Zinke accepts nomination to Interior

Staff and wire report

President-elect Donald Trump has officially chosen Montana’s U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke to serve as his interior secretary.

“I am pleased to nominate Congressman Ryan Zinke as our secretary of the interior. He has built one of the strongest track records on championing regulatory relief, forest management, responsible energy development and public land issues,” Trump said in a press release issued this morning by Zinke’s office. “As a former Navy SEAL, he has incredible leadership skills and an attitude of doing whatever it takes to win. America is the most beautiful country in the world and he is going to help keep it that way with smart management of our federal lands. At the same time, my administration’s goal is to repeal bad regulations and use our natural resources to create jobs and wealth for the American people, and Ryan will explore every possibility for how we can safely and responsibly do that.”

Whitefish-native Zinke said he would try to live up to those expectations.

“As someone who grew up in a logging and rail town and hiking in Glacier National Park, I am honored and humbled to be asked to serve Montana and America as secretary of interior,” Zinke said in the release. “As inscribed in the stone archway of Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana, I shall faithfully uphold Teddy Roosevelt’s belief that our treasured public lands are ‘for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.’  I will work tirelessly to ensure our public lands are managed and preserved in a way that benefits everyone for generations to come. Most important, our sovereign Indian Nations and territories must have the respect and freedom they deserve.  I look forward to making the Department of Interior and America great again. May God bless Montana, God bless America and God bless the troops who defend her.”

Zinke was an early supporter of Trump’s and publicly sought a Cabinet post when Trump visited Montana in May.

Trump’s decision to tap Zinke for interior upends Senate Republican plans of recruiting the congressman to challenge two-term Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in 2018.

Almost as soon as the news was announced that President-elect Donald Trump had offered Montana’s sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives the position of secretary of the interior, questions arose about how he would be replaced if he is appointed and confirmed to the position.

The initial expectation when the offer was announced was that Gov. Steve Bullock could appoint a temporary replacement for Zinke until a special election could be held, which would be called by Bullock.

But Bullock has announced that he cannot appoint a replacement because a law passed in 2015 giving him that authority contradicts the U.S. Constitution, which makes no provision for appointing a U.S. representative.

Montana Republican Party Chairman Jeff Essman raised that issue shortly after the offer to Zinke was announced. Replacing Zinke will require a special election be held 85 to 100 days after he’s confirmed by the Senate, Essman said. While state law says Montana’s governor could make an interim appointment from a list of three nominees, Essman said that’s superseded by a provision in the U.S. Constitution that requires an election.

A statement issued Wednesday by the governor’s office says the same.

“The bill and subsequent annotation is contrary to the United States Constitution which requires a special election, but no appointment,” the statement says. “According to the Congressional Research Service, ‘There is no constitutional provision for the appointment of interim Representatives.’

“Gov. Bullock will immediately set the date of the special election upon Congressman Zinke’s resignation,” the statement says.

The offer to Zinke has raised both praise and concern in the state.

Tester — who Zinke said in an interview he could potentially oppose in the 2018 election — congratulated him Wednesday in a statement.

“I’m pleased the president-elect nominated someone from the West for a post that’s critically important to Montana’s outdoor economy and way of life,” Tester said in the statement. “I look forward to sitting down with Congressman Zinke to discuss how we can increase public access to public land, protect our constitutional right to clean air and water, and uphold our trust responsibilities to Indian Country.”

As with several other Trump Cabinet nominees, Zinke has advocated for increased energy drilling and mining on those lands and expressed skepticism about the urgency of climate change.

The Republican lawmaker, who describes himself as a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican,” also has been a vocal supporter of keeping public lands in the government’s hands. That’s a central political issue in Montana, where hunting and fishing access is considered sacrosanct.

Energy development, land management and hunting fall under the Interior Department’s jurisdiction. However, those were second-tier issues for Zinke during his successful re-election campaign this fall against Democrat Denise Juneau.

In interviews with The Associated Press during that campaign, Zinke repeatedly identified his top priorities as national security, more thorough vetting of refugees to screen out terrorists, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and improving the U.S. economy.

Only after listing those did he list his desire to increase coal mining and oil and gas exploration, protect public lands and provide more resources for American Indian tribes, another Interior responsibility.

The Fort Belknap Indian Community praised his selection, noting in a statement Wednesday that Zinke is ceremonially adopted as a member of the Assiniboine, or Nakoda, tribe of Fort Belknap.

“The secretary of the interior is the chief steward of the trust relationship between the United States and Indian tribes. We have complete confidence that Congressman Zinke would be very successful in that role,” the statement says. “During his service representing Montana in the United States House of Representatives, Congressman Zinke has been a stalwart advocate for tribes.”

Other groups have slammed the selection.

Zinke spent 23 years as a Navy SEAL, serving in Iraq, Kosovo and elsewhere. He was awarded two Bronze Stars for combat missions in Iraq. He now serves on the House Natural Resources and Armed Services committees and describes himself as “a steadfast advocate for Montana veterans and military personnel and families.”

He made an unsuccessful 2012 run for Montana lieutenant governor before shifting his ambitions to Congress when former Rep. Denny Rehberg decided to take on Tester. Zinke won a five-way Republican primary and then defeated Libertarian Mike Fellows — who died in a car crash this year while running against Zinke again — and Democrat John Lewis to win his first term in the House.

This year, Zinke won a decisive victory against Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau, a Democrat, and Rick Breckenridge, a Libertarian who took the candidacy after Fellows died.