Obama’s Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was white-water rafting in Grand Canyon while the oil leak spread in the Gulf of Mexico

Maybe this is the reason why it took this regime over a week to bother dealing with the oil rig explosion and subsequent oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. According to ABC, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was too busy white-water rafting in the Grand Canyon with his wife last week as the oil leak continued to spread. While reporting on this news, Jake Tapper of course tries to cover the backs of the department by claiming other leaders of the Interior Department were “focused” on the Gulf. 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. So expect Strickland to be thrown under the bus soon.

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.

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May 5, 2010 · Filed Under General Politics, oil spill


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