Watchdog asks Interior to open investigation into Ryan Zinke's flights

A watchdog group asked the Interior Department's inspector general on Friday to investigate whether Secretary Ryan Zinke violated the law by chartering private planes for purposes that may represent conflicts of interest. The Campaign for Accountability, a watchdog group focused on public accountability, asked both the Interior Department's Office of Special Counsel and the inspector general to investigate whether Zinke violated conflict of interest laws and the Hatch Act by using private charter flights to travel for public speaking events, including addressing professional sports teams, as part of his official duties. "Interior argues that by speaking to a group of highly paid – mostly foreign – athletes, Sec. Zinke was reaching ‘a key audience of people we are trying to target to use our public lands,'" said Daniel Stevens, the group's executive director. "Shouldn't Sec. Zinke be more focused on American families and how they can benefit from our national lands? Rather than putting America first, Zinke is putting a top donor first," said Stevens...more