WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-ARK) is calling for an audit of the Department of Interior’s ethics office involving appointees who have appearances of conflicts of interest based on previous work affiliations.
Westerman requested the audit in a Jan. 24 letter he sent to the Interior Department’s Inspector General Mark Greenblatt after the Washington Examiner reported that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's senior counselor, Elizabeth Klein, failed to fully reveal to ethics officials the scope of her deputy director job at the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC), which is funded by billionaire and climate litigation advocate Michael Bloomberg.
“This audit request is about good governance and ensuring best practices in ethics compliance,” Westerman told Legal Newsline. “Documents raise doubts about President Biden’s political appointees’ compliance with ethics requirements. For example, Ms. Klein, the Senior Counselor to the Interior Secretary, failed to disclose a complete list of clients from her previous employer.”
The SEEIC has placed lawyers in the offices of Democratic state attorneys general that helped file more than 130 regulatory and legal challenges against Trump-era federal environmental policies.
“We must find a way to ensure full disclosure and transparency from senior government officials,” Westerman added. “It is my hope that the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General will conduct a full audit and recommend best practices to address these deficiencies.”
Heather Gottry, the Interior Department’s designated agency ethics official, joined the Interior Department in 2018 after having worked as associate counsel to former President Barack Obama and ethics advisor, according to media reports. IG Greenblatt was nominated by former President Donald Trump in 2017 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Aug. 1, 2019.
Klein's ethics disclosures are also being sought by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) and Energy Policy Advocates (EPA), who last month jointly filed a complaint with Greenblatt and Gottry, requesting an investigation into potential misrepresentation by Klein with respect to previous client relationships.
The nonpartisan PPT is a watchdog that monitors compliance in government with an eye on restoring the public’s trust in government officials while EPA focuses on transparency in governmental decisions relating to energy and environmental policy.
The Department of Interior communications director Melissa Schwartz declined to comment.