A phone call NASA administrator Charlie Bolden made to consult with an oil company in which he owns stock was inconsistent with his ethics pledge and raised the appearance of a conflict of interest, but didn't violate the law, NASA's independent watchdog office has found. On April 20, Bolden spoke for 10 to 15 minutes with a senior executive at Marathon Oil Corp. about possible NASA involvement in an alternative fuel development project.
Bolden formerly served on Marathon's board for six years before becoming NASA administrator and owns company stock worth between $500,000 and $1 million.
NASA Inspector General Paul Martin found neither Bolden or the company benefited financially from the call, not did it influence the energy project.
But a 13-page report Martin's office released today said the call was "not consistent" with Bolden's ethics pledge as administrator and should have been reported -- contrary to the opinion of NASA lawyers -- to the inspector's office.
According to his pledge, Bolden should have refrained for two years from having private communications with Marathon or any other of his former employers concerning NASA business, accroding to the Office of Inspector General.
The report says Bolden admitted to investigators that the call was a mistake. Read the full report here.
IMAGE: In Kennedy Space Center's Firing Room 4, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden congratulated the mission team for the successful launch of space shuttle Discovery on the STS-128 mission at 11:59 p.m. Aug. 28, 2009. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.
16 comments:
Shoot, why stop at only a million when with a little inside insight you could raise that amount 10 fold!
What's the big deal?
He has the right to monitor his investments.
Stock prices are in the newspaper and on line daily. Just another Obuma appointee greasing his own pockets.
If a rank and file employee made such a call it would be a conflict of interest and would be punished for such - perhaps terminated. Employees at United Space Alliance must report ANY part-time jobs or business they own yearly whether space related or not. So why would he be any different? Lead by example!!
It was OK for Cheney to meet with oil executives and Newt to let Phone exec., to use his office to write legislation. What a short Memory Florida Today has ??? or is it a Double standard??/
I hope he is doing better running his investments than the job he is doing for NASA but I doubt it.........????????????
I sure hope he is doing a better job with his investments
than he is doing Directing "NASA" but I do not belive so.
The secret files of Cheney and the oil barrons on the "Energy Summit" should be released. That will be the new standard for ethics. Let's all lie, invade Iraq and keep the oil and exploit for our bottom line.
Before you say it, this and the oil in the Gulf do not belong to us. It is owned by the futures and comodities market and stuff coming from the Gulf does not belong to the US. We're just another customer buying oil from our property.
Resign, simple as that.
This guy is a clown and just another "yes" man.
Didn't violate law,why print it ?
"It was OK for Cheney to meet with oil executives and Newt to let Phone exec., to use his office to write legislation. What a short Memory Florida Today has ??? or is it a Double standard..."
No, it's just more ironic when member of the "Hope and Change" gang get caught being the insider crooks their boss promised wouldn't find a place in the "Yes We Con" administration.
"inconsistent with his ethics pledge .. but didn't violate the law"
TYPICAL
if only they worried about Space exploitation instead of making more $$ we might still have a manned Space Program not owned by Vlad Putin .
Why do they choose retired astronauts to manage large, technical organizations? I'll take someone with an engineering/technical background any day over these x military, test pilot/astronaut types any day......
The GOP and the Dems have always defined COI. Bolden is probably a nice guy in addition to his honorable qualifications, but there is no question this crap has no place. The Bushs, Cheneys, Feinsteins, Boxers being headline examples of COI. This 'Main St. versus Wall Street' BS continues to try to cover up the skim, which well-to-do(aka bought their votes) Libs & ' Baggers still take full advantage of...
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