Bush appointee "burrows in" at the Interior Department

WASHINGTON — Let the burrowing begin.

"Burrowing in" is slang for what happens in D.C. toward the end of a presidential administration when political appointees destined for the dust bin become full-fledged career government officials. Once embedded and untouchable, they are like moles in one of John le Carré's spy novels, left behind to quietly stand guard over the outgoing administration's turf.

The practice is legal, and a 2006 government report suggests it has increased in recent years.

On July 23, Matthew McKeown, a political appointee under the Bush White House, began a new job as a high-ranking civil-service employee at the Department of the Interior.

A Department of the Interior spokesman said in a statement that McKeown was "exceptionally well qualified" for his new job.

The department did not make McKeown available for an interview, but Interior spokesman Chris Paolino said the department followed all the normal procedures for civil-service hiring when changing his status.

McKeown was a deputy attorney general in Idaho during the tenure of then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who is now the Secretary of the Interior.

In 2001, the Bush White House appointed McKeown to a job in the Office of the Solicitor, the legal adviser for the Interior Department.

In October 2004, McKeown called the Endangered Species Act a form of "permanent hospice care" at an annual conference of the Property Rights Foundation. He also pushed the Healthy Forest Initiative, which environmental proponents say would let loggers cut more trees.

McKeown was part of the group surrounding two controversial Interior officials, former Solicitor William Myers and former Deputy Secretary Steven Griles.

Myers came under fire in 2003 for urging two congressmen to introduce a bill to give $1 million in public land north of Sacramento to a private company.

McKeown defended Myers to the media.

McKeown, who knew Griles, worked for Griles' girlfriend, a lead lawyer in the solicitor's office. Griles became part of the scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2006. He pleaded guilty to lying to Congress this year and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

Griles' girlfriend, now his wife, moved to the Justice Department in 2005 and McKeown later followed. Until July 13, he was acting assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Now he's back at the Interior as deputy associate solicitor.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has criticized recent actions at the Interior Department.

"As a close associate of Mr. Griles, I think that Mr. McKeown's conversion from political appointee to career lawyer in the solicitor's office raises some real questions about whether the ethical climate at the Interior Department is really changing," Wyden said in a statement.

Letter from Washington is an examination of the culture of politics and power in the nation's capital. Alicia Mundy can be reached at 202-622-7457 or at amundy@seattletimes.com.