"How The Interior Department Got Swamped"

"At least 11 department officials have cashed out for jobs with fossil fuel interests, lobbying firms or other private companies."

"In October 2017, Ben Cassidy walked away from his lucrative lobbying gig at the National Rifle Association, where he raked in as much as $288,333 per year, for a post at the Department of the Interior. He’d spent nearly seven years trying to reshape the agency as part of the gun lobby, and despite seemingly clear ethics rules against it, he was soon working on national monuments, sport-hunted animal trophy imports and other issues he’d lobbied on.

In July, less than three months after his conduct became the subject of a formal department ethics probe, Cassidy quietly left his position as the Interior Department’s senior deputy director of intergovernmental and external affairs to join Safari Club International. The Washington, D.C.-based trophy hunting advocacy group has close ties to the Trump administration and is one of several organizations that successfully lobbied the Interior Department to roll back prohibitions on importing lions and elephants killed for sport in certain African countries.

Cassidy is a prime example of the revolving door at President Donald Trump’s Interior Department. A HuffPost review found that at least 11 former officials have landed jobs in industry or lobbying since leaving the federal agency."

Chris D’Angelo and Jimmy Tobias report for HuffPost November 26, 2019.

Source: HuffPost, 11/27/2019