The top House Democrat on a committee that oversees the Interior Department plans to start an investigation into reported abuse of power by Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke for threatening Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski with retribution for not supporting a Republican effort Tuesday to repeal Obamacare.
“Running a department of the federal government means you serve the American people as a protector of their rights and freedoms. It doesn’t mean you serve the president as a bag man for his political vendettas,” Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said Tuesday.
Grijalva was responding to reports that Murkowski, the chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was threatened with repercussions to her state for not voting correctly on the healthcare law Tuesday.
He will be sending a letter formally asking that an investigation be started regarding Zinke’s actions, according to Grijalva’s office.
A spokesman said Grijalva was still weighing his options on whether to ask the Interior Department’s inspector general to investigate the matter or for the Government Accountability Office to open a probe. Nevertheless, a letter will be sent Thursday afternoon.
“Threatening to punish your rivals as political blackmail is something we’d see from the Kremlin. Secretary Zinke’s willingness to deliver these threats speaks volumes about his ethical standards and demonstrates that Interior’s policy positions are up for political grabs, rather than based on science or the public interest.”
