SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
jack abramoff
150 Groups Urge Senate to Reject 'Walking Conflict of Interest' Bernhardt for Top Interior Post
May 17, 2017
One-hundred and fifty conservation groups sent a letter today urging U.S. senators to oppose the nomination of energy lobbyist David Bernhardt as top deputy in the Interior Department, citing his efforts to enrich corporations at the expense of the environment.
Bernhardt's confirmation hearing is set for Thursday before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Today's letter says Bernhardt's "conflicts of interest, industry ties and questionable judgment make him ill suited to lead the Department." If confirmed as the chief deputy to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Bernhardt would play a key role in directing the management of hundreds of millions of acres of national parks, monuments, forests and refuges as well as wildlife, including endangered species.
"Bernhardt has been called a 'walking conflict of interest' for good reason. He represents everything that's wrong with the Trump administration and the revolving door of politics," said Randi Spivak, the Center for Biological Diversity's public lands director. "It's clear he'll put the interests of oil, mining and agribusiness above the interests of the American people, public lands and wildlife. From Scott Pruitt to Ryan Zinke, and now David Bernhardt, Trump has assembled the most anti-environmental administration in history."
Over the past 20 years, Bernhardt has taken full advantage of the revolving door between industry and government -- including a stint as Interior's top lawyer under the George W. Bush administration. At the law firm of Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck he represented big agriculture, oil and gas, and mining companies. If confirmed he will oversee the agencies that decide whether or not to allow mining, fossil fuel and other extractive projects on public lands to proceed.
Bernhardt's lobbying firm has a significant financial stake in the Cadiz project, which would pump groundwater beneath California's fragile desert and sell it to Southern California urban water agencies. Pumping would dry up the springs that feed Mojave National Preserve and Mojave Trails National Monument and harm bighorn sheep, bobcats and other wildlife. Bernhardt's lobbying firm couldgain millions of dollars in additional stock if the Interior Department approves the permits necessary for Cadiz to move forward.
"David Bernhardt is absolutely the wrong choice for deputy secretary of the Interior. All you have to do is look at his record," said Defenders of Wildlife Senior Vice President of Conservation Programs Bob Dreher. "His work for the oil and gas industry and western water interests presents irresolvable conflicts with his responsibilities as deputy secretary, and casts doubt on his commitment to stewardship of the nation's lands, resources and wildlife. His past tenure at the Department of the Interior demonstrates a similar disregard for acting in the public interest to protect our shared natural heritage. We urge Congress to reject this nomination."
Another former client of Berhardt's is pushing to develop a massive open-pit copper mine in the scenic Santa Rita Mountains in Arizona. The Rosemont copper mine, now owned by Hudbay Minerals, would bury parts of the Coronado National Forest in toxic mine tailings. Bernhardt has also represented Cobalt International Energy, which was sued in 2014 for bribing foreign officials to obtain oil concessions.
When Bernhardt represented the Westlands Water District, he lobbied for legislation that would weaken water quality in the California Bay Delta to benefit large agribusiness interests in California and harm endangered species, including steelhead, salmon and the critically endangered Delta smelt.
If confirmed Bernhardt would be in a unique position to undermine the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's efforts to follow the best available science and implement proper conservation measures.
During Bernhardt's tenure as Interior's top lawyer in charge of ethics and legal compliance, the Department was rocked by a series of high-profile scandals. Department staff interfered with the scientific integrity of the Endangered Species Act, and others were caught using cocaine and having sexual relations with members of the oil and gas industry. In addition, during that time a high-ranking department official was convicted of lying to the Senate regarding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
In addition to the Center and Defenders of Wildlife, other groups opposing Bernhardt's nomination include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Union of Concerned Scientists and the Sierra Club. Collectively these groups represent millions of supporters.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Foe of Endangered Species, Public Lands Nominated for Deputy Interior Secretary
David Bernhardt’s Lobbying for Mining, Oil, Development Special Interests Creates Swamp of Ethical Conflicts
Apr 28, 2017
Industry lobbyist David Bernhardt has been nominated for deputy secretary at the Department of the Interior, where he would directly oversee management of more than 1,600 endangered species and millions of acres of public lands.
Over the past 20 years, Bernhardt has taken full advantage of the revolving door between industry and government -- including a stint as Interior's top lawyer under the George W. Bush administration -- and the law firm of Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck, where he represented big agriculture, oil and gas, and mining companies.
"Appointing a lobbyist like Bernhardt shows just how empty Donald Trump's promise to drain the swamp was," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "From Scott Pruitt to Ryan Zinke, and now David Bernhardt, President Trump has assembled the most anti-environmental administration in history."
Bernhardt has represented a who's-who of special interests, including Rosemont Copper, which is behind a push to develop a massive open-pit copper mine in the scenic Santa Rita Mountains, south of Tucson, Ariz. Bernhardt has also represented Cobalt International Energy, which was sued in 2014 for bribing foreign officials to obtain oil concessions. Bernhardt will now oversee the agencies that must ultimately decide to allow which mining and fossil fuel projects to proceed.
Bernhardt has also represented the Westlands Water District and lobbied on its behalf for legislation that would weaken water quality in the California Bay Delta to benefit large agribusiness interests in California. That would, in turn, harm endangered steelhead, salmon, and the critically endangered Delta smelt.
If confirmed Bernhardt would be in a unique position to undermine the Fish and Wildlife Service's efforts to follow the best available science and implement the proper conservation measures.
"David Bernhardt will be the go-to guy that helps Rep. Rob Bishop try to repeal the Endangered Species Act," said Hartl. "In his long career taking advantage of the revolving-door of special interests, Bernhardt has always sided with big business at the expense of our most imperiled wildlife. If confirmed he'd be a disaster for all endangered species."
During Bernhardt's tenure as Interior's top lawyer, the department was racked by a series of high-profile scandals. One involved political tampering with decisions about endangered species protections by the Fish and Wildlife Service -- decisions that are supposed to be based solely on science. Additionally, employees from the Minerals Management Service were found to have used cocaine and had sexual relations with members of the oil and gas industry, and department officials were convicted of lying to the Senate regarding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Protest Stopped the Predators. They Will Be Back.
The public outcry after the GOP tried to quash an ethics watchdog is the kind of citizen action we'll need to survive the next four years.
Jan 05, 2017
Mark Twain noted that man is the only animal that blushes -- or needs to.
He also believed that "public office is private graft."
Those two observations from our greatest and most sagacious humorist intersected with a bang on Capitol Hill Monday night, when the bright lights of the Republican House Conference met in secret behind closed doors at the end of the New Year's holiday.
They tried to vote themselves an especially tasty treat: eviscerating the independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). That's the office created in 2008 in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal and the placement of three congressmen behind bars. The conference voted to absorb it into the House Ethics Committee. In other words, they wanted to weaken OCE and put it under the control of some of the very folks the office is charged with investigating for possible influence peddling and other assorted mischief.
If the conference had its way, OCE would wind up having all the clout of the token student representative on your local board of education, giving unscrupulous legislators freedom to rob the public blind without fear of exposure.
But a funny thing happened on the way to congressional visions of new secret bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. The public can become like sheep when the shepherd is a demagogue, but when the public is outraged over outright unfairness and chicanery, it can roar like a lion. Once word of the vote leaked out, phone calls, emails and social media recriminations from all points of the political spectrum began flooding the sacred halls of the House of Representatives, which was once called The People's House before it became the predator's lair.
Talk about embarrassment. Imagine this new congress, pledged to "drain the swamp," taking as its first action a rule that in effect would have helped make the swamp part of the National Park Service.
The nonpartisan Project in Government Oversight (POGO), declared that OCE needed "to be strengthened and expanded -- not taken out back and shot in the middle of the night." So the GOP conference fled into another closed-door session and changed its mind. We were only kidding, they said. The Office of Congressional Ethics is alive and well -- until the next time we try to kill it.
Just before the meeting, our august president-elect bestowed the Congress with two of his imperial tweets:
\u201cWith all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1483455809
Followed by:
\u201c........may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1483456061
DTS stands for Drain the Swamp, of course, although we're sure many of our progressive brethren would prefer bawdier acronyms involving the president-elect himself. Nonetheless, many are claiming it was these very dispatches from fearless leader that turned the vote around. But read his words carefully: He's more concerned about bad timing; he has no great love for the OCE.
In fact, shortly before the tweets, his amanuensis Kellyanne Conway was telling George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America that "gutting it doesn't mean there won't be a mechanism" -- just that there had been "overzealousness in some of the processes over the years."
Most members of the House agree it was the public outcry that swiveled those usually obdurate minds on Capitol Hill; Trump merely once again displayed his ability to jump on the prevailing public sentiment or someone else's success and ride it to vainglory, like the story of the French revolutionary John F. Kennedy liked to tell: There go my people, the revolutionary said. I must find out their destination so I can lead them.
In the end, what this New Year's imbroglio tells us is three things. First, it's a reminder once again of the mediocre caliber of too many of the men and women running for the House and Senate these days. All too often, people of public spirit who would make ideal candidates are discouraged from running by the horrors of perpetual fundraising -- the vise of money in politics -- not to mention the spotlight shone on every small detail of their personal and professional lives. Many of the people who wind up taking the bit and running are soulless empty suits, in it for the power and the payoffs during and after tenure. Or they're already rich in the first place.
Which leads us to the second thing: venality, so often hand-in-hand with mediocrity. All indications are that our incoming president regards the White House as a pirate galleon built to increase his family's trove of plunder many fold, and the notion seems to be rubbing off on Congress. New York Times columnist Frank Bruni asked, "Is it any wonder that House Republicans felt OK about trying to slip free of some of their own ethical shackles, no matter how ugly the optics?"
"... It's the tone that Trump has set and the culture that he's creating. He operates with an in-your-face defiance, so these House Republicans did, too. He puts his own desires and comfort first, so they reserved the right to do the same. With more than a few of his Cabinet picks, he demonstrated little sense of fidelity to what he promised voters and even less concern about appearances. House Republicans decided to treat themselves to a taste of that freedom."
Third, we have to keep ever vigilant. Other anti-democratic measures inserted in the same rules package slipped past the public. The first imposes a fine on House members taking photos or video in the chamber -- a petty, vindictive, retroactive slap to those lawmakers who last June sat-in to protest Congress' refusal to take action on gun control. You'll recall that after Republicans quickly adjourned and cut off the C-SPAN cameras, the protesting members, led by Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights legend, used their cell phones to send out video and keep the story alive.
Even worse, the new rules allow not just members of Congress to subpoena and question officials and citizens; it extends that fearsome power to staff members, opening the door to witch hunts and persecutions that could make Benghazi and Clinton's emails seem like a stroll in the park. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), ranking member of the House Rules Committee, said, "Freely handing out the power to compel any American to appear, sit in a room, and answer staff's invasive questions on the record -- without members even being required to be present -- is truly unprecedented, unwarranted and offensive."
Every battle won't be won. Nonetheless, the public DID manage to keep the House GOP from surreptitiously murdering the Office of Congressional Ethics, and that's proof we can make a difference if we keep the pressure on and hammer home our resistance and opposition when democracy and liberty are threatened.
The problem, neatly summarized as usual by Mark Twain, is that, "To lodge all power in one party and keep it there is to insure bad government and the sure and gradual deterioration of the public morals." This week, we got a vigorous, healthy and inspiring reminder that protest matters. Keep that in mind as the perfidies unfold this year under the one-party monopoly that will soon control our federal government.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular