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Recently, the Huffington Post compiled a list of just some of the gifts that embattled Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has received, including a copy of the Constitution (could prove useful), a book on climate denial (as if he needed a refresher), and a copy of the movie Dumb and Dumber. This comes as Zinke is looking at 11 investigations into his scandals on top of widespread opposition to his disastrous actions.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?!”
As Zinke prepares to speak in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to address a conservative organization’s event (which costs $325 per person to attend), let’s review the Secretary’s scandals, disastrous actions, and inability to grasp his position.
Zinke has enjoys exploiting the American taxpayers for the finer things in life, including traveling by private plane, helicopter rides around D.C., and rather pricey doors. When pressed by Congress on his spending, Zinke lost his cool. At first, he claimed that he has never taken a private jet anywhere, which is a lie. Then he lashed out at Senator Maria Cantwell. “I resent the fact of your insults. I resent the fact they're misleading,” he said. “I resent the fact of the doors.”
“Why you going to the airport? Flying somewhere?”
In his rush to support Donald Trump’s Twitter agenda (based on false claims about a lack of water to fight fires), Zinke has charged that environmentalists “would rather see forests and communities burn” than allow any logging in our forests. He was quick to jump on the bandwagon of exploiting the Mendocino Fire for political gain -- promoting logging interests, while completely ignoring the role of climate change in exacerbating wildfires. At the same time Zinke has continued an unprecedented push to open up public lands to dirty fuel development, which would only worsen climate change. Just this week, Interior proposed opening more than a million acres in California to oil and gas leasing, even as other parts of the state are still consumed by fire. The move follows recent news stemming from accidentally released documents showing that Zinke dismissed the benefits of national monuments and other information that contradicted his desire to eliminate protections for national monuments in order to make way for extractive industries.
“That’s as good as money, sir. Those are I.O.U.s”
And if that wasn’t enough of a gift to his industry cronies, Zinke’s Interior has proposed new rules that would gut the Endangered Species Act to make it easier for corporate polluters to build pipelines and well pads in sensitive areas -- removing automatic protections for threatened wildlife, injecting economics into decision making, and undermining habitat safeguards.
“One time, we successfully mated a bulldog with a Shih-Tzu.”
Recently, Politico published a bombshell report on a foundation that Zinke established and that is run by his wife, Lola, playing a central role -- and standing to benefit financially -- in a real estate deal backed by David Lesar, Halliburton’s chairman and a longtime donor to Zinke’s political campaigns. But hey, at least Zinke might get a brewery out of it! Since then, Interior’s IG has open an investigation into Zinke’s shady dealings.
“You can’t triple stamp a double stamp!”
Zinke has made and doubled down on racially insensitive remarks to a senator, has overseen eye-popping staff resignations by minorities working at his department, and has even reportedly said, "diversity isn't important," "I don't care about diversity," and "I don't really think that's important anymore." That reports came shortly after Zinke made a racially insensitive remark -- and doubled down on it -- to U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa. Last year, Zinke abruptly reassigned 33 senior Interior executive staffers. Nearly 50 percent of those staffers were minorities. Zinke has also taken to demanding that a woman “be nice” when questioning his failure to meet with Tribal leaders during his monuments review.
Zinke is under investigation by Interior’s IG for repeatedly making a mockery of the Hatch Act, including recently posting a picture of himself wearing a pair of MAGA socks.
“That John Denver is full of sh*t.”
While Zinke is trying desperately to change the narrative surrounding his tenure, for months, he has repeatedly omitted attendees at his meetings on his official calendar.
“Do you want to hear the most annoying sound in the universe?”
In January, just a few days after releasing the administration’s draft offshore drilling plan, Zinke announced that Florida would be exempted from drilling, which prompted widespread, bipartisan criticism and potentially broke the law. Since then, Zinke has made numerous contradictory statements.
“Big gulps, huh?”