Inside Interior

Dina Cappiello of the AP has a four-bagger today on trouble in the Department of the Interior:

WASHINGTON – Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties partied, had sex with and accepted golf and ski outings from employees of energy companies they were dealing with, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The alleged transgressions involve 13 former and current Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. Their alleged improprieties include rigging contracts, working part-time as private oil consultants, and having sexual relationships with — and accepting golf and ski trips and dinners from — oil company employees, according to three reports released Wednesday by the Interior Department’s inspector general.

The investigations reveal a “culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” by a small group of individuals “wholly lacking in acceptance of or adherence to government ethical standards,” wrote Inspector General Earl E. Devaney, whose office spent more than two years and $5.3 million on the investigation.

Those hapless employees should have known their bosses were up to something the minute they walked into the bathroom (okay, actually that’s in the Beijing airport). I wonder if the corrupt officials blew any government money on semi-literate self-congratulatory swag (okay, that’s actually in South Korea).