Dept. of Interior Chief of Staff went river rafting while Gulf Oil issue got larger

Yeah..the Obama Administration is ON this ecological disaster. Right. I wish I had Tom Stickland’s job too.

Though his agency was charged with coordinating the federal response to the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was in the Grand Canyon with his wife last week participating in activities that included white-water rafting, ABC News has learned.

Other leaders of the Interior Department were focused on the Gulf, joined by other agencies and literally thousands of other employees. But Strickland’s participation in a trip that administration officials insisted was “work-focused” raised eyebrows among other Obama administration officials and even within even his own department, sources told ABC News.

Strickland, who also serves as Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, was in the Grand Canyon with his wife Beth for a total of three days, including one day of rafting. Beth Strickland paid her own way, Obama administration officials said.

The Stricklands departed for the Grand Canyon three days after the leaks in the Deepwater Horizon pipeline were discovered. Ultimately, after the government realized that the spill was worse than had been previously thought, officials decided that Strickland was needed in the Gulf so Strickland was taken out of the Grand Canyon by a National Park Service helicopter.

One government official, asking for anonymity because of the political sensitivities involved, told ABC News that some Interior Department employees thought it was “irresponsible” for Strickland to have gone on the trip, given the crisis in the Gulf, which was fully apparent at the time he departed for the Grand Canyon.

Great leadership we have here in this Country.

Although, this is probably all Bush’s fault too.

  • Ian

    This is another fine example of the total incompetence of the Obama Administration. this man Stickland should be fired for taking a vacation while he should be in the Gulf of Mexico or in his office while the largest oil spill in US history is going on. His excuse was he was working, ya working on staying afloat. Someone FIRE this loser NOW!!

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