Zinke's #2 has so many potential conflicts of interest he has to carry a list of them all
Source: Washington Post
Zinke’s #2 has so many potential conflicts of interest he has to carry a list of them all
By Juliet Eilperin November 19 at 6:00 AM
David Bernhardt, deputy secretary of the Department of Interior, ...
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Bernhardt’s relentless work ethic helps explain how he’s managed to advance Trump’s pro-industry agenda over the nation’s public lands. Having worked for years as a lobbyist representing many of the very businesses he now regulates, he walked into the No. 2 job at Interior with so many potential conflicts of interest he has to carry a small card listing them all.
“This is the deep state,” said Jim Lyons, who served as deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management under Barack Obama. “He is the guy behind the curtain who’s manipulating everything, which he can do with his wealth of knowledge and experience.”
In recent weeks his boss, Ryan Zinke, has come under increased scrutiny for a Montana land deal. If Trump reshuffles his Cabinet and Zinke steps down, it will likely be Bernhardt who steps up.
Other technocrats have already begun to rise within the administration, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Andrew Wheeler. On Friday, President Trump announced that he would nominate Wheeler — who assumed the helm of the EPA after Scott Pruitt resigned in July — to serve on a permanent basis.
But even without the top job, Bernhardt is already helping steer the 70,000-person department.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-man-behind-the-curtain-interiors-no-2-helps-drive-trumps-agenda/2018/11/18/6403eb4c-e9ff-11e8-b8dc-66cca409c180_story.html
