Cutting to the Point
February 15th, 2007John McCain is a phony. But we at the Office of the Independent Blogger already knew that.
This is disgusting.
A senior Justice Department official who recently resigned her post bought a nearly $1 million vacation home with a lobbyist for ConocoPhillips months before approving consent decrees that would give the oil company more time to pay millions of dollars in fines and meet pollution-cleanup rules at some of its refineries.
Sue Ellen Wooldridge, former assistant attorney general in charge of environment and natural resources, bought a $980,000 home on Kiawah Island, S.C., last March with ConocoPhillips lobbyist Don R. Duncan. A third owner of the house is J. Steven Griles, a former deputy interior secretary, who has been informed he is a target in the federal investigation of Jack Abramoff’s lobbying activities.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said yesterday that Wooldridge sought and received approval from a career ethics official in her office before buying the vacation property. Wooldridge’s lawyer and officials at ConocoPhillips said that Duncan had no role in negotiating the consent decrees and never lobbied Wooldridge.
Wooldridge, who earlier served in senior positions at the Interior Department, lives with Griles in Virginia. Her investment with Griles and the oil lobbyist took place on March 13, 2006, property records show, during a wide-ranging Justice Department criminal investigation that involves Griles and lobbyists at Interior. The joint purchase and Wooldridge’s role in the consent decrees were reported yesterday by the Associated Press.
Stephen Grafman, an attorney for Wooldridge, said his client owns a 25 percent share of the vacation property. “She used her own money,” Grafman said. He said that Wooldridge was called in November before a grand jury investigating Abramoff and Griles but that she is not under investigation.
Then she should be. At the least, she should be barred from working in government ever again.
Oh, and fellow Democrats? Please stop allowing Jack Murta to speak on our behalf; it’s embarrassing. He’s a crooked politician and he’s as out-of-touch as George W. but from the other side.