{"id":27583,"date":"2022-08-29T10:11:35","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T14:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=27583"},"modified":"2022-08-29T10:18:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T14:18:34","slug":"montana-free-press-ryan-zinke-federal-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/08\/29\/montana-free-press-ryan-zinke-federal-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Free Press: Investigation centers on Ryan Zinke’s handling of tribal gaming deal"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Ryan<\/a>
Then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, left, is greeted by Chief Lynn Malerba of the Mohegan Tribe and then-Chairman Kevin Brown, center, of the Mohegan Tribe, at the National Congress of American Indians mid-year conference at Mohegan Sun on the Mohegan Reservation in Connecticut on June 13, 2017. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Federal report: Zinke violated \u2018duty of candor\u2019<\/div>\r\n
The Interior Department\u2019s inspector general found that Zinke misrepresented his communications with lobbyists and others leading up to a decision on a tribal gaming compact in Connecticut.<\/div>\r\n
Monday, August 29, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Arren Kimbel-Sannit<\/div>\r\n
Montana Free Press<\/DIV>\r\n
montanafreepress.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nA federal ethics probe<\/a> has concluded that former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who is running to represent Montana\u2019s western district in the U.S. House, misled an internal ethics watchdog during a probe into the department\u2019s decision not to act on a gaming application from two Native American tribes.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe report, instigated in 2017 and released Wednesday by investigators working under Trump-appointed Interior Secretary Inspector General Mark Greenblatt, said Zinke and his then-chief of staff made statements to investigators \u201cwith the overall intent to mislead them,\u201d violating their \u201cduty of candor.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe probe stemmed from a joint application by two New England tribes, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan, to open a casino on non-tribal land in Connecticut, a move that would require Interior\u2019s approval under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. In 2018, Politico reported<\/a> that the department had initially intended to approve the application but reversed course on the eve of a deadline to act after a concerted lobbying effort by casino giant MGM Resorts International against the project.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe department has since allowed the casino development to move forward, clearing up litigation<\/a> from one of the tribes alleging that the department\u2019s decision not to approve the project was based on political considerations.

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Former Secretary and Chief of Staff Did Not Comply With Their Duty of Candor [PDF<\/a>] <\/div>\r\n
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doioig082422<\/a><\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe probe\u2019s report found that Zinke misrepresented who had access to his ear leading up to his decision on the application for a new gaming compact, including lobbyists, consultants and former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican from Nevada, all of whom urged the secretary against approving the proposal. MGM, at the time, was pursuing its own casino in Massachusetts, and lobbyists for the company expressed concern in emails that federal approval of a tribal-owned, off-reservation casino would establish an unwelcome precedent.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cDuring his first interview with the OIG, Secretary Zinke stated he had not spoken about the specifics of the Tribes\u2019 amendments with Casino lobbyists,\u201d the report reads in part. \u201cExtensive evidence, however, showed that [a lobbyist] engaged [a consultant] specifically to convey Casino\u2019s concerns about approving the Tribes\u2019 amendments to Secretary Zinke and that Casino lobbyists spoke to Secretary Zinke directly about Casino\u2019s position on multiple occasions, including the day before the DOI issued its letters in September 2017.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nIn a response to a draft version of Wednesday\u2019s report, attorneys for Zinke, a Republican, disagreed with the findings and implored OIG not to issue the report until after the November election.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cTo do otherwise, would insert the findings of this stale and inaccurate investigative report into the electoral process and could prejudice Secretary Zinke,\u201d Zinke\u2019s attorneys wrote in their response, which is attached as an addendum to the report.

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<\/P>\r\nZinke, who formerly represented Montana\u2019s at-large congressional district before his appointment in the Trump administration, is hoping Montana voters again elect him to the U.S. House in November, this time to the state\u2019s newly created western district.<\/a> His main opponent is Democratic energy attorney Monica Tranel.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cThis is another investigation by a Trump-hired Inspector General that found Ryan Zinke lied to cover up his wrongdoings,\u201d Tranel said in a statement.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nZinke resigned from the Trump administration in January 2019 while this and several other ethics probes were underway. In February, the Interior Department\u2019s inspector general released a separate report <\/a>that found Zinke similarly misled investigators about his role in a Whitefish land deal while secretary.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nWednesday\u2019s report details the process by which Zinke arrived at the decision to return the application to the tribes without action under the argument that it was not Interior\u2019s role to approve a tribal gaming project on non-reservation land. Investigators did not probe the merits \u2014 legal or otherwise \u2014 of the decision itself, but rather whether Zinke accurately represented the influences under which he made the decision.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nZinke told investigators that he made his decision in consultation with Interior staff and attorneys, without influence from lobbyists or other actors outside the department, and that he felt all along that the matter was not within the department\u2019s jurisdiction, since the casino would not be located on reservation trust land.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cSecretary Zinke repeatedly told the Inspector General that he was not subject to any influence in that matter because he lacked jurisdiction to act on the application,\u201d Danny C. Onorato, an attorney for Zinke, told Montana Free Press. \u201cThat should have ended the inquiry.\u201d

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