Ron Wyden |
Dirk Kempthorne |
This would seem to fall into the "helluva story" category, although the Northwest news media silence about it has been almost absolute - the Eugene Register-Guard (in a useful and telling editorial), Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (and out of region, the Federal Times and Forbes) seem to have been almost alone in delivering even succinct reports about it. So consider: This is about Oregon's senior senator asking questions about what may be important ethical issues in a major federal agency with important importance to the Northwest as well as with national import - an agency led by a well-known northwesterner.
In the case of some senators this might be business as usual, but Senator Ron Wyden is usually low-key and diplomatic. So some attention should be paid when words like these show up in one of his press releases (from July 19):
“Mr. Limbaugh’s switch from water regulator to water lobbyist is ominous, in part, because of the Department’s recent history of scandals involving industry players moving through Department ranks while serving industry interests,†wrote Wyden, identifying Ms. MacDonald and recently convicted, former Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles as examples. “Frankly, it’s not always clear where these Department leaders put their loyalties.â€
Wyden wrote that, on July 20, directly to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.
Here's some background.