Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has directed millions of dollars in political contributions since 2014 to a network of Washington operatives that prominent conservatives have accused of profiting by misleading donors.
Beneficiaries of Zinke’s largesse include groups linked to Washington-area political operative Scott Mackenzie, organizer of a Virgin Islands GOP political action committee that hosted the secretary at a St. Croix fundraiser in March. Before that, when Zinke was a Republican congressman from Montana, his political operation steered significant portions of its spending to a handful of Washington, D.C.-area consulting firms that also have had ties to Mackenzie and his associates.
Zinke has continued this relationship even as other Republicans have recoiled from dealing with Mackenzie, whose critics say he operates "scam PACs" that raise small-dollar donations from conservative voters but then spend the bulk of the money on consultants and overhead. The critics include former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who filed a suit accusing Mackenzie and other defendants of running a “national fundraising scam” after they gave his 2013 campaign for governor less than a half percent of the money they had raised in his name.
Similarly, Zinke’s own leadership PAC also relied heavily on small donors while spending heavily on consultants, in a departure from how most members of Congress operate those kinds of groups.
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Zinke is separately facing investigations by Interior's internal watchdog and the independent Office of Special Counsel over his habit of mixing politics and official business.
Legal limits on Zinke’s partisan activities have tightened now that he’s Interior secretary, and he has cut ties with his PACs since being sworn in. Still, he has kept up appearances at fundraisers and other political events — averaging more than one per month — a pace that is unusual for a Cabinet member. Those include his appearance at the March fundraiser in the Virgin Islands, which occurred during a taxpayer-funded trip less than a month after he became secretary.
