Short of a Crime, Anything Goes: Interior Department Corruption Scandal Widens

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Last fall, Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney testified before Congress that "simply stated, short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of the Interior." [1] New revelations about the relationship between two high-ranking administration officials add new meaning to Devaney's charge.

Sue Ellen Wooldridge, the Justice Department's top environmental attorney and a former political appointee at the Interior Department, recently resigned after disclosing her long-term relationship with J. Steven Griles—the Interior Department's former deputy secretary whose ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff are the subject of a criminal investigation. Wooldridge played a lead role in responding to earlier ethics investigations of Griles, at times even helping deflect allegations against him.

Griles was a top lobbyist for the mining, oil and gas industries before joining the Interior Department. While at Interior he was the subject of a high-profile ethics investigation into his continued contacts with his clients, despite having signed a recusal agreement when he took office. Environmental groups repeatedly pointed out that Griles was also receiving $284,000 per year from his former lobbying firm during each of the four years he was on the government payroll.

According to the Legal Times, while serving as deputy chief of staff to Secretary Gale Norton, Wooldridge was tasked with screening Griles' compliance with his recusal agreements. She subsequently oversaw the operation of the department's ethics office—which was monitoring Griles' conduct—while serving as solicitor, the department's top lawyer. At one point she even weighed in on his behalf, writing a letter that disputed a draft Inspector General report that concluded Griles may have committed an ethical violation. [2]

At no time during the Inspector General's 18-month investigation into Griles did Wooldridge disclose her relationship with him, which, according to the Legal Times, dated at least to February of 2004. Nor did she disclose the relationship during her Senate confirmation hearing for the Interior solicitor job, or mention it when questioned about potential conflicts of interest during her later Justice Department confirmation hearing.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that while at the Justice Department, Wooldridge purchased a $980,000 vacation home with Griles and a lobbyist for ConocoPhillips. Nine months after entering this business partnership, Wooldridge approved consent decrees allowing the oil company to delay environmental clean-up projects. [3]

The House Natural Resources Committee is holding an oversight hearing today to examine ethical failures, employee misconduct and general mismanagement at the Interior Department. Inspector General Devaney provided testimony on the ethics investigations his office has conducted over the past few years. [4]

References:

1. Edmund L. Andrews. Many Investigations, One Department. New York Times, January 21, 2007.

2. Jason McLure. Official's Romance Raises Conflict Questions. Legal Times, February 5, 2007.

3. Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi. Justice Official Bought Vacation Home with Oil Lobbyist. Washington Post, February 15, 2007.

4. DOI Inspector General Devaney: http://www.doioig.gov/upload/MMS%20ROI%20REDACTED.pdf

Related links:

http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/News/P....aspx?NewsID=20