There seems to be no end to the drama playing out at the Smithsonian Institution. The story so far: Former Secretary Lawrence M. Small resigned back in March amidst allegations of gross financial expenditures and poor management decisions. He was replaced by acting Secretary Cristián Samper, and the Board then began an overhaul of the Institution based on a scathing report on the state of museums issued earlier this year. Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer Sheila P. Burke resigned in June, and barely six days ago the organization kicked Business Ventures Chief Gary Beer to the curb for more financial indiscretions, to the tune of $30,000.

What’s next? Grease up the paper shredders folks, we’ve got a document destroyer. The Post reports that Former Secretary Small’s yes-man, Executive Assistant James M. Hobbins, up and quit today after it was discovered he destroyed transcripts from a January 2007 Board of Regents meeting. Though it was, on its face, a regular meeting, it included discussion of retroactively approving many of the expenditures made by Small, including an unauthorized trip to Cambodia.

Though the Institution claims it’s standard practice to get rid of these records after the official minutes have been printed, in this case it happened after a document retention directive was issued as part of the investigation opened by the Senate Finance Committee in February of this year. A fairly common procedure in any investigation, document retention requires that no person destroy even benign documents. The Post notes that as of yet, no charges have been brought against Hobbins.

Click over to the Post article to read the details on Hobbins’ history at the Smithsonian, including the role he played in cheerleading Small into the organization, the blanket financial approvals he gave to Small, and the unauthorized bonus he received from the former Secretary. We bet Smithsonian employees are glad their pensions aren’t riding on the Institution’s coffers.

Photo by briankmoulton