Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke overstepped ethical obligations/DOI

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke ignored his ethical obligations by continuing to work on a private development in his hometown of Whitefish, Montana, while serving as Interior secretary, the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General found.

While the investigation also showed Zinke had his staff assist with the project and was not candid in answering questions about his involvement with Interior's Designated Agency Ethics Official, the OIG concluded that his actions did not rise to the level of violating federal conflict of interest laws.

The report was forwarded to the Department of Justice, which declined to bring charges against Zinke. That didn't stop U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, from charging Wednesday that the "report shows us yet again that former President Trump’s appointees didn’t view their positions at the highest level of our government as an opportunity to serve our country, but as an opportunity to serve the interests of their personal pocketbooks.”

The matter revolved around the Great Northern Veterans Peace Park Foundation established by Zinke and his wife in 2007, nearly 5 acres of land the foundation received from the Burlington Northern Railroad, and a commercial development that would abut the land. The proposed development, known as 95 Karrow, was to include a microbrewery.

While Zinke resigned from the foundation in 2017 after he was confirmed as Interior secretary, the OIG investigation recovered by subpoena dozens of emails and texts between Zinke and the project's developers during his time as Interior secretary.

"We obtained approximately 64 emails and text messages dated August 21, 2017, through July 30, 2018, in which Secretary Zinke communicated directly with the developers about the 95 Karrow project," the OIG report said. "These communications, examples of which are set forth below, show that Secretary Zinke played an extensive, direct, and substantive role in representing the Foundation during negotiations with the 95 Karrow project developers. Many of these communications contained substantive discussions about specific design issues related to the 95 Karrow project, including the developer’s proposed use of the Foundation property for a parking lot and Secretary Zinke’s apparent interest in operating a microbrewery onsite.

"In light of these communications, we found that Secretary Zinke failed to abide by his ethics obligations in which he committed not to manage or provide any other services to the Foundation after his appointment as Secretary of the Interior," the report continued. "We also found that Secretary Zinke did not comply with his duty of candor when questioned by the DOI’s then Designated Agency Ethics Official about his continued involvement in Foundation matters, including the 95 Karrow project. In addition, we found that Secretary Zinke misused his official position in violation of Federal regulations by directing his subordinates to assist him with matters related to the Foundation and the 95 Karrow project."

Zinke, his wife, and others involved in the 95 Karrow project declined to be interviewed by the OIG.

Grijalva, in a release, pointed out that the former Interior secretary had "portrayed his involvement in the development as a benevolent attempt to create a Veteran’s Peace Park" while "trying to use the Veterans’ Peace Park to force inclusion of a brewery in the development.

As evidence, the congressman cited one of the emails OIG recovered in which one of the 95 Karrow developers told another that, "on quick review, [Zinke] is asking us to transfer ... [a] corner of land (and all utilities) to the Peace Park for the brewery… He is also asking for an exclusive right to produce alcohol on 95 Karrow and the Peace Park. In essence, he is leveraging the parking and snow storage for the Brewery lot and legal access to his site. In my opinion this is a big ask.”