S.O.B.
Posted on | February 24, 2007
Sadder than corruption itself may be the revelation of how utterly banal the perpetrators can be. Here’s the story of Steven Griles, a former energy lobbyist appointed Deputy Secretary of the Interior (cue alarm bells), and Sue Ellen Woolridge, deputy chief of staff to Interior Secretary Gale Norton:
Griles came to the Interior Department in 2001, leaving a practice lobbying for coal, oil, and other corporate interests to help oversee the country’s resources. Unsurprisingly, ethics officials were on his case almost immediately for allegedly lobbying on the inside for his former clients. On one occasion, for example, he called over to the Environmental Protection Agency to urge that an environmental study not delay a huge coal-bed methane project planned by his former clients in Wyoming and Nevada.
So to ensure that Griles not roam too freely, an Interior official was assigned to keep an eye on him. That official: Sue Ellen Wooldridge, then the deputy chief of staff to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.
After a couple of months, the two were dating.
But they didn’t tell that to anyone at the Interior Department, especially not the Inspector General, who was investigating Griles for ethics violations.
Blah, blah, blah, etc. Long story short: thousands in exchanged gifts go unreported, he helps her get promoted to top ethics watchdog, she covers up the conflict of interest, he goes back to energy lobbying, she gets promoted to environmental prosecutor, they both get in bed (figuratively) with another lobbyist, she cuts a deal for the other lobbyist’s company, then resigns as investigators close in.
You know the deal. Bush appointees: corrupt almost by definition.
