ppt protect public trust

coc legal BS:

Mar 3, 2022

WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Both the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary and assistant Secretary received waivers for previous work in their respective states, however the scope of those waivers is being withheld, according to a watchdog group.

“The contents of the waiver are not available to the public and they have not been provided to us through our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request,” said Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT).

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and his assistant Secretary Rachel Levine signed certifications of ethics agreement compliance, which are available at the Office of Government Ethics website, however, the certifications do not provide details of the waivers granted for the states of CaliforniaandPennsylvania, respectively.

Becerra is the former attorney general of California while Levine is the former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

“Certainly, if there were matters that Becerra participated in personally and substantially when he was at the state of California and then they allowed him to participate in those same matters while he's at HHS, those would be concerning because he was the attorney general for the state of California,” Chamberlain told Legal Newsline.

PPT sued HHS last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging the documents have been wrongfully withheld.

“What surprised us about this FOIA request is that it was filed last year in early June and we're coming to the point where a couple of these waivers are going to expire in March so there is the potential that, for the entire time these waivers were in effect, the American public had no access to them even though the agency has the option to release them publicly if they want or they can release them in response to a FOIA request, which we submitted. But, these aren't the kind of waivers that they provide to the Office of Government Ethics, which would be posted on their website,” Chamberlain said.

PPT seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to compel the release of the waivers in compliance with the requirements of FOIA, according to the Feb. 24 complaint.

“The reason we filed the lawsuit is that HHS is not complying with their legal obligations, and we felt that the only way to get them to do so and to provide the documents would be through legal action,” Chamberlain added. “Right now, the trust from the American public in its government is at an all-time low and potential conflicts of interest and possible misconduct add to that.”

The lawsuit further names Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders who also received waivers.

https://gosar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4568

off bs? real e&e plag?

Washington, September 2, 2021| Jessica Lycos (202-379-6385)

The Interior Department’s inspector general is investigating whether the Bureau of Land Management’s current leader violated ethics rules in the bureau’s decision last spring topause a series of public lands orders in Alaska,according to a nonprofit watchdog group that requested the inquiry.

OIG investigator Michael Smith notified Protect the Public’s Trust in an email that it had conducted a "review" of the group’s initial complaint, filed in June, and that as of July 28 "the OIG’s Special Investigations and Reviews Unit will be investigating the complaint."

Protect the Public’s Trust — whose director, Michael Chamberlain, is a former Trump administration official — requestedInterior IG Mark Greenblatt initiate the investigation into whether Nada Culver, BLM’s deputy director of policy and programs, was involved in the April decision to impose a two-year moratorium on five public lands orders signed by former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt proposing opening 28 million acres of federal lands to mining and oil and gas development (*Greenwire*, June 14).

If so, Protect the Public’s Trust suggested that Culver, who is also performing the duties of BLM director, may have had a conflict of interest because theNational Audubon Society, where Culver once served as vice president of public lands and senior policy counsel, was among a coalition of groups that petitioned Bernhardt in October 2020 against opening the lands at issue to energy development.

About six weeks after Culver joined BLM this year, Interior announced the two-year delay in implementing Bernhardt’s orders while BLM worked "to correct defects associated with initial analysis" of the orders under the National Environmental Policy Act (Greenwire, April 15).

"The fact that Interior’s IG is dedicating some of their scarce resources to investigate Protect the Public’s Trust’s complaint speaks to the seriousness of the allegations as well as the underlying conduct by Ms. Culver," Chamberlain said in an emailed statement to E&E News.

"We look forward to the IG’s decision," he added.

A spokesperson for the inspector general’s office declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for Interior.

Protect the Public’s Trust became active earlier this year, and its leaders say it is nonpartisan (Greenwire, May 20).

But Chamberlain was a Trump-era communications official at the Education Department under former Secretary Betsy DeVos. He also led Nevada communications for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign (Greenwire, May 20).

The issues raised by the group in its original IG’s complaint also drew the attention of congressional Republicans.

Two senior House Republicans, in a letter sent last June to Culver and Heather Gottry, Interior’s designated agency ethics official, requested a list of ethics documents pertaining to Culver’s tenure at the National Audubon Society, as well as her earlier work as senior counsel and director of the Wilderness Society’s BLM Action Center (E&E Daily, June 16).

Among the documents requested by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, was a copy of Culver’s "signed ethics pledge," as well as a "list of recusals" outlining specific issues she may have agreed to avoid while at BLM due to her past work with the National Audubon Society and the Wilderness Society.

Rebekah Hoshiko, a spokesperson for Westerman, said they did receive a copy of Culver’s ethics pledge, recusal list and ethics waivers, but characterized the documents they received as "meager."

"We’ve received nothing else as of yet," Hoshiko said in an email.

hypocrisy is staggering

https://www.eenews.net/articles/new-group-eyes-corruption-at-doe-interior/ punked

A new watchdog group hopes to expose corruption in the Biden administration, with a focus so far on the Energy and Interior departments.

Protect the Public’s Trust started speaking out last month about what it says are real or potential ethical lapses by officials including Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, senior Department of Energy official Kelly Speakes-Backman, and Tommy Beaudreau, President Biden’s nominee to be deputy Interior secretary.

Michael Chamberlain, the group’s director, declined to say who is funding or otherwise supporting it, but insisted that the organization is nonpartisan.

chamberlain was formerly a communications official at the Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos and led Nevada communications for President Trump’s 2016 campaign before that.

"It was started by a group of concerned citizens who are interested in ensuring clean government and looking out for corruption, misconduct and potentialconflicts of interest among employees in the executive branch,"said Chamberlain.

He did not say whether any other staff currently work for the organization but said the group could announce staff and board members in the "not-too-distant future."

‘Across administrations’

Protect the Public’s Trust, a nonprofit, mirrors other often ideological or partisan watchdog groups that target particular parties.

Those include Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and American Oversight on the liberal side and Cause of Action and Americans for Public Trust on the conservative side.

But Chamberlain resisted comparisons to partisan groups. "We have affiliated researchers and consultants and people helping us who have backgrounds across administrations," he said. "We’re targeting people in the executive branch. So that’s the Biden administration right now."

As a sign of the organization’s nonpartisanship, he pointed to Beaudreau, who is a Democrat but has gotten significant support from Republicans.

Chamberlain said his group picks its targets based not on any specific issue areas, but on where it sees potential issues. The departments of Labor and Health and Human Services are among potential future targets for scrutiny, he said.

Protect the Public’s Trust has filed numerous Freedom of Information Act requests and at least one formal complaint to an agency ethics office, claiming that Speakes-Backman, DOE’s top energy efficiency and renewable energy official, may be working to help the group she used to lead, the Energy Storage Association, or its members.

"Ms. Speakes-Backman’s public appearances suggest a pattern of advancing the interests of her former employers and potentially endorsing them," Chamberlain said in a letter this month, which included a FOIA request seeking various records relating to Speakes-Backman.

DOE declined to comment on the ethics complaint or other allegations from Protecting the Public’s Trust, as did Interior.

‘Enormous conflict of interest’

The group has hit Beaudreau over his previous work as an attorney representing oil, natural gas, wind and other companies with business before Interior. It dinged Haaland for correcting her financial disclosure statements from her time in Congress.

The group also criticized Haaland adviser Elizabeth Klein for her "enormous conflicts of interest" stemming from her previous role at the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, which frequently helped state attorneys general with lawsuits against the Trump administration over Interior policies and is backed by Michael Bloomberg.

But it has put particular attention on Granholm for her investments in electric bus maker Proterra Inc., a company Biden recently highlighted with a virtual tour.

"There certainly is the appearance of some conflicts," Chamberlain said. "Her involvement with Proterra and not having divested of the stock — at least as recently as a couple of weeks ago, she announced that she held the stock option. They could potentially benefit from some initiatives."

In response to a question from Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) in a hearing yesterday, Granholm reiterated that she’ll divest from the company within the time frame required under law — 180 days from when she was sworn in.

"I very much understand and agree with the importance of avoiding conflicts. I support that 1,000%," she said. "I’m in the process of fulfilling my obligation to divest."

She was granted a certificate of divesture earlier this month, an indication that she is preparing to offload the shares (Greenwire, May 11).

Reporter Lesley Clark contributed.

Michael Chamberlain

Washington DC-Baltimore Area500+ connections

About

Experienced communications professional – social media manager, writer, citizen journalist, content creator, media manager, editory – whose copy, photo and video work has appeared on local (Nevada) and national television and online media. Highly sought-after writer with excellent research and data skills. Strong public speaker who frequently is requested to speak at conferences and events and appeared on prominent political programs, local television and radio programs in Nevada. MBA with experience as an entrepreneur, in management and in a variety of business functions.

Specialties: Analysis; written communication; copy editing; constituent outreach; cost estimating, process improvement; leadership; project management; client and vendor relations; budgeting, planning and forecasting; market-share enhancement; margin improvement; contract negotiation and administration.

Activity

4 more days to retirement. 1st on the list, back to Vegas to hug my parents. 2nd, on my boat on Lake Mead fishing. 3rd, when I'm tired of fishing I'm…

Liked by Michael Chamberlain

Grateful for another year of health and happiness. From my family to yours, happy holidays!

Liked by Michael Chamberlain

The Hirschi Iron website is live! Super excited for this team. Check it out: https://hirschiiron.com

Liked by Michael Chamberlain

Join now to see all activity

Groups

Sales Connections

New Media, Social Media, and Social Networking Participants

Consultants Network | Part of Consultancy.org

Linked:Energy (Energy industry expertise)Linked:Energy (Energy industry expertise) Graphic

Linked:Energy (Energy industry expertise)

Utah State University Alumni Network

LaborUnionNews.com

Show 8 more groups

Recommendations received

Click here to view Jim Graham’s profile

Jim Graham

“Michael is an excellent manager. His ability to take a project and address all of the details is second to none. Also, Michael has a brilliant mind for business, and can take on any type of challenge that may come up. Michael is always someone you can count on and it was a pleasure to have worked with him in the past. I will always look forward to working with Michael in the future.”

Click here to view Melinda Mellecker’s profile

Melinda Mellecker

“Michael is a great influence and helpful partner in sharing and mentoring ideas. I recommend Michael for his professional expertise..”

3 people have recommended Michael

https://www.protectpublicstrust.org/watchdogs-seek-ig-investigation-into-secretary-haalands-top-counselor/

Watchdogs Seek IG Investigation into Secretary Haaland’s Top Counselor

January 18, 2022

Senior Counselor to the Secretary Potentially Misrepresented Former Client Relationships

Today, Energy Policy Advocates (EPA) and Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) filed a complaint with the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General (IG) and ethics officials presenting information that suggests Senior Counselor to the Secretary Elizabeth Klein may have violated federal ethics laws and the Biden Ethics Pledge. These provisions prohibit political appointees from engaging in certain matters involving former employers and clients.

Ms. Klein, whose nomination for Deputy Secretary was withdrawn before she could be confirmed by the Senate, may have failed to provide vital information about the scope of her former employment from ethics officials preparing her guidance. While this alone could constitute an ethics violation, it also might have resulted in her working on matters she would have been prohibited from participating in if ethics officials were fully informed of her previous client relationships.

Ms. Klein served as Deputy Director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center (the “Center”) from January 2017 until joining Interior in January 2021. The Center, using funds obtained from billionaire Michael Bloomberg, entered into controversial agreements with state attorneys general (AG) offices around the country. As part of these agreements, the Center provided communications and consulting services and paid for legal fellows to assist the state AG offices with environmental litigation, much of which was in opposition to policies and actions of the Department of the Interior.

EPA’s state litigation efforts have uncovered agreements which Ms. Klein’s former employer entered into with at least 11 states. Yet documents provided by the Department indicate Ms. Klein may have revealed relationships to ethics officials regarding only five states. Ms. Klein’s potential conflicts of interest have also drawn the attention of Congressional representatives. EPA and PPT assert that a full investigation is warranted to ascertain whether Ms. Klein provided all appropriate information to ethics officials and whether she may have participated in matters from which she should have been recused.

:{:{“These new documents uncovered by Energy Policy Advocates suggest that Ms. Klein may have provided consulting services to many more state AG offices than just those reflected in her ethics guidance,” Michael Chamberlain, Director of Protect the Public’s Trust, said. “The belief that ethics obligations are not enforced equally is a major reason the American public’s trust in its government is at an all-time low. Of course, ethics officials can only provide guidance based on the information they are given. We believe that a complete and thorough investigation is necessary to ensure that Interior officials are fully adhering to their ethics obligations and avoiding potential conflicts.”

“The American people deserve to know that public servants have disclosed all the work they did in the private sector and recused from decisions that might benefit their former employers,” stated Rob Schilling, Executive Director of Energy Policy Advocates. “We hope the Inspector General will take a close look at these records and investigate whether Ms. Klein inappropriately failed to disclose her private employment or to recuse herself from decisions involving her former clients.”}:}:

###

The American public deserves to know:

Whether a state AG office’s decision to enter into a Secondment Agreement with Ms. Klein’s employer, including a Secondment Agreement that explicitly listed Ms. Klein as a point of contact, made Ms. Klein a “consultant,” “agent,” “contractor,” or other analogous relationship to the state AG;
Whether a state AG office’s decision to enter into a Common Interest Agreement with former clients of Ms. Klein’s on matters where she participated in the coordination and strategic development of that unified party litigation, made Ms. Klein a “consultant,” “agent,” “contractor,” or other analogous relationship to those parties;
Whether Ms. Klein timely disclosed to ethics officials the existence and nature of her contractual relationship with all of the state AG offices who signed a Secondment Agreement with Ms. Klein’s employer during her tenure;
Whether ethics advice was contemporaneously provided in written form regarding these additional relationships, and if so, when, in what manner, and why have these documents not been provided as responsive documents in relevant FOIA requests; if such advice was not contemporaneously provided in written form, why was it not and was that requested by Ms. Klein?
Whether Ms. Klein inappropriately avoided disclosing to ethics officials that several state AG offices signed Secondment Agreements with her former employer during her tenure;
Whether and to what extent Ms. Klein has participated in particular matters involving any of the states that signed a Secondment Agreement since joining the Department;
Whether Ms. Klein sought ethics approval prior to participation with any former client – including former clients ultimately listed on her recusal list and former clients with whom she provided strategic and communications services to under the Secondment Agreements;
Whether the temporary removal of Ms. Klein’s former clients from her recusal list in April 2020 (which were later added in June 2020) was justified and whether Ms. Klein inappropriately attended any meetings with those three states in that time period.

off bs

https://www.protectpublicstrust.org/about-us/

Public service is a public trust. Americans have always had high expectations for those individuals charged with guiding our Nation’s ship of state. Unfortunately, leaders have not always lived up to such high ideals. For too long, the American public has sat and watched as its public servants play fast and loose with the rules, rewarding insiders and special interests at the expense of the American people. This has led to an unprecedented dip in trust in our elected officials and those charged with executing the law.

There is now a double standard with different rules and oversight of public officials based on irrelevant and arbitrary factors such as politics and policy perspectives. This undermines Americans’ faith in their government and their trust in its policies.

As a group of retired and former public servants with decades of experience in government, we saw firsthand the unfairness this created for those individuals, both career officials and political appointees, who play by the rules. We believe in the noble value of public service and understand the sacrifices many make to serve their country. Those who follow the law and act ethically should not be tarnished by the actions of those who seek to skirt the rules when it suits them.

Through fair and equal enforcement of the rules and obligations of our public servants, we begin to restore the public trust. Protect the Public’s Trust is a project dedicated to ensuring there is only one standard – one set of rules that our leaders must live by no matter what party affiliation or ideological bent. Through research and education, we will monitor and inform the American people about the self-dealing and conflicts of interest, and the improper and illegal behavior of senior officials across the government.

The American people deserve a government that is impartial, free from conflicts of interest, and operates without political interference or favoritism. Our goal is to ensure our nation fulfills that promise.

Michael Chamberlain – Director

Michael Chamberlain served four years at the U.S. Department of Education in the Office of Communications and Outreach. He frequently represented the Department at national conferences and other events in addition to managing planning, logistics and onsite media for events featuring senior Department leaders. Prior to moving inside the Beltway for that role, he ran a boutique communications and public relations firm offering services to businesses, nonprofits and political candidates in Nevada. Michael earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Utah State University and an MBA.