding 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...
"A culture of ethical failure" pervades 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 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 collecting millions of dollars due to taxpayers, the new set raises questions about the integrity and behavior of officials in the program.