A detailed, scathing U.S. State Department Inspector General’s report says actions of Ambassador Cynthia Stroum “brought major elements of Embassy Luxembourg to a state of dysfunction.”

Stroum resigned, effective Monday, saying: “While I will be returning home to Seattle, I will always have great affection for Luxembourg as my second home.”

“As the U.S. Ambassador, I have served my President and his Administration with great honor as I’ve traveled through the Grand Dutchy of Luxembourg,” she wrote. “. . . I am extremely proud of the relationships that have been built both professionally and personally.”

The U.S. Embassy was not a happy home, according to the State Department IG’s report, based on a visit in late October and early November.

The report faults Stroum’s “confrontational management style, chronic gaps in senior and other staffing caused by curtailments, and the absence of a sense of direction . . .” Senior staff members even volunteered for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Embassy employees described Stroum to inspectors as “aggressive, bullying, hostile and intimidating, which has resulted in an extremely difficult, unhappy and uncertain work environment.”

“The bulk of the mission’s internal problems are linked to her leadership deficiencies, the most damaging of which is an abusive management style,” the IG investigators found.

The IG’s report makes Stroum sound like a diplomatic Leona Helmsley. It reported that an employee at the U.S. Embassy spent almost all of his time over a six-week period seeking a temporary residence for the new ambassador.

Two hundred residences were screened in the small Western European country, which has long been NATO’s smallest member.

“Based on the Ambassador’s requirements, all but four residences were deemed unsuitable: The ambassador rejected all four,” said the IG report. An acceptable residence was at last found last July.

The IG took Stroum to task for spending too much time overseeing the renovation of the Ambassador’s residence.

“The Ambassador is keenly interested in the remoeling of the bathrooms at the (house) and has stated her desire to approve the materials used in these rooms,” the IG writes.

Soon after taking her overseas post, the Ambassador bought a new queen-sized bed and box springs, in that Stroum was “not pleased with the condition of the (residence’s) mattress, and preferred a queen bed to the king-sized bed already provided.”

Stroum twice applied to be reimbursed for the mattress purchase, late in 2009 and again last August. She was turned down both times “as the queen size mattress was a personal choice.”

However, the acting deputy chief of mission later certified a voucher reimbursing Stroum for the mattress, using program money. The IG said certification of the voucher was improper and should be reimbursed.

As to the residence renovation, the IG wrote: “Normally, all such changes are approved by the (Overseas Buildings Operation) Office of Residential Design and Cultural Heritage and not by the occupant at the time. There appears to be some conflicting guidance on how much the Ambassador can be involved in this project.”

The IG report went into detail of Stroum as a boss. It reported that senior officers at the U.S. Embassy, including two deputy chiefs of mission, curtailed service or volunteered for duty at such tough posts as embassies in Kabul and Baghdad.

“Those who have questioned or challenged some of the Ambassador’s actions state that they have paid a heavy price in the form of verbal abuse and been threatened with dismissal,” the report stated.

Stroum “brought to the staff’s attention that her appointment letter from the President gave her the right to read any e-mail messages that originated at Embassy Luxembourg,” the IR report found. Employees took her to mean that “she would have access to messages to OIG (Office of Inspector General) or other Department offices.”

Stroum has been a generous contributor to Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., as well as Sens Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Jon Tester, D-Mont. She was a prominent “bundler” of donations to President Obama’s 2008 campaign. She brought in a half-million dollars, according to the OpenSecrets.org web site.

Stroum has been known for her philanthropy, and was given a 2009 Woman of Valor Award by Sen. Maria Cantwell.

It is not unusual to bestow embassy appointments on major contributors. Former King County Republican Chair Patricia Herbold was U.S. Ambassador to Singapore under George W. Bush, and Della Newman of Bow was Ambassador to New Zealand under George H.W. Bush. Newman chaired the senior Bush’s campaign in this state.

Newman had a few brushes with then-Prime Minister David Lange, who refused to allow ships with nuclear weapons to dock in his country. The U.S. Navy, as a matter of policy, refuses to disclose whether its ships are carrying such weapons.

But Herbod and Newman never triggered anything remotely resembling the controversy over Stroum’s tenure in Luxembourg.

The Associated Press, MSNBC and the TalkingPoints.com web site have also carried stories on the State Department IG’s report.