Described as "aggressive, bullying, hostile, and intimidating," President Obama's ambassador to Luxembourg left the U.S. embassy there "in a state of dysfunction" and unable to carry out its duties after her recent exit, according to report released this week by the State Department Inspector General.
- Stroum wrongly threatened embassy staff that "her appointment letter from the President gave
her the right to read any email messages" they wrote, and staff had "no expectation of privacy" in their e-mail or phone calls.
- For 6 weeks, multiple employees worked full-time to find Stroum a "suitable temporary residence." They screened 200 residences and visited 30-40 houses in Luxembourg. Stroum rejected them all, again costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars unnecessarily.
- Stroum rushed to spend $3,400 in Embassy funds on European wine and liquor before the end of the year, even though State Department rules say “in no case, is the post authorized to use excess year-end funds to purchase wine." Secondly, all wine is supposed to be American.
- After learning about a school in Switzerland that trained employees to work in places such as Buckingham Palace, Stroum and an assistant flew to Switzerland solely to hire a chef, billing taxpayers more than $1,200 for the trip and ignoring embassy rules to hire locally.
Since 1989, Stroum, an heir to a Seattle auto parts fortune, personally gave Democratic candidates more than $150,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, including President Obama and Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.
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