Nepotism rampant in Energy Department internships

Energy Department officials and employees routinely seek paid internships for their children and relatives despite internal warnings against nepotism, the agency’s internal watchdog reported Monday.

“Despite the department’s ethics program and information regarding prohibited personnel practices, advocating for the selection of relatives appears to have become an open and widely accepted departmental practice,” Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman wrote.

The audit stemmed from a complaint about internships awarded during fiscal 2012 to three children of a senior career official in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office.

The unnamed official contacted 12 other department officials on behalf of the college-age children, including a high-level personnel officer, and two were hired in his office.

The third was hired by the Office of the Chief Information Officer after a number of calls by the official. The office had not planned to hire interns that year but reversed course before it hired the relative.

Friedman said the official believed he had not broken any rules.

A department spokesman, Bill Gibbons, said the administration takes very seriously the issues raised in the report and is committed to “fair, open and transparent hiring processes that ensure every candidate is evaluated equally.”

He said the department will take “appropriate actions” regarding the intern hires mentioned in the report and is giving senior employees and hiring managers additional training.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/10/nepotism-rampant-energy-department-internships-pro/#ixzz2VqbMY0uY

Just another example of how this government is out of control.

fshnski wrote:
A department spokesman, Bill Gibbons, said the administration takes very seriously the issues raised in the report and is committed to “fair, open and transparent hiring processes that ensure every candidate is evaluated equally.”

He said the department will take “appropriate actions” regarding the intern hires mentioned in the report and is giving senior employees and hiring managers additional training.

This statement was taken out of the Energy Department's "Boilerplate Responses" manual.

Wasn't this one of the Federal Agencies that a Republican candidate wanted to eliminate?