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The Interior Department Inspector General found that Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Doug Domenech violated multiple ethics rules by successfully helping a close family member secure employment at the Environmental Protection Agency. The Inspector General found Domenech also violated ethics laws by using government resources to promote another family member’s private business.
This is the second time in six months that the Inspector General found Domenech has violated ethics rules. Shortly after joining the Interior Department, Domenech met multiple times with his former employer, the Koch-backed Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). In the meetings, TPPF, Domenech, and senior Interior officials discussed lawsuits the organization had filed against the Interior Department over an endangered species listing and a private property dispute near the Red River. Shortly after the meetings, the Interior Department settled the Red River lawsuit, which TPPF celebrated as a “major win for private property rights.”
Similarly, in emails following the meetings, Domenech told TPPF’s top lawyer to “keep fighting” with litigation to remove the Bone Cave harvestman, a spider found in Texas, from the Endangered Species List. In October 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would review whether to delist the Bone Cave harvestman after finding such an action may be warranted.
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Firing Mr. Domenech is the only serious course of action at this point – another round of ethics training is clearly just a waste of time, since it hasn’t sunk in by now.”
