Trump Interior Secretary Zinke files to run for Congress, again

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to seek a new term in Congress, six years after leaving office to join the Trump administration. Zinke, 59, a Republican, won two elections to represent Montana’s lone congressional district, in 2014 and 2016. He was the first Navy SEAL to serve in the House of Representatives, and he won a spot in former President Trump’s Cabinet after bonding with Donald Trump Jr. In office, Zinke courted controversy, coming under investigation for using private planes to travel to events and to raise funds for Republican causes. He cited the investigations into what he called “false allegations” in a statement announcing his departure in 2018. Zinke closed his campaign account in 2019, but he was a prodigious fundraiser during his first stint in Congress. He raised more than $5.5 million in his successful bid for reelection in 2016...MORE 

Zinke gets a Zero from me. Recall he is right there with the enviros and the Dems on retention of federal lands and believing federal mgt. is superior to private or state mgt. of these lands. Sure wish Montana could send us a stronger advocate for the West. We also don't need another pseudo-cowboy in DC. The way he wears his hat is as backward as some of his views.

Ryan Zinke Taps Cousin Of Anti-Federal-Land Zealot For National Park Advisory Board

Ellis Ivory, a retired Utah homebuilder and second cousin of anti-federal-land state Rep. Ken Ivory (R), is among the 11 people Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has chosen to serve on a newly resurrected National Park System Advisory Board. The new members of the volunteer panel were announced this week, just days after Zinke and the Interior Department hosted Ken Ivory and members of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative nonprofit backed by Charles and David Koch that advocates handing over control of federal lands to states. Even the broad association between the Interior Department and the radical movement opposing federal land stewardship again raises questions about the seriousness of Zinke’s public pronouncements on the issue. Ken Ivory, a leader of the pro-land-transfer movement, is a former head of the right-wing think tank Federalism in Action’s Free the Lands project, which has argued that getting public lands out of the federal government’s hands is “the only solution big enough to tackle” today’s economic challenges. In 2012 he introduced legislation demanding that nearly all federal lands in Utah ― some 30 million acres ― be turned over to the state. The bill was passed and signed into law, but the lands have remained under federal control...MORE

Zinke says Trump behind him ’100 percent’ after ‘vicious attacks’

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, facing an ethics probe over land dealings, insisted Wednesday he still has President Donald Trump’s full support. Zinke, after touring the damage from the deadly Camp Fire in Paradise with Gov. Jerry Brown, also told The Sacramento Bee he has no recollection of meeting in 2017 with wealthy Sacramento land baron Angelo Tsakopoulos, as first reported by the Washington Post. Zinke is being investigated on multiple fronts. In what is considered the most serious matter, the Interior Department’s acting inspector general has referred to the Justice Department an investigation into whether the former Montana congressman acted improperly in connection with a land deal in Whitefish, Mont., with the head of oil-services conglomerate Halliburton. As secretary, Zinke oversees oil and gas drilling operations on federal lands. Last week, Trump said he wouldn’t fire Zinke but said, “I’m going to look into any complaints,” according to a Post account. In an interview with The Bee, Zinke said: “The allegations get more outrageous. ... I follow all rules, regulations, procedures and most importantly the law. I talk to the president, he understands. These are vicious attacks.” Zinke said the president backs him “100 percent.”...MORE