Report Slams Small's Tenure

Earlier this year, the Smithsonian inspector general wrote a confidential report, later obtained by The Post, finding that Small had $90,000 in unauthorized expenses. When two top institution officials attempted to modify the terms of his contract, Small objected.

"I'm not willing to discuss giving up one iota of what the institution agreed to provide me before I came to work," Small wrote in an e-mail. "It would represent the highest form of naiveté to think . . . I would entertain some form of 'give up.' "

Small further demanded that the Smithsonian pay his attorney's fees if he needed legal counsel and suggested that if he lost his first-class travel he would demand an increase in his housing allowance. He also insisted that the two officials, James Hobbins, his executive secretary, and John Huerta, the general counsel of the Smithsonian, not disclose the discussions to the Board of Regents or to Sant, who also chairs the board's audit committee.

"I do not want any of my comments passed along to Roger," Small wrote in an e-mail. "We shouldn't go to Roger until we are completely comfortable that any proposed amendment is good for the institution, good for me, is economically equivalent to the existing arrangement and . . . protects everyone from adverse consequences."

The independent committee criticized Small's hiring by "a very small group of regents." That group included Chief Justice William Rehnquist, former senator Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), Rep. Barber B. Conable Jr. (R-N.Y.) and Wesley S. Williams Jr., a former partner at Covington & Burling law firm.

The report stated that there was little review of Small's salary demands or of his subsequent increases. In 2001, for example, Small requested that his salary be placed at the 75th percentile of what Smithsonian management had chosen as comparable institutions, while other senior staff received salaries at the 50th percentile.

The independent committee also called on the Smithsonian to audit all expenditures by Small. The report said that "Mr. Small and his staff exercised sole discretion in determining which expenses would be charged to the Smithsonian."

Smithsonian officials had defended Small's salary and housing allowance earlier this year by saying that Small had been a prolific fundraiser, "personally" raising about $1 billion. However, the independent review committee found that many of the largest gifts in Small's tenure had been initiated by predecessor Heyman.

While Small helped bring in three large donations totaling $155 million, "those donations originated from the work of others," the report stated.

The committee found that Small, who received a $1.1 million housing allowance for making his home available for institution fundraising, rarely did so. Small entertained 47 donors at 18 fundraising events at his home from 2000 to 2007, mostly in the early years of his tenure.

"Calculated as a per person venue fee for fund-raising, this works out to be over $25,000 per potential donor or almost $70,000 per fund-raising event," the report said.