Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke has found plenty of time to decorate his office with dead animals and to look into enlarging and redesigning the Interior Department’s flag—but not much time, apparently, to keep complete records of his official travel. In fact, according to the agency’s watchdog, for some trips there are no records at all. Zinke has previously said his use of private planes is necessary and called the controversy about it “a little BS.” On the travel matter and much else, Zinke’s tenure so far is a whole lot of BS.
Lisa Rein and Drew Harwell report:
A rare alert sent by Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall to the secretary’s office Wednesday, obtained by The Washington Post, said her investigation into allegations of improper travel practices by Zinke has been stymied by “absent or incomplete documentation for several pertinent trips.”
Interior lawyers and ethics officials also have not shown evidence to investigators that they have been able to “distinguish between personal, political and official travel” or cost-analysis documents to justify his choice of military or charter flights, Kendall wrote. [...]
The Post and other news organizations have reported that Zinke flew a private plane owned by an oil executive, took charter flights in the Virgin Islands and has mixed official travel with stops at political fundraisers and donor events.
The inspector general’s office is seeking complete travel records, including approval and reimbursement documents that “describe all instances when Mrs. Zinke traveled in a government-owned vehicle, watercraft, or aircraft,” and who paid.
Interior officials claim that all Zinke’s travel was approved ahead of time and that he only traveled on private charters when commercial flights weren’t available. But those claims weren’t backed up with documentation, nor did they explain what percentage of his trips were paid for out of Republican campaign funds, which would be required for certain trips. The independent Office of Special Counsel is looking into Zinke’s travel in search of violations of the Hatch Act, which forbids federal employees from political activities while on the job.
Zinke’s deputy responded to the inspector general’s report in a letter that blames the situation on the “organizational and operational mess” he claims was left behind by the Obama administration. But he also noted that the Interior department is continuing to use the same reporting procedure despite its being “dysfunctional.” If that’s true, why have they still not straightened out this alleged mess after 10 months in office?
Zinke is one of four Pr*sident Trump appointees under scrutiny for their travel. The others are Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, and Tom Price, who was secretary of Health and Human Services until he resigned in September after taking $400,000 worth of charter flights and charging it to the taxpayers.
All this coming from people noted for their complaints about wasteful government spending. But they’re entitled and frugality is only on display in their rhetoric, not their official behavior.