ben cassidy

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</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NEW</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-favor-factory/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-favor-factory/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/3/22, 1:53 PM The Favor Factory - Center for American Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-favor-factory/ 1/24</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>REPORT AUG 27, 2018</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheFavorFactory</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PresidentTrump’s Interior DepartmentIsBenefitingPast</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political Donors andLobbying Clients</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A culture of corruption in President Donald Trump’s Interior Department may be resulting in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lucrative rewards for the political patrons and past clients of Secretary Ryan Zinke, Deputy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary David Bernhardt, and other senior Trump administration officials.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Introduction and summary</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On August 3, 2017, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke spent his afternoon and evening</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>with David Lesar, the chairman of oil services giant Halliburton</b>. The two men met in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marc Rehmann</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke swears in David Bernhardt as the deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior, August 1, 2017. (U.S. Department of the Interior)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/3/22, 1:53 PM The Favor Factory - Center for American Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-favor-factory/ 2/24</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zinke’s lavish Interior Department offices, toured the Lincoln Memorial together, and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">then had dinner at a popular Washington, D.C., beer garden.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The details of Zinke and Lesar’s conversations are not yet known, but according to a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">participant in the day’s meetings, the main topic was not energy policy or oil production</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">but instead a<b> real estate deal in Whitefish, Montana, that would reportedly deliver</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>private financial benefits to both men. </b>The real estate deal; Zinke’s alleged use of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">public office for personal financial gain; and the question of whether Halliburton has</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">improperly benefited from Lesar’s financial ties to Zinke have rightly attracted the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">scrutiny of watchdog groups, congressional investigators, and Interior’s inspector</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">general.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Both Zinke and Lesar have acknowledged the real estate deal and meeting in the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">secretary’s office, and they have dismissed any wrongdoings. However, the emerging</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">scandal may be part of a string of questionable decisions rather than an isolated</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">incident. The Center for American Progress reviewed financial and lobbying disclosure</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">forms of Trump administration officials, as well as Interior Department decisions,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">media reports, and other government records. The findings indicate that President</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump’s Interior Department may be establishing a standard of behavior that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hands out favorable decisions—which may carry substantial financial benefits—to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">political patrons and past clients of senior political appointees in the Department of the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior (DOI). In some cases, by doing so, the department has dismissed ethical</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">norms. <b>This pattern of behavior mirrors the culture of corruption that has taken root in</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>President Trump’s White House, at former Administrator Scott Pruitt’s Environmental</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Protection Agency, and in other Trump administration cabinet agencies.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zinke’s own behaviors and actions—from his real estate deal with Lesar to his mixing of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">political, personal, and government business on taxpayer-funded trips—create an</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ethically questionable culture within the Department of the Interior’s leadership. Yet it</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is Zinke’s deputy secretary, David Bernhardt—previously a lobbyist on issues he now</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">oversees—who appears to be a central figure in a carefully constructed clientelistic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">system for dispensing political favors. The authors of this report characterize this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">system as the Interior Department’s “favor factory.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bernhardt, who led then-President-elect Trump’s transition team for the Department of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the Interior, first served in the Interior Department as a political appointee in the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">administration of former President George W. Bush. He served as senior aide to then</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Interior Secretary Gale Norton before being promoted to serve as the Interior</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Department’s top lawyer. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">As solicitor, Bernhardt authored several controversial legal</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">opinions, including ones that made it more difficult to designate endangered species.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After leaving the department in 2009, Bernhardt rejoined the Washington, D.C., office</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he lobbied for mining companies, oil and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">gas companies, powerful water users in the West, and other groups that have a financial</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">interest in decisions that are made by the Department of the Interior. In August 2017, he</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">was sworn in as Interior’s deputy secretary.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This report will explore three notable features of the favor factory at the Interior</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department. First, it will examine how Trump administration political appointees at the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior Department can exploit weakened federal ethics guidelines to work in positions</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">where they can deliver favorable decisions to past clients and mask their portfolio of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">responsibilities from public inspection. Second, it will analyze recent Interior</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department decisions that are favorable to past clients of former lobbyists and litigants</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">who are working in Trump’s Department of the Interior. Finally, the report will examine</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">some of the operational characteristics of the Interior Department’s favor factory that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mask it from public view.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/3/22, 1:53 PM The Favor Factory - Center for American Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-favor-factory/ 3/24</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This report does not make any claims that Trump administration officials at the Interior</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department have violated any federal laws or regulations; rather, it describes the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">contours of what is currently known and not known about the Trump administration’s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">practices at the Department of the Interior. For example, the report lists four past</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">clients of Deputy Secretary Bernhardt who have received or stand to receive financial</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">benefits from specific decisions by the Trump administration’s Interior Department.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These decisions merit scrutiny by congressional investigators in order to determine</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">whether they were made in accordance with federal ethics and conflict of interest</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">statutes and regulations. In addition, the report includes a “watch list,” which details</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">other past clients of Bernhardt who have significant policy and business interests before</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Interior Department. Congressional oversight committees should carefully monitor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the deputy secretary’s engagement on these matters in order to ensure compliance with</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">his recusals and ethics agreement.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The importance of strong congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior Department cannot be overstated. The DOI Office of the Inspector General</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(OIG) and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel have already opened 11 investigations of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary Zinke’s actions, yet the 115th Congress has failed to hold a single hearing on</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">possible ethical lapses by political appointees in Trump’s Interior Department. This</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">failure by the Republican-led Congress to hold the executive branch accountable raises</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the risk that the Interior Department will once again endure the kind of scandal,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">scientific misconduct, and ethical violations that consumed the department during the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">George W. Bush administration. To avoid this outcome, congressional oversight</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">committees should immediately begin to gather additional information, to request</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">records, and to conduct interviews that can illuminate the operation of Interior’s favor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">factory.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to conducting its oversight responsibilities, Congress should take legislative</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">action to tighten ethics standards and to strengthen enforcement of conflict of interest</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">laws. In particular, CAP recommends that Congress:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Enacting these standards and conducting rigorous independent oversight will</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">strengthen the public’s trust in the Department of the Interior, safeguard the country’s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">public lands from special interests, and ensure that the agency’s decisions are made in a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">manner that serves the public interest.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheTrumpadministration’s weakenedethics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">policies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Upon taking office in 2009, then-President Barack Obama issued sweeping ethics and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">revolving door restrictions to be imposed on officials seeking to serve in his</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">administration. His executive order was largely inspired by ethical lapses that defined</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Bush administration’s Department of the Interior, including allegations of financial</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">self-dealing, meddling with scientific findings, and the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">scandal.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[x]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Strengthen formal ethics standards for individuals working in the executive</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">branch.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Strengthen the Lobbying Disclosure Act by amending it to require lobbyists to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">provide more detailed information when filling out disclosure forms.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Increase funding for Interior’s Office of the Inspector General in order to ensure</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">proper oversight of the department.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Require better records retention policies within the Interior Department and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">modernize the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/3/22, 1:53 PM The Favor Factory - Center for American Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-favor-factory/ 4/24</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On January 28, 2017, President Donald Trump signed his own executive order on ethics.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At first glance, it appears that the order is complementary to Obama’s ambitions to curb</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">conflicts of interests within the administration. Both executive orders include</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“reverse revolving door” restrictions on those entering an administration: All</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">appointees must pledge to recuse themselves from official actions that would directly</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and substantially affect their former employers or clients of the last two years.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, Trump’s executive order removed a critical provision: banning individuals</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from seeking or accepting employment with any executive agency that they lobbied</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">within the previous two years. David Bernhardt—who, until 2017, worked as a lobbyist</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and chairman for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s natural resources department—</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">was among the individuals who benefited from Trump’s elimination of the two-year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lobbying ban. Bernhardt now serves as deputy secretary of the Interior. The removal of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Obama-era provision allows people like Bernhardt, who have years of experience in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the private and public sectors, to be able to oversee policies at the Department of the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior that could benefit former clients.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Trump’s order also differs from Obama’s in two other important ways. First,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">it fails to clearly state who is charged with overseeing that mandated recusals take</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">place. Unlike the Obama administration, Trump has failed to appoint an “ethics czar” or</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to implement a procedure ensuring all potential conflicts of interests are understood by</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">newly appointed officials. Secondly, while both orders include exception waivers for</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">some individuals, Trump’s removes a transparency provision that allows the public to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">know who has received such waivers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The favor factory delivers for former clients</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and political donors</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary Zinke’s eagerness to take actions that benefit political patrons and personal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">friends sets a negative example for other senior Interior Department officials, who may</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in turn follow his lead. Zinke’s subordinates, for example, might interpret the Interior</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary’s questionable business interactions with the chairman of Halliburton as a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sign that it is permissible to blur the line between official business and one’s personal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">financial gain. Likewise, Zinke’s decision to take a private chartered flight after giving a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">speech to the Vegas Golden Knights hockey team—which is owned by a political donor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to Zinke’s past congressional campaign—might suggest to Interior Department officials</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that government resources can be used to reward political campaign supporters. In fact,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many political pundits consider unethical behavior at top to be contagious. The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior Department’s inspector general found that the trip, which cost taxpayers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">upwards of $12,000 and did not relate to the department’s business, “could have been</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">avoided.” Furthermore, although the Trump administration’s Interior Department has</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">made numerous decisions that financially benefit the hunting and gun industries,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary Zinke’s failed to disclose that he was a shareholder in a firearms company,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/3/22, 1:53 PM The Favor Factory - Center for American Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-favor-factory/ 5/24</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PROOF Research Inc., conveying a lack of respect for federal financial disclosure</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">requirements.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, the Department of the Interior’s culture now reflects Zinke’s poor example, and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">senior political appointees appear to be permitted to work on policy matters that could</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">benefit former clients and employers. These close personal and professional</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">connections to senior Interior Department officials may allow former employers to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">have direct access to decision-makers that the average citizen does not have. For</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">example:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Interior Department’s recent handling of American Indian gaming decisions is also</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">illuminating. In 2017, the department signaled that it would approve, through its normal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">process, an application by two tribal nations in Connecticut—the Mashantucket Pequot</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and Mohegan tribes—to build a new casino. MGM Resorts, however, which is building</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">its own casino nearby in Massachusetts, opposes the tribes’ plans. In early September</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2017, lobbyists for MGM Resorts and one of its lobbying firms, Ballard Partners, joined</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary Zinke for drinks on his balcony. Two weeks later, the Interior Department</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">said that it would not approve the tribes’ casino proposal. Records also show that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deputy Secretary Bernhardt and Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason had</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">numerous meetings with MGM’s lobbyists, including former Interior Secretary Gale</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Norton. Though Bernhardt has brushed off the meeting with Norton as merely a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“social visit,” his former lobbying firm also represents MGM, and per his ethics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">agreement, he is barred from participating in particular matters with which he was</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">involved while working for his previous employer. When asked by reporters, both</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cason and Interior Department spokespersons declined to comment on the informal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">meetings with MGM. After media reports emerged about Zinke, Bernhardt, and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cason’s apparent intervention on behalf of MGM Resorts, the Interior</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department allowed the gaming proposal from the Mohegan tribe to move forward—</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The department’s senior deputy director for intergovernmental and external</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">affairs, <b>Benjamin Cassidy, is a former National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbyist</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">and has since participated in a number of positive decisions for his former</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">employer of seven years.</span> In one example, according to Secretary Zinke’s public</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">calendar, Cassidy participated in a “Monument After Action Meeting” in December</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2017, about two weeks after the Trump administration eliminated huge portions of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Earlier that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">year as an NRA lobbyist, Cassidy lobbied on a bill that would have prevented</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">presidents from designating national monuments without approval from Congress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and state legislatures. Cassidy has not responded to media requests about these</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reports.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Doug Domenech, assistant secretary of the interior for insular areas, met with his</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>former employer, the Koch-linked Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), while</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>the company was involved in legal action against the department.</b> Six months after</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">their meeting, TPPF announced that it had settled its lawsuit with the Interior</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department, calling it a “major win.” The Interior Department insists that the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">meetings were “primarily social in nature”; however, public scheduling calendars</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">show they concerned policy. Domenech reported the meetings to ethics officials,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and the department is addressing the matter internally, according to an Interior</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department spokesperson.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zinke’s senior adviser for Alaska Affairs, Steve Wackowski, was formerly employed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by two Alaska companies now tied to a group that is seeking DOI approval to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">conduct seismic studies for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Refuge. Wackowski has not commented on media reports on this topic.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/3/22, 1:53 PM The Favor Factory - Center for American Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-favor-factory/ 6/24</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>MUCH MORE...</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/benjamin-cassidy/">https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/benjamin-cassidy/</a></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><h4 style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: 24px; line-height: 31.2px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-family: aktiv-grotesk; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Senior Deputy Director for the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs</h4><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: 19px; line-height: 29.45px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-family: utopia-std; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Benjamin Cassidy joined the Department of the Interior in October 2017 as Senior Deputy Director for Intergovernmental and External Affairs. “The Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (OIEA) strengthens relationships between state and local partners and external stakeholders with” Secretary Ryan Zinke’s office and “serves as liaison for governmental and non-governmental partners in communicating with Departmental offices and the Bureaus.”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: 19px; line-height: 29.45px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-family: utopia-std; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Before joining the Department of the Interior, Benjamin Cassidy worked for nearly seven years as a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association (NRA) in Washington, D.C.  He previously worked as a “Young Guns Liaison” for the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington, D.C. Cassidy holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: 19px; line-height: 29.45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-family: utopia-std; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sources: [Department of the Interior, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-welcomes-six-new-hires-department" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; color: rgb(90, 171, 212); transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Press Release</a>, 10/10/17, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/intergov" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; color: rgb(90, 171, 212); transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs</a>, Department of the Interior, accessed 10/23/17, Wayne LaPierre, “<a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/identifying-nra-lobbyists-walking-the-halls-of-congress" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; color: rgb(90, 171, 212); transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Identifying NRA Lobbyists Walking The Halls of Congress</a>,” <span style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Roll Call, </span>04/22/13, and LinkedIn Profile for <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-cassidy-b683aa3/" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; color: rgb(90, 171, 212); transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Benjamin Cassidy</a>, accessed 10/20/17]</p></div><div>===</div></div>