washingtonpost.com
Former IG Says Small Asked Her To Drop Audit
Smithsonian Secretary's Expenses Questioned in Senate
By James V. Grimaldi and Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 20, 2007; C01
The former Smithsonian inspector general who launched an audit of
high-ranking officials and their business practices said yesterday
that Secretary Lawrence M. Small tried to pressure her to drop the
inquiry shortly after she announced it last year.
Debra S. Ritt said Small called her before the audit was widened to
include his own compensation, but she still found it highly
inappropriate. Ritt reported to Small at the time.
Ritt resigned in June about a week after broadening the audit --
originally a review of Smithsonian Business Ventures accounting and
executive compensation -- to include Small's compensation, which is
$915,698 this year. Ritt said in interviews Saturday and yesterday
that Small called her to urge investigations of the Smithsonian's
construction spending instead of the business unit.
"He called me to tell me he didn't want me to do the audit, that the
audit
wasn't needed," Ritt said. "He felt the inspector general's office
was
being manipulated by a few disgruntled employees."
Smithsonian spokeswoman Carolyn Martin said, "The secretary denies
pressuring Ms. Ritt on any matter or regarding any inquiry."
Ritt, who resigned two months after announcing the audit, said the
shrinking inspector general's budget, which Small controls, hampered
the
office's effectiveness and independence. "I could see the handwriting
on
the wall," Ritt said. She now oversees the audit division of the
Small
Business Administration inspector general's office.
Roger Sant, chairman of the Board of Regents executive committee and
the
only Smithsonian official to respond in detail to questions about the
review, said such a call from Small would have been inappropriate if
it
occurred. "It would really surprise me," Sant said. "All the time
I've
been involved, he's been really supportive of the audits."
A. Sprightley Ryan, who had served as Ritt's general counsel, took
over the review as an interim inspector general. Later, at the urging
of
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), Ryan began reporting to the Board
of
Regents rather than Small.
Ryan completed the review of compensation and released two public
reports, one of which contained dozens of lines blacked out. She also
sent
the Board of Regents a separate "confidential" letter that found that
Small had charged the institution $90,000 in unauthorized
expenditures
during his tenure, including chartered jet travel, his wife's trip to
Cambodia, hotel rooms, luxury car service, catered staff meals and
expensive gifts. Ryan's letter also noted that Small reimbursed the
Smithsonian $700 for personal dinners with no institution purpose.
Ryan said Small never called her about the audits. The report on
business ventures concluded that the unit's contribution to the
Smithsonian is lower, after adjusting for inflation, than the amount
Smithsonian businesses contributed in 1999, before Small became
secretary.
Grassley raised questions about Small's leadership and spending
practices on the floor of the Senate yesterday.
"I believe that the secretary of the Smithsonian has lost the
confidence of the American people with his actions -- actions that
have been contrary to the public trust he has been given," Grassley
said.
He said the Smithsonian's board "will have to consider very hard
whether the time has come to turn off the lights in the office of
this secretary of the Smithsonian."
After his speech, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said, "I couldn't
agree with him more."
Grassley also disclosed yesterday that Small and his wife, Sandra,
each booked $3,464.50 first-class airline tickets, for which the
Smithsonian paid, on a business trip to Las Vegas in 2002. Documents
released by the senator's office showed the Smalls stayed in a $500-a-
night room at the Venetian hotel. Vouchers released by Grassley show
the
Smalls' trip cost the Smithsonian $9,692.
The expense vouchers also show that Small spent $2,800 for
chauffeured car service during a four-day business trip to Los
Angeles and San Jose. In his speech, Grassley said he couldn't accept
the
justification for this expenditure. "In a memo justifying the car
service
in California, the claim is made that there would be 'a safety risk
for
[Small] to carry as much cash as would have been needed to pay a taxi
to
drive him from city to city.' Even children who claim dogs are eating
their homework are embarrassed by that one."
The total expenses for the West Coast trip, according to the
documents, were $7,984.
Documents released by Grassley also show that Small and his wife in
2003 traveled to Hawaii on business to visit the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory. Small flew first-class and the couple
bunked at one of the top-rated hotels in the country, the $724-a-
night Four Seasons Resort on the Big Island, and stayed through the
Thanksgiving holiday, paying for part of the trip themselves. While
there they rented a Mustang convertible and also used a limousine
service.
The findings of the inspector general and details about Small's
authorized and unauthorized spending, first reported in The
Washington Post, have angered many institution staffers.
Small has declined to give any interviews about the inspector
general's reports and his expenses.
Rudy Rudran, a conservation officer at the National Zoo and a
Smithsonian employee for 40 years, said he was outraged and called
for Small's resignation in an open letter to Undersecretary Sheila
Burke. "The bottom line is that ever since Mr. Small came to the
Smithsonian, he has behaved in a manner unbecoming of a person
responsible for leading a highly respected academic institution. He
has had a corrupting influence at the Smithsonian," Rudran wrote.
In an interview, Rudran said he is worried about the impact on the
institution's public funding and its reputation. The Smithsonian, a
complex of 18 museums and research facilities as well as the National
Zoo,
receives 70 percent of its money from the federal government. For
fiscal
2008, the White House requested $678.4 million for the Smithsonian.
"To me the federal allocation allows us to research independent of
commercial interests. If that is eroded we could become pawns to the
people who have the money," Rudran said. "As for the institution, we
have
had 160 years of excellence, we can't let that go to pot."
Criticism has also been directed at the regents. Sant has said the
expenses incurred at Small's private residence were justified because
Small did official Smithsonian entertaining at his Woodley Park home.
Grassley said yesterday he has not been supplied with a list of
official
events at the Small residence but his staff had "found only a handful
of
occasions" for that purpose.
The regents yesterday appointed an independent review committee to
investigate the issues concerning Small's expenditures and other
Smithsonian practices.
Charles A. Bowsher, a former comptroller general, was chosen as the
chairman. Working with Bowsher will be Stephen D. Potts, director of
the
Office of Government Ethics from 1990 to 2000, and A.W. "Pete" Smith
Jr.,
former chief executive officer of the Private Sector Council, a
nonprofit
organization that works to improve government operations.
The committee is scheduled to report to the regents in two months.
Also yesterday the regents announced they were forming a committee on
governance for their advisory board. Questions have been raised by
Congress about the role of the regents in approving Small's expenses
and
even changing some of their rules to authorize other expenses.
The regents, a 17-member board of private and public individuals, is
chaired by John G. Roberts Jr., chief justice of the United States.
Its
members include Vice President Cheney and six members of Congress.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901839_2.html © 2007 The
Washington Post Company
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