WP: Interior Department's No. 2 Resigns After Controversial Tenure

[kskiska]

J. Steven Griles, the controversial former timber and energy lobbyist who managed the country's vast mineral and land holdings as the Interior Department's No. 2 official, resigned yesterday and said he would return to the private sector.

Griles, a vocal advocate for drilling and logging on public lands as Interior's deputy secretary, won praise from industry but came under intense scrutiny for maintaining close ties to his former lobbying firm and its clients. An 18-month investigation by the department's inspector general found that he had dealings with energy and mining industry clients of National Environmental Strategies Inc. even as he continued to receive payments from his former firm. The report did not accuse Griles of violating any laws or federal ethics rules.

In an interview yesterday, Griles defended his record, saying those who "came after me with a political agenda opposed this president at the very beginning."

"In 22 years of service, I have assured that the environment is healthier, the air is clearer, the water is safer and the land is being reclaimed," said Griles, 56, adding that he planned to go someplace warm and work on his golf game before choosing his next job. "At the same time, there is a tremendous need for energy in this county."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45180-2004Dec7.html

[Rose Siding]

1. He'll soon be busy once the industry courts him hard

Serendipity finds him very fortunate...

snip>
Until now, senior officials at Cabinet departments and agencies had not been allowed to lobby former colleagues for a full year after leaving office -- a rule designed to prevent an obvious conflict of interest. But, in a notice in the Federal Register, the ethics office issued a new rule invoking its power to declare that "a former senior employee who served in a 'parent' department or agency is not barred . . . from making communications to or appearances before any employee of any designated component of that parent."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A36039-2004Dec4?language=printer