Columnist hiltzikm writes: 'Bernhardt has done little to hide his antipathy for federal laws and regulations that interfere with the smooth operations of his former clients.'
That wouldn’t be a good look for the Interior Department, which holds sway over millions of acres of federal lands and the disposition of crucial water supplies through much of the West, especially California. The agency’s last secretary, Ryan Zinke, resigned Dec. 15 under a cloud of corruption accusations remarkable even for the ethics-challenged Trump administration.
The system depends heavily on voluntary compliance from the top down — if the IG recommends disciplinary action against Bernhardt, the decision would be in the hands of the Trump White House, which hasn’t shown much willingness to conform to ethical norms. No one other than Trump could remove Bernhardt, and any decisions he made in office, including those found to have favored his former clients, would remain in place.
So let’s look at Bernhardt’s questionable actions, and at how the Interior Department ethics overseers have given him a free pass.Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut Those users get their water from the federal Central Valley Project and the State Water Project , but their supplies have been constrained by legal judgments and scientific assessments of how increased water for the farmers will affect fish in the region.
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