The political favor Ryan Zinke offered to Florida’s governor — and no one else

IN JANUARY, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) claimed a big political win, wrangling a surprise meeting with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and immediately obtaining a special exemption for his state from the Trump administration’s expansive offshore drilling plan. It was a well-choreographed drama meant to boost Mr. Scott’s impending campaign for the U.S. Senate — and it has now been exposed in all its cynicism. 

Politico reported Tuesday that Mr. Zinke and Mr. Scott’s staffs had been planning the secretary’s seemingly last-minute trip for days, beginning shortly after the Interior Department announced its new offshore drilling policy. Reporters were not told about the meeting until an hour before the public announcement, in which Mr. Zinke said that new drilling off Florida was “off the table,” and state officials were taken similarly by surprise. Held in the Tallahassee airport, the event appeared to have been hastily arranged. In fact, the whole episode seems to have been designed to demonstrate Mr. Scott’s power and influence, by having him appear to summon the interior secretary to his state and bring him to heel in an afternoon.

...Florida’s special dispensation raises implications that are far weightier than whether a couple of oil platforms will appear off Santa Barbara, Calif., or Virginia Beach. Mr. Zinke’s behavior suggests that major government policy will be made on his whim, according to whether petitioners have ingratiated themselves with the Trump administration or which political ally requires a favor. With the Florida drilling episode in mind, it is hard not to see the same thinking at work as Mr. Zinke has exempted sections of his home state, Montana, from oil and gold mining. As capricious, clan-based government advances, the public good is forgotten.

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