A Commerce Dept. spokeswoman said Tues. that former NTIA Dir. Nan...

A Commerce Dept. spokeswoman said Tues. that former NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory “was not asked and did not resign” because of a report by the Dept.’s Inspector Gen. (IG). In response to recommendations by the Commerce IG, the spokeswoman said, the Dept. took “appropriate administrative action” but didn’t elaborate on what that entailed. The IG concluded in a report released Mon. that Victory, by accepting a party that lobbyists threw for her in Oct. 2001, had violated federal ethical standards (CD Sept 23 p3). The party was held in her Great Falls, Va., home by 6 lobbyists whom Victory said were personal friends, but whom the IG report said paid for the party out of corporate funds. The party represented a gift from people whose interests would have been affected by Victory’s duties, the report found. But it also concluded that a letter Victory wrote to the FCC within a few weeks of the party wasn’t influenced by the gift. She stepped down in Aug. after 2 years at the top post of NTIA, saying she was leaving the agency for “personal reasons.” The IG report was finalized June 25 and released Mon. by House Govt. Reform Committee ranking Democrat Waxman (Cal.). In the Commerce Dept.’s first public statement on Victory’s departure, the spokeswoman said: “As she stated at the time, she left for personal reasons following 2 years of service.”