Government Officials Took Drugs, Money and Sex from Oil Industry

The offshore drilling debate is about to get a whole lot messier.  This week, shocking new allegations came to light regarding corruption in the form of sex and drugs between government officials and oil and gas company officials. An interior department inquiry discovered that government employees whose job was to process permits, hold oil and gas companies to account and collect royalties for the federal government have been partying it up with their oil industry buddies, taking gifts, snorting cocaine and engaging in trysts.

From The Washington Post:

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, took meals, ski trips, sports tickets and golf outings from industry representatives. The report alleges that the former director, Gregory W. Smith, also netted more than $30,000 from improper outside work.

In the report released yesterday, investigators said they “discovered a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” in which employees accepted gratuities “with prodigious frequency.” The report cited one e-mail from a Shell Pipeline representative asking a woman in the royalty office to attend “tailgating festivities” at a Houston Texans football game: “You’re invited . . . have you and the girls meet at my place at 6am for bubble baths and final prep. Just kidding.”

Apparently, many of the employees named in the investigation said they ‘didn’t think ethics rules applied to them’ because of their ‘unique role’ in the agency which supposedly requires them to socialize with industry representatives for ‘market intelligence’.  Wow.  Creative excuse.  Sounds just like what millions of people across the world try to pull when they get caught doing something wrong, like Tatum O’ Neil’s “I was researching a role” ploy.

It’s just another example of how tight the oil industry’s grip on America really is.  They’ll do anything to stay on top, and taking advantage of government officials’ greed has proven to be a lucrative tactic.  Not only do they have the entire Bush administration in their pocket, they’ve got thousands of lower-level government officials doing their bidding as well.  Hopefully, we’ll see the Democrats take hold of this issue and use it to fight offshore drilling.

Link [The Washington Post]
Photo credit: The Propaganda Remix Project

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