Stewardship is under pressure as Jewell takes over Interior

The national press is infatuated with Sally Jewell as the outdoorsy new secretary of the Interior. In the Seattle area, it’s nearly impossible to find people who don’t have good things to say about the former chief executive of REI. She will need all this goodwill and more, because the Interior Department can be a school for scandal. Most recently, in 2008, the wing of the department that collects oil and gas royalties was caught up in allegations of financial improprieties, cocaine use, sexual misconduct and taking gifts from energy companies. Back in the 1920s, the department was the epicenter of the infamous Teapot Dome scandal that defined the Harding administration, where oil companies bribed Interior Secretary Albert Fall to lease naval petroleum reserves. Fall became the first former Cabinet member to serve prison time. Before Jewell, the last Washington resident to become Interior Secretary was Richard Achilles Ballinger, appointed by President Taft in 1909. The former Seattle mayor gave his name to what was popularly known at the time as the Ballinger Affair. Although improprieties were alleged, Ballinger was cleared. But the controversy was part of a split between Ballinger and Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt’s beloved Forest Service chief. Pinchot and his allies claimed Ballinger favored private exploitation over conservation. When Taft fired Pinchot, it began a conflict in the Republican Party that cost it the next presidential election. This is not a dull, political patronage job...more