According to a report from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao -- the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) -- is likely benefitting from her husband's position and avoiding what could prove to be a damaging ethics investigation.
Chao has been under fire for reportedly funneling a $67 million federal contract to her husband's home state of Kentucky, with one watchdog calling her actions a "type of political corruption" that is "a threat to our democracy and destroys Americans’ faith in government.”
As CREW went on to note, that is not the only ethical cloud hovering over the Donald Trump administration appointee.
"Secretary Chao faces significant questions about her ethics and conduct. In May 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported that Secretary Chao’s financial disclosure forms revealed that she retained and significantly profited from shares in Vulcan materials, a supplier of construction materials, more than a year after the date she pledged to divest. She later sold the shares, worth between $250,001 and $500,000," the report states. "Following public reports that Secretary Chao may have used her post to boost her family’s company’s standing with the Chinese government to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation. Last June, the Government Accountability Office found that the state’s largest transportation grant application under the Trump administration was awarded following a process that lacked 'the assurance of fairness.'"
With Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon calling for an OIG investigation of Chao, CREW points out that she has no worries for the foreseeable future.
"Scandal-plagued Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is facing intense scrutiny for her ethics issues, and now her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has a critical role in deciding who will succeed the Inspector General that was investigating her, including when (or if) that person could be confirmed," the report states. "At least one of the scandals facing Chao is tied to the potential use of her cabinet post to bolster McConnell’s political fortunes. Now he is in a position as Majority Leader to protect them both by holding up a permanent replacement at the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG)."
"If and when the President nominates someone to succeed the recently retired Calvin L. Scovell, III as the permanent DOT IG, that person must face consideration by Leader McConnell’s Senate. The Senate Majority Leader determines the process and timing of floor votes for all Senate-confirmed positions like Inspectors General," CREW adds. "As we saw with a Supreme Court nomination, Mitch McConnell is not above stonewalling presidential appointments for political benefit."
CREW's Donald Sherman went on to point out that a lack of IG's is afflicting the entire government.
"It’s unclear whether President Trump will move expeditiously to nominate a permanent watchdog to oversee the conduct of his embattled Transportation Secretary. Also unknown is how Leader McConnell would approach the confirmation process of a new DOT IG. Seven of the current 11 IG vacancies that require presidential nomination and Senate confirmation have been unfilled for more than a year," he wrote. "Currently, the DOT IG position has been vacant for less than a month. In the meantime, dedicated staff at OIG continue their work to ensure that the Federal Aviation Administration effectively oversees airline systems and that emergency relief funds for transportation infrastructure damaged in natural disasters are deployed as needed."
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