Bush contracting official resigns amid scrutiny

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Bush administration official under scrutiny for interfering with federal spending and offering to help Republican candidates has resigned, the General Services Administration said on Wednesday.

Lurita Doan had been under pressure to step down as head of the 12,000-employee agency, which oversees U.S. government buildings, after an independent investigation last year found she offered to help Republicans get elected, a violation of federal law.

She was also accused of trying to improperly steer a contract to a friend, and renew another contract over the objections of agency officials.

The GSA, with an annual budget of $17 billion, oversees billions of dollars in contracts to manage government properties.

Doan denied wrongdoing last year at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, said she should resign.

Doan said in an e-mail to employees on Tuesday night that she had been asked to step down.

The GSA and the White House declined to say whether she had been forced out.

"The president is grateful for her service and wishes her and her family the best," White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said.

Doan, a former small-business owner, was the first woman to head the agency when she took office in 2006.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky)