Sex and Drugs Aside, Interior Dept. Scandal Is Story of Corruption

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Propublica

Before he became the man at the center of the Sex, Drugs, and Oil scandal, Gregory W. Smith ran a section of the Interior Department that manages $3.75 billion worth of government oil revenue.

Smith was one of the government's more obscure bureaucrats, in charge of selling the vast quantities of oil and gas that companies gave the government, instead of cash, as payment for their use of federal mineral leases. Those sales, which resulted in cash for the Federal treasury, were conducted under what is called the Royalty in Kind program.

According to the sensational inspector general's report (PDF) issued last week, Smith was "its senior-most representative to the oil and gas industry."

The report had some eye-catching allegations about Smith, including that he used his subordinates as suppliers of illicit drugs, including cocaine. One female staffer told investigators that Smith visited her at home in search of drugs and snorted crystal meth off her toaster oven.

Media coverage of the report highlighted the sex and drugs passages of the report, which took up only two of its 22 pages. In doing so, reporters gave scant attention to some equally juicy details about that other wellspring of Washington scandal: Money.



Read more: http://www.propublica.org/article/sex-and-drugs-aside-interior-dept-scandal-is-story-of-corruption-915/