State Dept. erases all references to top official who quit over DC Madam list Michael Roston

Published: Wednesday May 9, 2007 Print This Email This The State Department and the US Agency for International Development have instructed employees to remove all references in publications and other materials to a top official who resigned after his name turned up as a former client of "DC Madam" Deborah Jean Palfrey. The news appears in Wednesday morning's edition of the "In The Loop" column at the Washington Post. Randall Tobias, the USAID Administrator and a Deputy Secretary of State, quit suddenly on April 27 after being contacted by ABC News and admitting that he had "gals come over to the condo to give me a massage," which he compared to ordering a pizza. Subsequently, Al Kamen writes, USAID ordered all references to Tobias purged. "On April 30, a couple days after Tobias's stunning resignation, we got this e-mail from Steve Tupper, a senior official in AID's bureau of legislative and public affairs," Kamen notes. "As you go about your daily activities on behalf of your Bureau or Office, please be alert to the need to remove all picture and statements from Ambassador Tobias in light of his resignation dated as of April 27, 2007," Tupper orders in the note. The instructions include deleting references to Tobias in "Websites, reception room walls, printed publications, brochures, PowerPoints, newsletters, etc." The order may create some headaches for USAID staff. "All projects that have been reviewed previously and approved by LPA in the last several months but that are still in the production process must be immediately stopped and re-submitted if they contain articles, statements, or pictures of Tobias," Tupper added. Kamen's full column can be accessed at this link.



