OMFG!

This is pretty much why I hate big oil, lobbyists, and why I think anyone in our government can be bought or sold.

Here are some of the highlights:

Wide-Ranging Ethics Scandal Emerges at Interior Dept.

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.

...

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.”

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In late 2002, while he was about to retire from the government, Mr. Mayberry drafted a “statement of work” for a consulting contract to perform essentially identical functions to his own job. He then retired, started a company, and in June 2003 won the contract with the help of his former supervisor and another friend at the agency.

...

One of those who will not be prosecuted is Ms. Denett, the former associate director of minerals revenue management. The report alleges that she manipulated the contracting process to steer the deal to Mr. Mayberry, her friend and former special assistant.

Six other companies submitted bids for the contract, spending more than $90,000 on their proposals. A Department of the Interior ethics official who later reviewed the sequence of events described the arrangement as one in which “the fix is in throughout — this is tainted from the beginning, that is totally improper,” the report said.

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The report said that from April 2002 to June 2003, Mr. Smith improperly used his position with the royalty program to help a technical services firm seek deals with the same oil and gas companies. The services firm paid Mr. Smith more than $30,000 for asking the oil companies to hire it, the report said.

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The report found that 19 officials — about one-third of the program’s staff — accepted gratuities from oil companies, which was prohibited because they conducted official business with the industry. Eight of the 19 accepted gifts that exceeded maximum limits for gifts for government employees — no more than $20 for any one item and no more than $50 from any source per year.

On one occasion in 2002, the report said, two of the officials who marketed taxpayers’ oil got so drunk at a daytime golfing event sponsored by Shell that they could not drive to their hotels and were put up in Shell-provided lodging.

The same two women also “engaged in brief sexual relationships with industry contacts,” the reports’ cover memo said, adding that “sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arms-length.”

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On one occasion, the report said, the royalty-in-kind program allowed a Chevron representative who won a bid to purchase some of the government’s oil to pay taxpayers a lower amount than his winning offer because he said he had made a mistake in his calculations. A report from Mr. Devaney’s office earlier this year found that the program had frequently allowed companies that purchase the oil and gas to revise their bids downward after they won contracts. It documented 118 such occasions that cost taxpayers about $4.4 million in all.

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While most of the oil companies allowed investigators to interview their employees, the cover letter noted, one major firm, Chevron, would not cooperate. A spokesman for Chevron said he would check into the case but did not immediately provide an explanation.

Pardon me for saying, but I hope everyone invovled in this gets dick cancer and dies. ...and if they don't have a dick, something else on their body that is very meaningful. Putting the interests of corporations and yourselves ahead of the American public while using the American public's money and resources to do so pisses me off.

* UPDATE *

This article contains links to the actual documents from the Inspector General.