Bush's Interior Department: Awards Lucrative Contracts for Indians Only to Bush and Department Friends and Supporters

No, I am not surprised. From US News and World Report:

In a blistering report, the Interior Department's top investigator says that senior officials who manage $3.2 billion in Indian trust funds pressured subordinates to award lucrative contracts to executives with whom the officials enjoyed close social ties.

According to the report, officials in the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST), based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, often partied with executives of an Albuquerque accounting firm, Chavarria, Dunne & Lamey LLC. The officials and executives played golf together and exchanged gifts of meals and drinks over an eight-year period. During this time, the report says, the Chavarria firm won $6.6 million in sole source contracts.

Inspector General Earl Devaney, in a letter transmitting the report to top Interior Department officials, says that his investigators found that "contract personnel felt pressured by these senior OST officials" to award contracts to the accounting firm. The report, obtained by U.S. News under the Freedom of Information Act, singled out for sharp criticism Donna Erwin, the number two official in OST, and three other top officials.

"In summary, the report presents information that establishes that the conduct of four OST officials ... .created an appearance of preferential treatment" for the Chavarria firm, Devaney says. Their actions, he went on to say, violate ethics rules and an internal OST memo that directs personnel to maintain "arms length dealings" with contractors.