House Republicans Chastise Interior Department for Ethics Issues

by | Jun 27, 2016 | Politics

House Republicans Chastise Interior Department for Ethics Issues
Deputy Policy Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Steve Guertin (left) and Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall (right) testified before a house subcommittee last Thursday. (Hannah Rank/Medill)

WASHINGTON — House Republicans repeatedly attacked the Interior Department Thursday as having “a culture of corruption” because of numerous instances of ethics violations and sexual harassment allegations.

“There is an overwhelming amount of disturbing information the Inspector General has delivered in the last few weeks,” Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., said during the meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee’s oversight subcommittee.

This was the second subcommittee hearing to address an uptick in Interior Department misconduct reported by the agency’s Office of the Inspector General; House Republicans also and criticized the Justice Department for not prosecuting some of the offenders. Misconduct allegations have been reported in the National Parks Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service, to name a few. The committee has expressed concern that the Interior Department isn’t taking action quickly enough against employees involved in the misconduct.

Steve Guertin, deputy policy director for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said at the hearing that his agency recently terminated Stephen Barton, a top official in the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program. The IG’s office had found that Barton failed to disclose outside employment at an organization that receives funding from the agency. He also used more than $90,000 to fund trips to Washington, his reported place of residence, from his actual residence in Idaho.

“Clearly he found a creative way to enrich himself illegally, but I guess the part that’s really revealing is that he really did it out in the open,” LaHood said, referring to the Service’s reliance on a system of self reporting for outside employment and reimbursement requests.

The Office of the Inspector General will refer cases of misconduct it believes warrant criminal prosecution to the Justice Department. The committee took issue with the fact that the Justice Department decided not to prosecute 17 of 29 criminal cases presented by the IG’s office.

Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall noted there were fewer than 80 investigators in her department, which limits her ability to address “more systemic issues within the department and its bureaus.”

National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis testified at another congressional hearing last week to defend his response on the more than 20 claims of sexual harassment in both the Grand Canyon River District and Canaveral National Seashore. Jarvis had not fired employees with claims against them, though the National Parks Service has a zero tolerance policy regarding sexual harassment.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell recently sent out an agency-wide warning letter, initially obtained by The Washington Post, reminding employees to “comply with the ethical responsibilities expected of all Federal employees.” The letter noted that she was troubled especially by the claims of sexual harassment.

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