Interior Secretary Zinke takes the low road
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s decision to call a Democratic congressman a drunkard is the kind of sophomoric gesture that hardly gets noticed these days.
After all, when the president himself demeans fellow Republicans, insults his former secretary of State, attacks law enforcement and boasts of grabbing female body parts, what’s a little smackdown coming from a Cabinet secretary?
Well, a lot, actually.
This kind of violation of decorum — often delivered by tweet — has become the new norm for deflecting attention from sleazy behavior. It gets more attention when the author is President Donald Trump. But it should not go unremarked when it comes from a Cabinet member whose department oversees roughly 28 percent of the lands contained within the United States.
By way of background, in a recent opinion column for USA TODAY, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., called for Zinke’s resignation, citing the secretary’s involvement in a number of ethically questionable actions.
Zinke responded to Grijalva by saying: “It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of a bottle.”
The Interior chief also referred to a
$48,000 severance deal paid to a former Grijalva aide who, according to news reports, accused the congressman of being drunk on the job and creating a “hostile” work environment. (Grijalva denies both allegations.)
The point here is not to defend Grijalva’s personal behavior. If he has some sort of drinking problem, he should deal with it.
We are more troubled with Zinke’s professional behavior, including his decision to take pot shots at the member of Congress who is likely to chair the committee overseeing the Interior Department. In his relatively short tenure, Zinke has triggered no fewer than
17 federal investigations, nine of which are said to be ongoing.
One of these investigations, most likely involving a land deal Zinke is in- volved with in Whitefish, Montana, has been referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal action, according to news reports.
That project involves a hotel and retail development proposed by the chairman of Halliburton, a company that benefits from oil and gas drilling on public lands controlled by the Interior Department. Zinke owns land adjacent to the proposed project that would likely go up in value as the result of the development. A foundation that Zinke and his wife set up is also involved in the deal.
In the Trump administration, Zinke is what qualifies as “the best people.” He follows in the footsteps of former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, an ethical train wreck who, among other transgressions, leased a condo at a fraction of its market rate from a lobbyist with business before his agency. Zinke also follows Tom Price, the former Health and Human Services secretary who had a taste for questionable stock trading as a member of Congress and for traveling on private jets funded by taxpayers.
People like Zinke aren’t draining the swamp. They, like their boss in the White House, are creating whole new wetlands.