According to Mr. Devaney’s reports to Congress, officials within the government agency flaunted regulations regarding how they should determine where and when land should be opened for mineral resource exploration.  Several of them were able to land private-sector contracting jobs and utilized their inside information and personal connections to improperly steer contracts to the oil and gas companies that were paying them on the side.

Yes, this is bribery in and of itself; but it’s not the salacious part of the story.

The reports also found that officials within the department accepted gifts above and beyond what they were allowed to accept by the regulations; but Congresspersons do this all the time, and while I firmly believe that such bribery must be stamped out, it is nothing new in and of itself.

But the revelation that the officials at a government regulatory agency went to dinner with, got drunk with, used marijuana and cocaine with, and had sex with various emplyees of the oil and gas companies; this is beyond the pale.

You don’t sleep with the people you’re supposed to regulate.  You just don’t do it.  This is the worst kind of corruption and it is no mere coincidence that it has taken place under the Bush administration, which has arguably been in bed with the oil industry all along.  This is a symptom of an attitude that is pervasive throughout government, that while the government pretends (to the people) that it regulates industry, in fact it is partying with and sleeping with that same industry.

I wouldn’t object to the simple fact that employees, in their time off, used alcohol or drugs or even had extramarital sex; these are personal choices although they may have been very poor ones.  But to accept free drugs and sexual favors from the oil industry is to accept a bond that is much stronger than mere financial bribery.  The fact that it happened, the fact that so many people were involved, the fact that so much money changed hands and the fact that all this took so many years to come to light:  this demonstrates the culture of corruption which is pervading our government.

All of which is proved by the fact that several of the worst offenders in this case have already demonstrably gotten away with their crimes and misdemeanors without so much as a reprimand.