Employees Fired Over Sex-For-Oil Scandal

(AP)  The Interior Department has taken disciplinary action against more than a half dozen workers who accepted lavish gifts, partied and in some cases had sex with employees from the energy companies they regulated.

The actions announced Friday range from a warning letter to termination. The Interior Department would not confirm how many employees were fired, citing privacy.

The eight employees at one time worked in a Denver Minerals Management Service office in charge of collecting billions of dollars in federal oil royalties.

An Interior Department Inspector General investigation issued in September referred to a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" in the office from 2002 through 2006. During that time, the report found that some employees were getting drunk and having sex with oil company personnel. The report also highlights instances where co-workers in the office used cocaine and marijuana.

Much more widespread were the golf and ski trips, snowboarding lessons and concert tickets workers in the office accepted from oil companies. Nearly a third of the 55-person staff in the Denver office had accepted gifts, but only nine workers had exceeded the $20-per-gift limit or $50-a-year threshold on outside gifts.

MMS Director Randall Luthi said in a statement Friday that "the behavior of some MMS employees prior to 2007 was clearly inappropriate and warranted strong administrative action."

Eight of those workers were still employed with the agency when the scandal broke, but not in the same office.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne had vowed to take swift action to squelch what he called an "ethics storm." But disciplinary procedures for civil servants prevented him from taking action for at least a month.

[biblethumpar]

Good ole Family Values on display..

[downsteamjim]

What is the big deal! Last summer I got sc rewed each time I filled up.

[smurfcrusher]

Clearly pumping the slippery stuff.

[burneb]

What hasn''t been released in the audits and IG report is what the oil companies got in return for their gifts and illicit influence, possibly millions/billions dollars of underassement or underpayment to the Fed Treasury.

If so, termination and criminal prosecution are the only appropriate actions. Reprimands or demotions are for lesser offenses that didn''t cheat the taxpayers out of cash.

When the Interior Dept. cites privacy as a reason not to say how many (let alone names) were terminated, what they really mean is bureaucratic secrecy to cover up their embarassment. I.E. they did not really fire as many as deserved it.

[babooph]

I guess when you appoint all "fundamentalists" this is what you get.

[forasongca]

S e x for oil? Now *that''s* crude...

[ioweign]

Now that gas is down to $2.00 a gallon, who gets the credit? Bush got the blame for $5.00 gas, why not the credit. By the way, Clinton did not get impeached for a BJ, it was because he LIED about it to a Federal Grand Jury. Hold on to you wallets Obama worshippers.

Posted by CoolCont at 04:17 PM : Nov 21, 2008

Bush didn''t even know gasoline was skyrocketing up to $5.00...

Hold on to my wallet...what wallet...with Republicans in control the last 8 years...

[labrat9999]

gce65 ... your sooo funny! How can President elect Obama mess the US and world economy up anymore than Bush and the GOP nut bags? In case you haven''t been following the news...we''ll give GW the credit for gas going down nut bag...hello...it''s because no one is buying gas because they can''t afford it....which means no demand which mean over stock, which means prices drop. It''s also called deflation!! Because GW and GOP have ruined the economies of the US and the world!!

[gce65]

Can you imagine the lowlife oil company employees who had *** with Interior Dept people over oil?

Interior Dept person: "And now I want a sloppy BJ."

Oil w-h-o-r-e: "What''s in it for me?"

IDp: "That can of Valvoline on the nightstand."

And Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) vowed to take swift action? It happened more than 2 years ago!

[FredWhitman]

Now that gas is down to $2.00 a gallon, who gets the credit? Bush got the blame for $5.00 gas, why not the credit. By the way, Clinton did not get impeached for a BJ, it was because he LIED about it to a Federal Grand Jury. Hold on to you wallets Obama worshippers.