Issue #217 Since the corruption at Interior has been limited almost exclusively to the very highest levels, you'd think Kempthorne's plan would be to rein in the political appointees that have been at the center of the ongoing circus, right? WRONG. Instead of aggressive measures to curb abuses at the top, the plan was directed at rank-and-filed employees and included winning steps such as placing a new "integrity motto" on every employee's badge. It appears the wheels may have fallen off of Kempthorne's plan before he could even drive it off the lot. Mark Limbaugh, Asst. Secretary for Water and Science, who was to chair the new ethics body, abruptly resigned a mere two days after its creation was announced. And what, pray tell, is he going to be doing? He will "pursue opportunities in the private sector here in Washington D.C." (Read: make fistfuls of cash lobbying his former coworkers.) Limbaugh, however, may find that passing out hundreds of thousands in special interest money is ever so slightly more difficult these days following the demise of the Sierra Club-bashing Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy. The front group appears to have folded after its co-founder (and former Griles gal pal), Italia Federici, pleaded guilty to numerous federal crimes related to her dealings with its primary financial supporter, Jack Abramoff. What comes around goes around, eh? |
RAW is the Sierra Club's weekly e-mail update in which our team of Sierra Club correspondents bring you humorous insights about environmental stories you won't want to believe. |