Monday, March 26, 2007

In Which I Decline to Blame Bush For Something

The Washington Post reports today on the best corruption story ever - Lawrence Small, the manager of the Smithsonian Museum, is resigning after seven years amid charges of corruption and abuse.

Why is it so great? This is a guy who ran a MUSEUM, people! Not only that - THE museum! He's like a librarian, except for this detail:

The Post reported in February that Small accumulated unauthorized expenses from 2000 to 2005, including charges for chartered jet travel, his wife's trip to Cambodia, hotel rooms, luxury car service, catered staff meals and expensive gifts, according to confidential findings by the Smithsonian inspector general.

Is that not great? He also redecorated his office at a cost of $160,000, which is even worse when you consider that the place is probably packed to the rafters with historical furniture in storage. It kind of gives you hope that someday, even in your humdrum job, you could become super-corrupt too.

I'd love to blame this on the Bush Administration. After all, it happened on his watch. But let's face it, the last thing we want our President to be wasting his time on is the management of the Smithsonian. He presumably would have bigger fish to fry. So I'm giving Chimpy a pass on this one. Instead, I'll be angry at him for the Justice department.

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