Utah state rep. pushing bill to name highway for Trump has financial stake in shrinking monuments

[highplainsdem]

I just posted in LBN about the bill this lawmaker, Mike Noel, is pushing to name a highway for Trump as a reward for the admin's decision to shrink monuments:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142005265


I just checked Google for info on Noel and this immediately popped up:


https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/02/21/national-ethics-group-calls-for-investigation-of-utah-rep-mike-noel-for-failing-to-disclose-conflicts-of-interest/

National ethics group calls for investigation of Utah Rep. Mike Noel ‘for failing to disclose conflicts of interest’




Utah Rep. Mike Noel’s apparent failure to disclose significant land holdings worth $1.2 million near and in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has prompted a formal ethics complaint and an inquisitive letter from a Democratic congressman to the Interior Department.

Last week, the environmental group Western Values Project (WVP) released an analysis showing the irrigated land Noel owns in Kane County’s Johnson Canyon poses a potential, yet undisclosed conflict of interest.

Noel’s legislative efforts to shrink the monument and win approval for the Lake Powell pipeline could benefit him personally, the group argued — but are not mentioned in legally required conflict-of-interest disclosures on file with the Utah Legislature.

The Campaign for Accountability, a liberal ethics watchdog based in Washington, D.C., is now asking Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes to look into the matter. A complaint filed Tuesday accuses Noel of breaking state anti-nepotism laws and violating his fiduciary duty in his role as longtime executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District.

-snip-

But the flap spurred a Feb. 16 letter of inquiry to U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, asking whether the agency was ever informed of Noel’s land holdings during the decision-making process behind the recent reduction of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., noted that Noel was deeply involved in that process.

“Rep. Noel’s failure of transparency and the Interior Department’s apparent failure to learn of this financial stake in a major policy decision have national consequences,” wrote Grijalva, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee. “This episode needs to be remedied and cannot be repeated.”

According to the Western Values Project’s property analysis, one 40-acre parcel appears to have been carefully cut out of the monument under the reduction order signed by President Donald Trump on Dec. 4 at Zinke’s recommendation.

That's the parcel Noel owns. He's now claiming he never asked for his land to be cut out and he won't benefit from the change. Uh-huh...

[laserhaas]

1. Un...frigging...real

[Historic NY]

2. They ought to wait to see how the shitshow turns out first....

not much named after Nixon even when you included places out of the US.

[Ohiogal]

3. Abolutely. Appalling.