On July 20, the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust filed a complaint with the Interior Department’s Departmental Ethics Office over Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s financials claiming to report zero in assets despite drawing a six-figure congressional salary.
On Thursday, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) called for the Office of Inspector General to conduct an audit into the “efficacy and effectiveness” of DOI’s Ethics Office. According to the Washington Times, Westerman cited “unanswered questions about Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s financial disclosures.”
“Last week, the completeness of Secretary Haaland’s disclosures were again called into question,” he said. “In addition to raising concerns about Secretary Haaland’s compliance with federal ethics standards, this complaint triggers additional questions about the operation of the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Departmental Ethics Office (DEO).”
The Times reports:
The disclosure form reported no assets over $5,000 from bank and investment accounts. The only asset listed was an annual per capita payment of $175 from her enrolled tribal membership in the Laguna of Pueblo.
She was not required to report federal income from her two years as a congresswoman from New Mexico, during which her annual salary was $174,000.
“The American public grants incredible authority to Cabinet officials such as the Secretary of the Interior in return for full transparency,” said Protect the Public’s Trust’s director Michael Chamberlain. “It is extremely difficult to believe, in fact, strains credulity, that someone who had been making a congressional salary of $174,000 and was to be entrusted with overseeing a budget of more than $17 billion would not herself have a bank account.”
“Yet we are asked to believe precisely that, with no supporting evidence. Instead, Protect the Public’s Trust believes that an investigation to discover the truth is warranted,” he continued.
“While her 2021 Form 278e indicated a net worth of $0, the financial disclosure Secretary Haaland submitted after marrying her long-time partner reported assets of between $970,000 and $2.125 million,” said in a July 20th statement. “This range did not include two residences on which the couple has mortgages, one of which reportedly is a New Mexico home worth in excess of $1 million that has been her registered voting address for several years.”
Hope she is arrested
Let’s take a look at Deb, she flunks out of law school, ends up living in her car with her daughter in LA. In the blink of an eye she is on the tribal council, elected to the US House and is now the Sec. of the interior. Who is pulling the strings? That is the question.
And this surprises people? NM voters knew she was dirty to begin with but the corrupt “adjusted” the votes to get her the position. New Mexico is last in economics, last in education, and 1st in corruption. It’s time to change!