Tag: Trump Interior Secretary

‘As corrupt as it gets’: Oil lobbyist turned Interior Secretary proposes giving ‘coveted’ contract to former client

AlterNet logoWatchdog and conservation groups called out former oil lobbyist and current Interior Secretary David Bernhardt Friday over the department’s attempt to give a “coveted” permanent water supply contract to one of Bernhardt’s ex-clients.

“Bernhardt might as well still work for his former lobbying firm, where he represented oil and gas, mining, and agribusiness interests for many years,” declared Public Citizen president Robert Weissman.

Weissman’s national advocacy group previously waged a campaign highlighting Bernhardt’s conflicts of interest, opposed his confirmation, and filed an ethics complaint demanding a department investigation into him.

View the complete November 10 article by Jessica Corbett from Common Dreams on the AlterNet website here.

Bernhardt’s office acknowledges meetings left off schedule

The Interior Department has acknowledged that Secretary David Bernhardt’s staff intentionally left controversial meetings with representatives of fossil fuel, timber and water interests off his public calendar, citing “internal protocol” governing his schedules.

The department also confirmed that Bernhardt used a personal itinerary kept on a single Google document that was regularly overwritten by his scheduling staff and said he is still doing so as House Democrats probe whether the practice adheres to federal records laws.

Until now, the department had denied that any schedules were being overwritten. Bernhardt told lawmakers earlier this year the only calendar he used was on a document posted to the department’s website. He said he had “not personally maintained a calendar for years” and had “no intention of suddenly doing so now.”

View the complete April 16 article by Jacob Holzman on The Roll Call website here.

Zinke says his workers are disloyal. They say his personnel moves break the law.

The following article by Darryl Fears was posted on the Washington Post website September 27, 2017:

Two murals on the walls outside the Bureau of Land Management at the Interior Department in Washington. (Doug Kapustin for The Washington Post)

As Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke blasted many within his department for being disloyal to the Trump administration’s agenda this week, the agency’s inspector general’s office continued a probe into whether officials acted inappropriately when they abruptly reassigned dozens of senior workers.

Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall is working “to determine if the U.S. Department of the Interior followed appropriate guidelines and best practices in the reassignment of Senior Executive Service employees,” according to spokeswoman Gillian Carroll. Continue reading “Zinke says his workers are disloyal. They say his personnel moves break the law.”