In today's Washington Post, Ruth Marcus profiles several of the current crop of scoundrels in the Bush administration who "illustrate the administration's fox-guarding-the-henhouse personnel plan, the disdain of its appointees for the laws they are sworn to enforce and their spoils-of-war attitude toward the government they are entrusted with overseeing."  Several of her profiles also appear in CREW's "Criminal & Scoundrels:  the 25 Most Corrupt Officials of the Bush Administration."  A couple on the Post's list didn't make CREW's list this year.  Here are a few examples:

· The Interior Department inspector general reported that Julie MacDonald, the official who oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service but who has no academic background in biology, overrode the recommendations of agency scientists about how to protect endangered species. MacDonald also shared internal documents with industry officials and groups that lobby for weakened environmental protections, not to mention an online gaming buddy, the IG found.

An Interior lawyer called MacDonald's involvement in one endangered species matter "the most brazen case of political meddling" he had seen in more than 20 years in government. Nor, it seems, is such politicization limited to MacDonald. "Policy trumps science within the Assistant Secretary's corridor on many occasions," another department lawyer told the IG.

· J. Steven Griles, a coal lobbyist who became the No. 2 official at the Interior Department (in other words, his job description didn't much change), pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his relationship with lobbyist/felon Jack Abramoff. Griles's then-girlfriend introduced him to Abramoff and ran a lobbying group that received $500,000 in Abramoff-generated funds; in turn, Abramoff sought and received Griles's help on client matters.

· Griles's new significant other, Sue Ellen Wooldridge, who helped him fend off ethics charges when they both worked at Interior, resigned as head of the Justice Department's environmental section. Wooldridge and Griles bought a $1 million beach house with the top lobbyist for the oil company ConocoPhillips; then Wooldridge -- supposedly with the blessing of ethics officials -- signed off on a move to ease up on anti-pollution requirements imposed on ConocoPhillips as part of a settlement.

· Lurita Doan, a GOP mega-donor turned head of the General Services Administration, attended a luncheon on agency premises at which Scott Jennings, a top aide to Karl Rove, briefed political appointees on GOP targets for the 2008 election. According to six people present, Doan asked GSA employees how they could "help 'our candidates' in the next elections." Doan, displaying an Alberto Gonzales-like memory, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week that she had "absolutely" no recollection of that statement.

Lurita Doan, the Administrator of the General Services Administration, was named by CREW as one of the 25 most corrupt members of the Bush Administration in our report, Criminals & Scoundrels. Today, she testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. You really have to watch the testimony below about a presentation given to her staff by White House Political staffer Scott Jennings:

Ms. Magazine gives a shout-out to CREW's report on corruption in the Bush Administration, Criminals & Scoundrel:

Last year’s congressional scandals dominated headlines and helped to change the balance of power in Washington; this latest investigation draws attention to the corruption plaguing the executive branch of government. Fortunately, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a women-run watchdog group featured in Ms. magazine’s Winter 2007 issue, has just released Criminals and Scoundrels: The 25 Most Corrupt Bush Administration Officials.

“High level government officials, acting without oversight, have plenty of opportunity to commit crimes,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director. “Some of the officials named in the report were allowed to remain in their positions - or were even promoted - despite clear indications that they were running amok.”

CREW’s report chronicles the alleged misconduct of Bush administration officials working at government agencies including the White House, the Food & Drug Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Ms. Magazine profiled Melanie Sloan, "the most feared woman on Capitol Hill?" in last month's issue. 

Today's Miami Herald outlines the case against Jose Marti who pled guilty yesterday to accepting kickbacks while working for the federal government.   Just last week, we named Marti one of the 25 most corrupt officials in the Bush Administration: 

A TV Martí executive charged with failing to disclose about $112,000 in kickbacks he pocketed from a video vendor pleaded guilty Tuesday in Miami federal court.

Jose M. Miranda, nicknamed ''Chema,'' accepted about 73 checks from Perfect Image Film and Video Productions from November 2001 to December 2004 while the vendor was doing business with the TV Martí operation.

Miami-based TV Martí is part of the federal government's Office of Cuba Broadcasting, a taxpayer-funded television network that attempts to beam news and other programming into Cuba. Its programs, however, have largely been jammed by the Cuban government since its launch in 1990.

Miranda, the former director of TV Martí programs, admitted to receiving the kickbacks while he approved requisitions and invoices for services by Perfect Image, according to the U.S. attorney's office. He acknowledged that he and the owner of Perfect Image had an ''understanding'' that Miranda would receive a portion of the vendor's revenue from TV Martí.

Well, it sure was a busy day for executive branch corruption. Another of the Bush administration officials named in CREW's report, Criminals & Scoundrels, ended up in the news today. Jose Miranda entered a guilty plea "for unlawfully participating in government matters in which he had a financial interest" according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney in Miami:

Jose Miranda was a public official who worked for TV Marti, a broadcasting service that provides Spanish language news, features, and entertainment programs to Cuba, in an effort to promote freedom and democracy in Cuba. TV Marti is operated by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), a component of the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). The IBB provides administrative and engineering support for United States government-funded non-military international broadcast services. The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency responsible for all United States government and government sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting, supervises the IBB.

From 1999 until December 2004, defendant Miranda was the Director of Programming for TV Marti. During his tenure as Director, defendant Miranda had contracting authority for programming services.

As defendant Miranda was approving requisitions and invoices for programming services rendered to TV Marti by a vendor named Perfect Image Film & Video Productions (“Perfect Image”), Miranda was unlawfully receiving various payments from Perfect Image. According to in-court statements made during the plea, defendant Miranda and the owner of Perfect Image had an understanding that Miranda would receive a portion of the monies Perfect Image received from TV Marti.

Based on evidence gathered from interviews and documents, defendant Miranda was receiving as much as 50% of the monies paid by TV Marti to the vendor. Defendant Miranda personally accepted 73 checks in varying amounts, totaling approximately $112,000, from Perfect Image during the period of November 26, 2001, through December 20, 2004.

Executive branch corruption -- and curtailing it -- seem to be the theme today here at Citizen's Blogging. CREW focused on corruption in the Bush Administration in our report, Criminals & Scoundrels. Apparently, the House of Representatives is concerned about this subject, too. H.R. 894, the Executive Branch Reform Act of 2007, will have a hearing today. An article in today's edition of The Hill gives the impression that the bill, which was passed out of committee last year, will pass in the full House this year:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is planning to move legislation that would place strict ethics limits on executive-branch officials, going further than the ethics reforms the lower chamber adopted for itself last month.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and a close ally of Pelosi's, is scheduled to hold a hearing on the legislation today and plans to mark it up in committee tomorrow.

Several of the proposed reforms in the measure appear to be in response to various controversies that have emerged during President Bush's tenure, ranging from a dispute over a secret energy task force to criticism over paying pundits for favorable reviews.

One of the far-reaching reforms Waxman is considering would require executive-branch officials to report all significant contacts they have with any private interest related to an official government action.

Last week, in our new report, Criminals & Scoundrels, CREW named Kyle "Dusty" Foggo as one of the 25 most corrupt officials in the Bush Administration.

The ABC News blog, The Blotter, just reported that Foggo will be indicted this afternoon:

Federal prosecutors in San Diego are expected today to announce indictments in a case that involves the former No. 3 official at the CIA, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, officials tell ABC News.

Foggo, who served as the CIA's executive director, was accused last year by fellow CIA employees of steering contracts for the CIA station in Iraq to longtime friend Brent Wilkes, a defense contractor whose activities also led to the indictment of former Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham.

We'll continue to monitor this developing story. 

Last week, CREW named Lurita Doan as one of the 25 most corrupt officials in the Bush Administration in our report, Criminals & Scoundrels.

This week, ABC's blog, The Blotter, shined a spotlight on Ms. Doan.  Seems a lot of parties are interested in Ms. Doan's dealing as head of GSA:

The woman accused is Lurita Doan, a big-time GOP supporter who was picked to head the GSA last April. Her agency spends over $56 billion a year on paper clips, office space, car fleets and other necessities for federal agencies.

Since 2000, Doan and her husband have donated over $210,000 to Republican candidates and groups. She was invited to speak before the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Much of the scrutiny Doan is receiving stems from a January Washington Post report that she improperly awarded a $20,000 no-bid contract to a firm run by a personal friend of hers -- even signing the contract herself.  Because only GSA contracting officers are legally allowed to sign contracts, Doan's action may be illegal, a former official told the Post.  According to the Post, the contract was "terminated" last summer after objections from GSA lawyers that it should have been competitively bid and subjected to further internal review. 

Representatives of Ms. Doan dispute that any contract was ever entered; they characterize the document as a non-binding service order. Doan told the Post that she thought she was following proper procedures but "made a mistake."

According to The Blotter, Ms. Doan is facing investigations by the GSA Inspector General, the House Government Affairs and Oversight Committee and, possibly, the Justice Department.

Melanie Sloan was on Air America with the Young Turks earlier today. You can listen to the interview here.

Over in the War Room at Salon, Tim Grieve took a look at CREW's new report on the most corrupt officials in the Bush Administration. The headline: Why stop at 25?

The CREW report covers everything from "sexual misconduct to theft to immigration fraud" and runs, alphabetically speaking, from Claude "Caught Stealing From Target" Allen to Kenneth "Ran a Horse Racing-Business From His Government Office" Tomlinson.