Nearly 60 percent of staffers for the Department of Interior Inspector General's Office agree the office performs its work free of interference from the department.
Washington -- A new survey of employees at the inspector general's office for the Department of Interior raises questions about its independence, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and two of his GOP colleagues said Thursday. The survey showed 15 percent disagreed that the office conducts its work free of interference from department officials and another 26 percent neither agreed nor disagreed. Nearly 60 percent of surveyed workers viewed the office's work as independent.
Sen. David Vitter is shown walking to a caucus luncheon on Capitol Hill last year.
The survey was based on multiple choice questions filled out by more than 80 percent of the office's employees.
Vitter said the survey revealed serious doubts about the IG's inspector general independence by a sizable part of its workforce. He wants it considered by a panel reviewing whether the Interior inspector general's office covered up what Republicans say was the misrepresentation by the Obama administration in justifying a moratorium on deep-water drilling following the 2010 BP spill.
In an executive summary of the report recommending the moratorium, it was implied that outside experts brought in to peer review the department's spill recommendation supported the moratorium, which was erroneous.
The administration blamed a late-night editing mistake and a report by the inspector general found no evidence the mistake was intentional. But one of the auditors assigned to investigate the matter for the inspector general said he was denied documents and the chance to interview key officials.
"The moratorium crushed thousands of jobs - many of which Louisiana is still suffering from - and it's pretty outrageous and offensive to know that politics was more of an influence than sound science," Vitter said. "When there is widespread distrust within the organization in charge of investigation inappropriate policy influence, we're looking at a huge problem."
Vitter joined Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and John Cornyn, R-Tex., in asking the Federal Integrity Committee to consider the survey as parts of its investigation into whether the IG report on the moratorium was impartial. The survey, conducted earlier this year, is done routinely for federal agencies.
A spokesman for Acting Interior Department inspector General Mary Kendall said she stands behind her previous statements strongly denying her office's investigation into the moratorium was anything less than impartial and thorough.
"The question of whether there was intentional misrepresentation came down to a review of emails exchanged between DOI and the White House in the late hours of May 26th and early hours of May 27th, 2010, in which the executive summary was being edited," Kendall told the House Natural Resources Committee in August. "These emails revealed no evidence that the executive summary was intentionally edited to lead readers to believe that the moratorium recommendation has been peer reviewed."
Kendall said she was unaware as the report was being finalized that one of the investigators had complained he didn't get access to all the material and individuals he needed to complete the probe.
"Had they been brought to my attention, I would have addressed them directly with the case agent, but in the end, based on what the case agent presented to me, I was confident that our investigation was well done, thorough and to the point."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said it was his decision to recommend a moratorium on deep-water drilling after the BP oil spill and his reasons were that new safeguards clearly were needed after such a massive spill and that at the time there was no way the United States could deal with a second major spill.
Vitter, along with Sessions and Cornyn, also released some anonymous comments made by IG employees who participated in the survey. One comment read: "I think there is widespread distrust and low morale in the organization right now. There are at least perceptions the acting IG and chief of staff did not do the right thing; i.e., improperly quashed investigations and have not been forthright with Congress."