Lawrence Small, the head of the Smithsonian Institution, resigned this weekend, just days after the Senate voted to withhold $17 million from the agency after an audit found that Small made unauthorized payments for lavish expenses.
Small’s departure comes on the heels of an internal audit that found that he had billed the Smithsonian — a 70-percent federally financed, nonprofit, tax-exempt institution — more than a million dollars for the use of his home and made $90,000 in unauthorized expenditures.
Roger Sant, chairman of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, said the committee felt the Smithsonian had benefited greatly from Small’s seven years at the helm, but they ultimately accepted his resignation due to growing criticism and the Senate’s hold on the money. “That would be hard to ignore,” Sant said. “The institution has to come first.”
An inspector general’s report found that Small had billed the museum $90,000 for unauthorized expenses, including private jet travel and gifts. It also found that he had charged the Smithsonian more than $1.1 million for using his home to host official functions. Items billed for included $273,000 for housekeeping, $2,535 to clean a chandelier and $12,000 for service on his backyard swimming pool.
But Small was known to be a big money raiser. He raised a record $1.1 billion in donations that allowed the institution to open three new museums: the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Art and Portraiture.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican member of the Committee on Finance who pushed an amendment to freeze the federal money for the Smithsonian, said Small’s resignation was a positive step, but the Board of Regents must “continue to recognize its responsibility.”
The board has created an independent panel to review executive compensation and Smithsonian expenditures. It has tapped Cristian Samper, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, to take over as acting secretary until the board finds a permanent chief. Sant said the search will take at least six months.
Small was to earn $915,698 this year in total compensation. Small was not entitled to a severance package because he left voluntarily.
