Skip to main content
Image
Front view of the Capitol

Rep. Boebert Demands Ethics Accountability from Biden Bureaucrat

June 3, 2021

Today, Representative Lauren Boebert (CO-03) partnered with House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman and Congressman Paul Gosar in standing up for ethics in public service by sending a letter requesting Department of the Interior ethics officials and Ms. Klein to disclose her recusal list to the Committee.

Rep. Lauren Boebert stated: “At the last hearing she testified at, I called out Ms. Elizabeth Klein for spending the last few years infiltrating state attorneys general offices with partisan hacks funded by Michael Bloomberg and now infiltrating the federal government by spewing Bloomberg’s propaganda as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior. She agreed that she would provide me a copy of her ethics recusals, but I haven’t seen it yet. Ms. Klein should be recused from all of her conflicts of interest, but there are so many, that she should be recused from public service. She does not work on behalf of the American people—she works on behalf of Michael Bloomberg.”

Background:

At a hearing last week, Rep. Boebert grilled Ms. Klein on her ethical conflicts of interest and secured a commitment from Ms. Klein to provide the House Committee on Natural Resources her recusal list. As of the date of the letter, Ms. Klein and the Department of the Interior have not complied with the Committee’s request to receive the recusal list, and this letter demands it by no later than 5:00 p.m. on June 4th.

Senior federal employees are required to be transparent in their ethical obligations and act impartially, placing their sole loyalty to the Constitution and the laws of the United States. Ms. Klein’s history of infiltrating state governments with Michael Bloomberg minions and supporting lawsuits against the federal government makes it impossible for her to meet the ethical obligations that her position of public trust requires.

As Deputy Director at the New York University School of Law’s State Energy & Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC), she controversially placed and paid the salaries of legal fellows in state attorneys general offices to advance Mr. Bloomberg’s radical environmental agenda. The use of private money to conduct public business is ethically questionable, and Indiana’s Attorney General categorized Ms. Klein’s program as an “arrangement through which a private organization or individual can promote an overtly political agenda by paying the salaries of government employees.”

In just the first year of the program, SEEIC fellows participated in filing at least 130 regulatory, legal, and other challenges to federal environmental policies. Now, Ms. Klein is working for the federal government and is on the other side of the lawsuits that she helped file. This is an ethical problem, since under President Biden’s own ethics rules, she is prohibited from participating in matters involving her former employer.

Read the full text of the letter HERE and below.

Senior leaders at federal agencies are responsible for fostering cultures of ethical conduct. Employees unable to act impartially are not qualified to perform their role in government. To ensure appropriate conduct, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) issues ethical standards by which all executive branch employees must abide. OGE standards require employees to “place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private gain” and “act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.” Transparency is key to ensuring federal employees’ compliance with OGE’s standards.

Prior to Ms. Klein’s current position as Senior Counselor to the Secretary, she was the Deputy Director at the New York University School of Law’s State Energy & Environmental

Impact Center (SEEIC). During Ms. Klein’s tenure, the SEEIC, established through a six-million-dollar donation from former presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, controversially placed and paid the salaries of legal fellows in state attorneys general offices to advance Mr. Bloomberg’s environmental agenda. In just the first year of the program, SEEIC fellows participated in filing at least 130 regulatory, legal, and other challenges to federal environmental policies.

Ms. Klein’s placement of fellows was criticized because the program used “special interest money for targeted government action . . . .” Several state attorneys general opposed the use of SEEIC fellows in their offices. For example, the Office of the Attorney General of Wisconsin determined SEEIC’s program was illegal and would create a conflict of interest. Georgia’s Attorney General also expressed concerns, doubting “the ability of these [fellowship] lawyers to represent a state in an unbiased manner.” Indiana’s Attorney General categorized the program as an “arrangement through which a private organization or individual can promote an overtly political agenda by paying the salaries of government employees.” Additionally, Virginia went as far to prohibit participation in SEEIC’s program through an amendment to the state budget.

As Senior Counselor to the Secretary, Ms. Klein is subject to President Biden’s ethics standards. Therefore, for two years, Ms. Klein is prohibited from participating in “any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to [her] former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts.” Under these standards, Ms. Klein’s participation in the decision making process for any issue related to the specific regulatory or legal challenges advocated by SEEIC fellows she placed in state attorneys general offices is questionable at best.

Additionally, DOI requires recusal from issues “in order to avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest.” The agency deems recusal “appropriate when a conflict of interest exists between an employee’s job duties and . . . certain business or personal relationships or outside activities.”

At a House Committee on Natural Resources (Committee) hearing, Representative Lauren Boebert inquired about Ms. Klein’s compliance with ethical obligations. A partial transcript of the exchange between Representative Boebert and Ms. Klein follows:

Representative Boebert: Ms. Klein, the White House pulled your potential nomination to be the Deputy Secretary because your conflicts of interest were so severe that you faced bipartisan opposition. Has the ethics office at the Department provided you with a recusal list? Yes or no.

Ms. Klein: Thank you for that question. Yes, I have been consulting on an ongoing basis with our ethics officials and am taking my responsibilities and ethics requirements seriously and I have an ethics agreement that I operate under.

Representative Boebert: So, you have been provided with a recusal list. Who and what matters are you currently recused from and would you provide the Committee with that full list?

Ms. Klein: I am happy to provide the list.

Subsequent to the hearing, questions submitted for the record repeated the request for Ms. Klein’s recusal list. Ms. Klein has failed to produce her recusal list. In order to honor Ms. Klein’s commitment and assist with our oversight activities, please produce Ms. Klein’s recusal list as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 p.m., June 4, 2021.

Additionally, please provide the following documents as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 p.m., June 10, 2021:

  1.  A copy of Ms. Klein’s signed ethics pledge.
  2.  A copy of the information Ms. Klein provided to DOI’s Ethics Office describing her work at SEEIC.
  3.  A document describing the role and responsibilities of the Deputy Director of SEEIC during Ms. Klein’s tenure in the position.
  4.  A document listing the regulatory challenges supported or advocated by SEEIC or its legal fellows.
  5.  A document listing the matters and actions on which Ms. Klein advised or supported through her work at SEEIC.
  6.  A document listing the decisions, deliberations, and actions that include Ms. Klein’s participation as a DOI employee from January 20, 2021 to June 2, 2021.