Federal Daily - May 26, 2010
IG Finds Meth Use, Other Abuses at MMS Branch Office
If things weren’t bad enough for the Minerals Management Service, a new report released May 25 details ethical lapses in which MMS employees accepted gifts from companies they were supposed to oversee, took illegal drugs, and emailed pornography on government computers.
The Department of the Interior Inspector General report found an ongoing pattern of ethical lapses from 2000 to 2008 among a number of MMS employees at the Lake Charles District, La., district office. IG auditors found an agency culture in which oil and gas production companies feted employees with tickets to sporting events, sponsored teams, and inundated employees with free lunches and miscellaneous gifts—such as an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2005 Peach Bowl.
In response to the report, DOI Secretary Ken Salazar ordered the IG to investigate if any of the ethical lapses, or the failure to adequately enforce standards, contributed to the Deepwater Horizon offshore disaster last month. Salazar also asked that the IG to look into whether there are deficiencies in MMS policies or practices that need to be addressed to ensure that operations on the Outer Continental Shelf are safe.
“The Inspector General report describes reprehensible activities of employees of MMS between 2000 and 2008,” said Salazar. “This deeply disturbing report is further evidence of the cozy relationship between some elements of MMS and the oil and gas industry.”
Since the disaster, Salazar has ordered that MMS be split into three separate divisions to better separate its revenue collection and safety inspection duties. Many of the employees named in the report have since left the agency, while others have been suspended pending further personnel action, Salazar noted.
The IG report paints a wild, anything-goes portrait of the district office—one inspector admitted to using crystal methamphetamine, and a clerk said she began using methamphetamine and cocaine with one MMS inspector when she first took a job at the office.
In a review of e-mail accounts of MMS employees at the Lake Charles and New Orleans offices from 2005 to 2009, the IG discovered 314 instances in which seven employees received or forwarded pornographic images and links to Internet Web sites to other federal employees and individuals outside of the office using their government e-mail accounts.
“Of greatest concern is the environment in which these inspectors operate—particularly the ease with which they move between industry and government,” the cover letter to the report said. “While not included in our report, we discovered that the individuals involved in the fraternizing and gift exchange—both government and industry—have often known one another since childhood.”
To see more, go to: http://tinyurl.com/24czt8v (report) or http://tinyurl.com/2dgbxr3 (Salazar).
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Senate Passes Bill to Expand Telework
The Senate accomplished what the House could not, and on May 24 passed a bill, S. 707, which—if enacted—would greatly expand telecommuting opportunities in the federal workplace.
The Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, sponsored by Sens. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, passed the Senate on a voice vote. Earlier this month, the House failed to pass similar legislation under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority for approval. House sponsors predict another vote in coming weeks.
The Senate bill would require agencies to establish telework policies in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management, designate a telework managing officer, and
ensure that telework is incorporated as part of continuity of operations planning.
The bill also would allow agencies, with the approval of the General Services Administration, to create travel expense test programs to accommodate teleworking employees. The bill included an amendment from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to expand an existing telework pilot program within the Patent and Trademark Office that pays travel expenses of an employee for travel to and from a PTO worksite.
“The federal government must acknowledge that the next generation of employees will have different expectations of what it means to go to work,” said Voinovich. “Advancements in technology mean employees will expect to be able to work at any time from any place, as evidenced by the thousands of federal employees who worked from home during last winter's snowstorms.”
To see more, go to: http://tinyurl.com/2cp94pr/.
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Lawmakers Reach Agreement on ‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal
In what could speed up repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell,” policy, the Obama administration and lawmakers on May 24 announced agreement on legislation that would begin to eliminate the DoD ban on openly gay individuals serving n the military.
New legislative language, supported by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., works around White House objections that Congress was moving ahead of DoD efforts to dismantle the Clinton-era policy in a more structured way.
The language, which is expected to be attached to the Fiscal Year 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R.5136/S.3280), would authorize repeal of “don’t ask” once a Pentagon review is complete and Obama signs off on the military’s recommendations for how to undertake the change in policy. The DoD review panel is due to deliver its recommendations to Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the end of this year.
“Such an approach recognizes the critical need to allow our military and their families the full opportunity to inform and shape the implementation process through a thorough understanding of their concerns, insights and suggestions,” White House Budget Director Peter Orszag wrote in a May 24 letter to congressional sponsors.
Repeal advocates applauded the move and noted that a vote in the House could come as early as this week.
“The White House announcement is a dramatic breakthrough in dismantling ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,” said Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis. “Obama’s support and Secretary Gates’ buy-in should insure a winning vote, but we are not there yet. If enacted, this will create a new policy for lesbian and gay servicemembers to serve our country openly, hopefully within a matter of a few months.”
Opponents expressed disappointment.
“President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a back room deal that disregards the views of our troops and uses the military to advance the political agenda of a radical special interest group,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
To see more, go to: http://tinyurl.com/26s9enm (Lieberman), http://tinyurl.com/2dm2az5 (SLDN), or http://tinyurl.com/2ecjvfb (FRC).
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