Klein’s conflicts of interest as DOI lawyer ‘raise serious red flags,’ says Protect the Public’s Trust
- June 13, 2021
Timothy Stuckey, Centennial State News
Protect the Public’s Trust, a watchdog organization, has identified what it claims are ethical concerns involving the Department of the Interior’s Senior Counselor to the Secretary Elizabeth Klein, and has called on the department to provide public records regarding these issues.
According to Protect the Public’s Trust, Klein’s work at the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC) may conflict with positions she may take on problems involving states as parties.
“The Biden Administration promised the American public ‘the most ethically vigorous administration in history,” Director of Protect the Public’s Trust Michael Chamberlain said on the group’s website. “The American public should be able to trust that the conduct of high-level officials will be consistent with that promise. In light of the Biden Ethics Pledge’s ‘Revolving Door Ban’ it is difficult to reconcile Ms. Klein’s involvement with any of the more than 130 matters or the one-third of U.S. states the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center involved itself with during her tenure. The absence of a publicly available ethics waiver for Ms. Klein as well as the Department’s unwillingness to provide her recusal documents raise serious red flags.”