Op-Ed: Swampy Ex-Trump Officials Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke Are Back

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By David Halperin. This is a guest post from Republic Report.

Former top Trump environmental officials Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke, both forced out of their jobs last year under the weight of, for each, anย absurdly large number of ethics scandals, have now resurfaced, with each accepting influence-peddling jobs in industries they previously regulated. The two also appeared jointly at a recent Texas Republican event and demonstrated that each man remains utterlyย shameless.

Former EPA head Pruitt and ex-Interior Secretary Zinke each seemed, from their conduct in office, to view their Trump post as an entitlement to grab first-class perqs, from Pruitt sending staff members to pick up a special moisturizing lotion, to Zinke charging taxpayers for unnecessary charter flights. Each also shaped policies to please polluting industries and punished agency staff whoย objected.

Each man left with multiple investigations pending. Pruittโ€™s resignation effectively ended at least some of theย EPA inspector general probesย into him, including over his budget-priced rental in a townhouse owned by a lobbyistโ€™s wife and his leveraging of his EPA status to seek a Chick-fil-A franchise for his own wife. Meanwhile, the Justice Department hasย reportedlyย been looking into whetherย Zinkeย lied to the Interior inspector general, who has been examining Zinkeโ€™s discussions with potential partners in a Montana real estate deal and his oversight of a proposed Connecticut tribal casinoย project.

Both Pruitt and Zinke continue to proudly echo Trumpโ€™s attacks on those who believe the government should be moving urgently to address the dangers of climateย change.

Donald Trump with Ryan Zinke, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, and Scott Pruitt
President Trump, flanked by Ryan Zinke, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, andย Scott Pruitt. Credit: White House,ย publicย domain

And neither of these Denial Twins appears to have taken his scandal-driven departure as a moment for reflection orย repentance.

Pushing through the revolving door, Pruitt has been hired by Hallador Energy Co., parent company of Indiana coal mining business Sunrise Coal LLC, toย lobbyย the Indiana legislature. Hallador wants lawmakers to compel the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to block state utilities from shutting down most of their coal-fired power plants.ย Hallador confirmedย Pruittโ€™s hiring over the weekend, after the Indianapolis Starย reportedย that Pruitt had registered in Indiana as a lobbyist for RailPoint Solutions, a shadowy company connected toย Sunrise.

Federal law makes it a crimeย for former officials to engage in certain efforts to influence their former agencies for one year, two years, or a lifetime, depending on the circumstances. Under President Trumpโ€™s executive order on ethics, former officials are prohibited from lobbying their former agencies on any matter for fiveย years.

Nothing in those federal rules, though, stops Pruitt from lobbying the Indiana state legislature. But Hallador says Pruitt will be lobbying for a provision that would bar the stateโ€™s utility commission from taking into account EPA rules, such as the Obama Clean Power Plan, that are in the process of being dismantled by the Trump administration. Especially in that regard, Pruitt can be seen as not only drawing on his EPA expertise, but also flaunting and trading on credentials and ties he built as a taxpayer-funded public servant. Halladorโ€™s press release is entitled โ€œScott Pruitt, Former Administrator of the EPA to Defend Indiana Rateย Payers.โ€

Scott Pruitt
EPAย Administratorย Scott Pruittย speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Credit:ย Gage Skidmore,ย CCย BYSAย 2.0

Meanwhile, as theย AP first reportedย last week, Ryan Zinke hasย accepted a job with Nevada-based U.S. Gold Corp, a gold-mining company thatโ€™s seeking Interior Department approval for projects on federal land. Zinke will receive $114,000 a year in cash and stock as a board member and consultant to U.S. Gold Corp, plus as much as $120,000 inย expenses.

Zinke insists his work for U.S. Gold Corp. wonโ€™t constitute lobbying. โ€œI donโ€™t lobby,โ€ Zinke told the AP. โ€œI just follow the law, so I donโ€™t talk to anybody on the executive side or influenceโ€ anyone. But Edward Karr, the companyโ€™s CEO, in explaining to AP why he hired the former secretary, cited Zinkeโ€™s โ€œexcellent relationshipโ€ with Interior and its Bureau of Land Management. Karr said the company was โ€œexcited to have Secretary Zinke help move us forwardโ€ on two mining projects itโ€™s pursuing, one of which, apparently, would be on land controlled by Interior, where Zinkeโ€™s former subordinatesย stillย work.

Zinke also already had become a โ€œsenior advisorโ€ at Turnberry Solutions, a D.C. corporate influence-peddling firm that includes Corey Lewandowski and other former Trump aides. A Turnberry partnerย toldย Politico that Zinke was likely to register to lobby, and Zinke stated that he looked forward โ€œto helping companies navigate the Washington, DCย bureaucracy.โ€

Pruitt, meanwhile, also has become aย consultantย to Oklahoma-based coal baronย Joseph W. Craft III, with whom heโ€™s long beenย associated.

Both Trumpsmen-turned-lobbyists were on display last month at the Dallas County Republican Party annual Reagan Day Dinner (video). Rafael Cruz, Tedโ€™s dad, introduced the two men, proclaiming that, under the Trump administration, โ€œthe yoke of bondage has been taken away from ourย businesses.โ€

Moderator Jacki Deason, from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, noted that the discussion had to be brief because one of the two men had to catch a flight. She began by asking them about the challenges President Trump faced in โ€œtaking down or controlling the deepย state.โ€

Pruitt dished some of the Trump insider information that the GOP audience supposedly craved. He claimed that Trump told him EPA was โ€œthe second most important agency after the Department of Defense.โ€ย  Zinke later felt compelled to say that Trump said the same to him aboutย Interior.

Both men might have been telling the truthย there.

Pruitt told the crowd that, under President Obama, EPA had been โ€œweaponizedโ€ against the fossil fuel industries. He insisted that his EPA had, in fact, done a better job protecting the environment than the Obama team. He praised Trumpโ€™s โ€œtremendous decisionโ€ to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, because that agreement โ€œwas not about CO2 reduction.โ€ He said that we โ€” America โ€” โ€œdo more for the environment than the rest of the world doesโ€ because weโ€™re exporting coal and liquid natural gas, and thatโ€™s good for airย quality.

Manspread across his upholstered chair, Zinke, who has been tied toย shady political fundraising operations, tried to turn his comments into a mini-campaignย rally.

He bragged about increased U.S. oil production under the Trump administration, an attempted applause line that did draw some applause.ย  He said that the Republican Party is the party of the environment and that the Democrats โ€œare willing to ensure the forests burn down, they are willing to pollute our oceans, they are willing to do anything forย power.โ€

Rick Perry and Ryan Zinke at CPAC 2018
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke speak at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Credit: Zach D. Robertsย forย DeSmog

โ€œYou have some radical environmental groups,โ€ Zinke warned, that want โ€œto stop accessโ€ to federal lands, they want to โ€œprevent you from using your landโ€ฆ to bubble wrap public land and let you look at it, but they donโ€™t want you on itโ€ฆ. Theyโ€™re for preservation at all costs.โ€ Zinke revived his effort to blame environmentalists for the recent California forestย fires.

โ€œWe know,โ€ he continued,ย  โ€œwhat the opposition wants, because theyโ€™ve said it: a vision of open borders, a vision of infacide [sic]โ€ฆ itโ€™s a vision of 16-year-olds voting, a vision ofย socialism.โ€

Zinke offering his own catnip for the Trump worshippers in the crowd, giving a fawning description of Trumpโ€™s erratic approach to speechmaking, as contrasted with the hyper-organized Mike Pence.ย  Zinke praised the messy Trump as a โ€œdisrupter,โ€ โ€œthe most unique president in the history of this country,โ€ and finally โ€œa hoot, but heโ€™s ourย president.โ€

While Zinke and Pruitt now preen in public and, on behalf of big corporations, shamelessly peddle the influence they acquired on the taxpayer dime, their former agencies are being run by their much less flamboyant, more detail-oriented, but no less conflicted ex-deputies: at EPA,ย former coal and utility lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, and at Interior, former energy, mining, and agribusiness lobbyistย David Bernhardt, already under investigation by his agencyโ€™sย inspector generalย for his ownย conflicts of interestย inย office.

Voters who actually believed Donald Trump would drain the DC swamp should look into this stuff.ย  Trump has stocked his cabinet and government with former lobbyists, or with grandiose politicians who cash out and become lobbyists when they leave. To borrow a phrase from our president, itโ€™s a totalย disgrace.

Main image: President Donald Trump, with then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, in 2017. Credit: U.S. Department of Interior, publicย domain

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