Clash of words escalates between Zinke and Grijalva
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke cast U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva as a drunk Friday in a tweet responding to an opinion piece by the senior Arizona House Democrat in which he said Zinke was “unfit to serve.”
Zinke’s response came in a tweet that called on Grijalva to quit Congress over allegations of drunken behavior and a 2015 settlement with a former committee staffer who claimed he created a hostile work environment.
“It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle,” Zinke wrote. “This is coming from a man who used nearly $50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior. He should resign and pay back the taxpayer for the hush money and the tens of thousands of dollars he forced my department to spend investigating unfounded allegations.”
The tweet carried the hashtag #TuneInnForMore, an apparent reference to the Tune Inn, a Capitol Hill bar that Grijalva has frequented over the years.
In 2017, Grijalva denied attending work-related events drunk and creating a hostile work environment.
The war of words played out in unusually public and stark terms and creates new interest in Grijalva’s oversight of Zinke’s agency when he becomes the new chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee in January. Grijalva opened his op-ed
on Friday this way:
“Ryan Zinke needs to resign immediately as Secretary of the Interior.
“I take no pleasure in calling for this step, and I have resisted it even as questions have grown about Mr. Zinke’s ethical and managerial failings. Unfortunately, his conduct in office and President Donald Trump’s neglect in setting ethical standards for his own cabinet have made it unavoidable.”
Grijalva traced the highlights of Zinke’s checkered tenure at the Interior Department before concluding with another broadside.
“Federal agencies cannot function without credible leadership, and (Zinke) offers none.” in
Grijalva responded to Zinke’s insulting tweet in a written statement.
“The American people know who I’m here to serve, and they know in whose interests I’m acting,” he said. “They don’t know the same about Secretary Zinke.”
Grijalva told the he expects Zinke to testify about a land deal involving his family’s foundation and developers.
Democrats, including Grijalva, asked Zinke’s agency’s acting inspector general to investigate the matter.
It is only one of the many questions Democrats have raised over Zinke’s leadership. As recently as Thursday, Zinke, a former Montana congressman, predicted on Fox News that the allegations against him wouldn’t amount to much.
“I’ve had 10 investigations completed. And you know what they all say?” he said. “Ryan Zinke follows all the rules, all the regulations, all the procedures. This is politically motivated. In Montana, we call it BS.”