Day 415: Interior Secretary to Get New $139K Doors
Ryan Zinke has had a tumultuous time leading the Department of the Interior. There were questions about his connection to a company awarded a $300 million no-bid contract after Hurricane Maria. There have also been a number of issues regarding his use of taxpayer funds, including using a government helicopter to transport him to ride horses with Mike Pence.
His wife, Lolita Zinke, reportedly treats Interior Department staff like her personal party planners and travel agents. And, of course, like any good Trump administration official, there are the private flights on the taxpayers’ dime. Zinke has called public scrutiny of the $20,000 bill he racked up by refusing to fly commercial “complete and utter bullshit.” But, as Politico reports, private jets were hardly the only way Zinke avoided the line at the airport.
In one instance this summer, Zinke spent $8,000 on a helicopter to take him from the swearing-in of his congressional successor, Rep. Greg Gianforte, in Washington, D.C., to an emergency management exercise in West Virginia. By car, that trip would have taken two hours, but don’t ask the Interior Department staff about the decision to take a chopper instead. “The swearing in of the Congressman is absolutely an official event, as is emergency management training,” spokeswoman Heather Swift told Politico in an e-mail. “Shame on you for not respecting the office of a Member of Congress.”
Now, Zinke is getting three sets of double doors for his office suite. Cost to John Q. Taxpayer: $139,000.
Blaming recommendations by others, Zinke’s spokeswoman cried ignorance.
“The secretary was not aware of this contract but agrees that this is a lot of money for demo, install, materials, and labor,” Heather Swift, the spokeswoman, said in a statement.
If this story sounds familiar, it’s because less than two weeks Ben Carson’s HUD got popped for trying to spend $200,000 on new furniture, including a $31,000 dining room set for Carson’s office. A spokesperson blamed a career staffer and claimed Carson had no idea about the costs. (The requests were withdrawn, but only after public outcry.)
As we noted then, it fell into a pattern for Donald Trump’s Cabinet:
- EPA chief Scott Pruitt routinely flies around in first class and stays in luxury hotels;
- Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin flew on the taxpayer’s dime to Kentucky to watch an eclipse;
- Former HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned after it was revealed he was flying on private aircraft;
- An audit showed VA Secretary David Shulkin lied so taxpayers would pay for his wife to accompany him to Europe; and
- Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has faced questions regarding his own private air travel, as well as his connection to a company that received a $300 million contract related to providing aid in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Zinke may be among the most egregious offenders on this list, and it’s clear he has no intention of stopping.
415 days in, 1047 to go
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