Latest news with #conflictOfInterest
CBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CBC
30 MPs accepted $230K in free travel last year, mostly for trips to Taiwan
Social Sharing Members of Parliament accepted more than $230,000 in flights, hotels and gifts from foreign governments, advocacy groups and private companies last year according to an annual report from the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner. Konrad von Finckenstein's report on the sponsored travel accepted by MPs for 2024 reveals that 30 MPs accepted trips to locations around the world including Colombia, the Ivory Coast, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, France and Germany. But more than half of the $230,000 in travel accepted by federal legislators was paid for by Taiwan, which spent just over $126,000 bringing MPs to their country. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) separately paid just over $11,000 to bring Bloc Québécois MP Yves Perron to Taiwan, and almost $1,400 to bring former independent MP Kevin Vuong to that country. IPAC does not accept money from governments. Instead it relies on donations from private foundations and organizations that are onside with IPAC's efforts to counter the global influence of the Chinese Communist Party. While the standing orders of the House of Commons prohibit MPs from accepting gifts or benefits that could influence their activities as federal legislators, an exception is made when it comes to travel. The standing orders say that a member can accept sponsored travel over $200 when the resulting trip relates to their job, providing they publicly disclose the value of the trip within 60 days of returning home. The $230,000 total for 2024 marks a sharp decline from 2023 when MPs accepted more than $840,000 in sponsored travel. In total the 30 MPs accepted $1,796 in gifts, $10,417 in "other" travel benefits, $41,144 in accommodations and $177,369 in travel costs. The cost of travel to Taiwan Of the 38 trips taken by the 30 MPs on Finckenstein's list, the single most expensive journey was a six-day trip to Taiwan taken last May by Liberal MP Judy Sgro. That trip cost Taiwan's taxpayers a total of $17,172. Sgro accepted the most travel of any MP in 2024. Including Taiwan, and her two trips to Paris, Sgro accepted more than $24,000 in sponsored travel. The 15 trips to Taiwan make up a disproportionately large share of the overall cost of sponsored trips because of the high cost of airfares. The value of sponsored airfares to Taiwan's capital, Taipei, for example, range in price from just under $6,000 to just over $15,000. The only exception to that was Vuong's $200 transportation costs to Taipei. Other notable trips include former Liberal MP Omar Alghabra's trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to attend a clean energy conference. That trip cost just over $9,000 and was paid for by Ontario Tech University. Liberal MP James Maloney accepted an $8,608 trip to Ukraine sponsored by the Yalta European Strategy, an annual conference held in Ukraine. The conference also paid $6,173 to bring over Liberal MP Yvan Baker. Former Liberal MP Chandra Arya, who was dropped as the candidate in the Ottawa riding of Nepean days before the election call, accepted a $5,905 government-sponsored trip to Bangladesh and a $5,742 trip to Côte d'Ivoire paid for by the World Bank.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Here's what a Texas oil executive from DOGE is doing inside the Interior Department
A Texas oil executive from Elon Musk's government efficiency team has been given sweeping powers to overhaul the federal department that manages vast tracts of resource-rich public lands, but he hasn't divested his energy investments or filed an ethics commitment to break ties with companies that pose a conflict of interest, records show. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently directed Tyler Hassen, who lacks Senate confirmation and has no public administration experience, to reorganize the Interior Department, which oversees some 70,000 employees in 11 agencies including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Before joining DOGE, Hassen spent nearly two decades as an executive at Basin Holdings, an enterprise involved in the manufacture, sale and servicing of oil rigs worldwide. A financial disclosure report obtained by AP shows Hassen made millions annually from these companies, owned by John Fitzgibbons — an industry giant who is well-connected in Russia. These and other potential conflicts of interest are compounding the concerns of Democratic lawmakers, conservation groups and environmental advocates, who say Hassen's appointment appears designed to evade Senate confirmation and oversight while testing the limits of congressional authority. 'It's a dereliction of duty to offload decisions about staffing and funding at the Interior Department to someone who hasn't even been confirmed by the Senate,' said Kate Groetzinger, with the Center for Western Priorities, a nonpartisan conservation group. Interior officials didn't respond to requests to interview Hassen. Department spokesperson Katie Martin said in an email that Hassen is helping achieve the president's vision for major changes, and Interior will 'continue to prioritize retaining first responders, parks services and energy production employees.' What is on Hassen's to-do list? Once inside Interior in January, Hassen reviewed 'every single contract, every single grant,' and sent action items to Burgum, he told FOX News in an April interview. Burgum praised Hassen and DOGE on X, saying they 'have identified massive amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse already!' A draft copy of Interior's new strategic plan includes increasing 'clean coal, oil, and gas production through faster permitting' while reducing regulations to 'generate more revenue from lands and resources for the U.S. Treasury.' Hassen also has twice filed a notice in the Federal Register extending Trump's freeze on regulations — which stops agencies from proposing or issuing new rules — and removed the opportunity for public comment as 'contrary to the public interest.' The latest extension pushes it to June 4. It's unclear how Hassen became involved with Musk. There's little information about him online. He told FOX News that before DOGE, he was 'running five businesses in Houston." He said this work 'is me giving back to the country.' Hassen was an executive at Fitzgibbons-owned Basin Holdings — the privately held parent company for Basin Energy and Basin Industries — since 2008. An old Facebook page for Tyler Hassen includes a 2010 photo of him at the 'Samotlor Field, Western Siberia - largest oilfield in Russia.' Hassen's brother, Todd, is also a Texas energy executive. He's been CEO of Red Wolfpack Resources since 2024 and was with Tellurian, a natural gas company, and EagleStone Resources before that, according to his LinkedIn page. Testing the limits inside the Department Burgum named Hassen his assistant secretary for policy, management and budget in March, but changed his title in April to 'principal deputy assistant secretary.' An assistant secretary requires Senate approval and an ethics commitment to resign positions that would create a conflict of interest. A principal deputy does not. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said Interior officials are committing fraud 'by calling someone by a different name so that they don't have to file a really important document where they explain how they're going to comply with ethics standards.' Hassen sought to fire a top department lawyer in April for refusing to give him and other DOGE officials access to a highly sensitive personnel database as he pushed for massive department-wide staff reductions through buyouts, early retirements and layoffs. Hassen wrote that Tony Irish, an associate solicitor, was 'subverting, obstructing and delaying the process" and should be removed for misconduct. Irish is on leave while appealing the firing and is represented by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. 'In seeking to remove Tony Irish, Tyler Hassen has demonstrated his own unfitness for federal service,' PEER executive director Tim Whitehouse said in a press release. 'This type of corporate bullying is not how the people's business is supposed to be conducted.' Jacob Malcom, a former Interior Department executive, said Burgum's order directing Hassen to make 'appropriate funding decisions' for administrative changes and ensure 'the appropriate transfer of funds, programs, records and property" is unconstitutional — Congress appropriates funds, not assistant secretaries. 'Unless Congress has explicitly authorized those funds to be moved, they can't actually transfer the funds,' Malcom said. 'That's just flat out illegal.' What does Hassen's financial disclosure show? Although Hassen didn't file a divestment commitment, he did file a financial disclosure in February — revised five times, the most recent dated April 21 — revealing he made almost $4 million annually from Fitzgibbon's oilfield services companies. Hassen said he sold his equity in these companies and is being paid in installments through June 2026. Hassen reported that he holds $50,001 to $100,000 worth of stock in Fitzgibbon's company Block Harvest, a cryptocurrency mining business that uses flared natural gas to run data centers. He reported owning $250,000 to $500,000 worth of stock in Fitzgibbon's Global Guardian, a security company. Hassen also declared 254 stock holdings, including cryptocurrency, tobacco, foreign banking and between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of stock each in Archrock, a Houston company that specializes in natural gas compression services; WEC Energy Group, which holds electric and natural gas companies and Quanta Services, which is involved in pipelines and pumping. He's got a similar stake in Albemarle Corp., which owns the Silver Peak lithium mine in Nevada — the nation's only active lithium source. It's currently seeking authorization from Interior's Bureau of Land Management to expand its operations. Hassen's potential conflicts of interest have raised concerns among environmental groups and some U.S. lawmakers. He's attempting to remove regulations constraining the fossil fuel industries, said Josh Axelrod, a senior policy advocate with the National Resources Defense Council. 'As a member of those industries, he's uniquely qualified to flag the ones they don't like.' Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, the ranking Democrats on Interior's Senate and House oversight subcommittees, have demanded a stop to Hassen's large-scale reorganization. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico told Burgum in a May 7 letter that 'delegating sweeping authorities and responsibilities to a non-Senate confirmed person in violation of the Vacancies Reform Act is baffling and extremely troubling.' Martha Bellisle, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Independent
7 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Here's what a Texas oil executive from DOGE is doing inside the Interior Department
A Texas oil executive from Elon Musk's government efficiency team has been given sweeping powers to overhaul the federal department that manages vast tracts of resource-rich public lands, but he hasn't divested his energy investments or filed an ethics commitment to break ties with companies that pose a conflict of interest, records show. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently directed Tyler Hassen, who lacks Senate confirmation and has no public administration experience, to reorganize the Interior Department, which oversees some 70,000 employees in 11 agencies including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Before joining DOGE, Hassen spent nearly two decades as an executive at Basin Holdings, an enterprise involved in the manufacture, sale and servicing of oil rigs worldwide. A financial disclosure report obtained by AP shows Hassen made millions annually from these companies, owned by John Fitzgibbons — an industry giant who is well-connected in Russia. These and other potential conflicts of interest are compounding the concerns of Democratic lawmakers, conservation groups and environmental advocates, who say Hassen's appointment appears designed to evade Senate confirmation and oversight while testing the limits of congressional authority. 'It's a dereliction of duty to offload decisions about staffing and funding at the Interior Department to someone who hasn't even been confirmed by the Senate,' said Kate Groetzinger, with the Center for Western Priorities, a nonpartisan conservation group. Interior officials didn't respond to requests to interview Hassen. Department spokesperson Katie Martin said in an email that Hassen is helping achieve the president's vision for major changes, and Interior will 'continue to prioritize retaining first responders, parks services and energy production employees.' What is on Hassen's to-do list? Once inside Interior in January, Hassen reviewed 'every single contract, every single grant,' and sent action items to Burgum, he told FOX News in an April interview. Burgum praised Hassen and DOGE on X, saying they 'have identified massive amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse already!' A draft copy of Interior's new strategic plan includes increasing 'clean coal, oil, and gas production through faster permitting' while reducing regulations to 'generate more revenue from lands and resources for the U.S. Treasury.' Hassen also has twice filed a notice in the Federal Register extending Trump's freeze on regulations — which stops agencies from proposing or issuing new rules — and removed the opportunity for public comment as 'contrary to the public interest.' The latest extension pushes it to June 4. It's unclear how Hassen became involved with Musk. There's little information about him online. He told FOX News that before DOGE, he was 'running five businesses in Houston." He said this work 'is me giving back to the country.' Hassen was an executive at Fitzgibbons-owned Basin Holdings — the privately held parent company for Basin Energy and Basin Industries — since 2008. An old Facebook page for Tyler Hassen includes a 2010 photo of him at the 'Samotlor Field, Western Siberia - largest oilfield in Russia.' Hassen's brother, Todd, is also a Texas energy executive. He's been CEO of Red Wolfpack Resources since 2024 and was with Tellurian, a natural gas company, and EagleStone Resources before that, according to his LinkedIn page. Testing the limits inside the Department Burgum named Hassen his assistant secretary for policy, management and budget in March, but changed his title in April to 'principal deputy assistant secretary.' An assistant secretary requires Senate approval and an ethics commitment to resign positions that would create a conflict of interest. A principal deputy does not. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said Interior officials are committing fraud 'by calling someone by a different name so that they don't have to file a really important document where they explain how they're going to comply with ethics standards.' Hassen sought to fire a top department lawyer in April for refusing to give him and other DOGE officials access to a highly sensitive personnel database as he pushed for massive department-wide staff reductions through buyouts, early retirements and layoffs. Hassen wrote that Tony Irish, an associate solicitor, was 'subverting, obstructing and delaying the process" and should be removed for misconduct. Irish is on leave while appealing the firing and is represented by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. 'In seeking to remove Tony Irish, Tyler Hassen has demonstrated his own unfitness for federal service,' PEER executive director Tim Whitehouse said in a press release. 'This type of corporate bullying is not how the people's business is supposed to be conducted.' Jacob Malcom, a former Interior Department executive, said Burgum's order directing Hassen to make 'appropriate funding decisions' for administrative changes and ensure 'the appropriate transfer of funds, programs, records and property" is unconstitutional — Congress appropriates funds, not assistant secretaries. 'Unless Congress has explicitly authorized those funds to be moved, they can't actually transfer the funds,' Malcom said. 'That's just flat out illegal.' What does Hassen's financial disclosure show? Although Hassen didn't file a divestment commitment, he did file a financial disclosure in February — revised five times, the most recent dated April 21 — revealing he made almost $4 million annually from Fitzgibbon's oilfield services companies. Hassen said he sold his equity in these companies and is being paid in installments through June 2026. Hassen reported that he holds $50,001 to $100,000 worth of stock in Fitzgibbon's company Block Harvest, a cryptocurrency mining business that uses flared natural gas to run data centers. He reported owning $250,000 to $500,000 worth of stock in Fitzgibbon's Global Guardian, a security company. Hassen also declared 254 stock holdings, including cryptocurrency, tobacco, foreign banking and between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of stock each in Archrock, a Houston company that specializes in natural gas compression services; WEC Energy Group, which holds electric and natural gas companies and Quanta Services, which is involved in pipelines and pumping. He's got a similar stake in Albemarle Corp., which owns the Silver Peak lithium mine in Nevada — the nation's only active lithium source. It's currently seeking authorization from Interior's Bureau of Land Management to expand its operations. Hassen's potential conflicts of interest have raised concerns among environmental groups and some U.S. lawmakers. He's attempting to remove regulations constraining the fossil fuel industries, said Josh Axelrod, a senior policy advocate with the National Resources Defense Council. 'As a member of those industries, he's uniquely qualified to flag the ones they don't like.' Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, the ranking Democrats on Interior's Senate and House oversight subcommittees, have demanded a stop to Hassen's large-scale reorganization. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico told Burgum in a May 7 letter that 'delegating sweeping authorities and responsibilities to a non-Senate confirmed person in violation of the Vacancies Reform Act is baffling and extremely troubling.'
Associated Press
7 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Here's what a Texas oil executive from DOGE is doing inside the Interior Department
A Texas oil executive from Elon Musk's government efficiency team has been given sweeping powers to overhaul the federal department that manages vast tracts of resource-rich public lands, but he hasn't divested his energy investments or filed an ethics commitment to break ties with companies that pose a conflict of interest, records show. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently directed Tyler Hassen, who lacks Senate confirmation and has no public administration experience, to reorganize the Interior Department, which oversees some 70,000 employees in 11 agencies including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Before joining DOGE, Hassen spent nearly two decades as an executive at Basin Holdings, an enterprise involved in the manufacture, sale and servicing of oil rigs worldwide. A financial disclosure report obtained by AP shows Hassen made millions annually from these companies, owned by John Fitzgibbons — an industry giant who is well-connected in Russia. These and other potential conflicts of interest are compounding the concerns of Democratic lawmakers, conservation groups and environmental advocates, who say Hassen's appointment appears designed to evade Senate confirmation and oversight while testing the limits of congressional authority. 'It's a dereliction of duty to offload decisions about staffing and funding at the Interior Department to someone who hasn't even been confirmed by the Senate,' said Kate Groetzinger, with the Center for Western Priorities, a nonpartisan conservation group. Interior officials didn't respond to requests to interview Hassen. Department spokesperson Katie Martin said in an email that Hassen is helping achieve the president's vision for major changes, and Interior will 'continue to prioritize retaining first responders, parks services and energy production employees.' What is on Hassen's to-do list? Once inside Interior in January, Hassen reviewed 'every single contract, every single grant,' and sent action items to Burgum, he told FOX News in an April interview. Burgum praised Hassen and DOGE on X, saying they 'have identified massive amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse already!' A draft copy of Interior's new strategic plan includes increasing 'clean coal, oil, and gas production through faster permitting' while reducing regulations to 'generate more revenue from lands and resources for the U.S. Treasury.' Hassen also has twice filed a notice in the Federal Register extending Trump's freeze on regulations — which stops agencies from proposing or issuing new rules — and removed the opportunity for public comment as 'contrary to the public interest.' The latest extension pushes it to June 4. It's unclear how Hassen became involved with Musk. There's little information about him online. He told FOX News that before DOGE, he was 'running five businesses in Houston.' He said this work 'is me giving back to the country.' Hassen was an executive at Fitzgibbons-owned Basin Holdings — the privately held parent company for Basin Energy and Basin Industries — since 2008. An old Facebook page for Tyler Hassen includes a 2010 photo of him at the 'Samotlor Field, Western Siberia - largest oilfield in Russia.' Hassen's brother, Todd, is also a Texas energy executive. He's been CEO of Red Wolfpack Resources since 2024 and was with Tellurian, a natural gas company, and EagleStone Resources before that, according to his LinkedIn page. Testing the limits inside the Department Burgum named Hassen his assistant secretary for policy, management and budget in March, but changed his title in April to 'principal deputy assistant secretary.' An assistant secretary requires Senate approval and an ethics commitment to resign positions that would create a conflict of interest. A principal deputy does not. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said Interior officials are committing fraud 'by calling someone by a different name so that they don't have to file a really important document where they explain how they're going to comply with ethics standards.' Hassen sought to fire a top department lawyer in April for refusing to give him and other DOGE officials access to a highly sensitive personnel database as he pushed for massive department-wide staff reductions through buyouts, early retirements and layoffs. Hassen wrote that Tony Irish, an associate solicitor, was 'subverting, obstructing and delaying the process' and should be removed for misconduct. Irish is on leave while appealing the firing and is represented by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. 'In seeking to remove Tony Irish, Tyler Hassen has demonstrated his own unfitness for federal service,' PEER executive director Tim Whitehouse said in a press release. 'This type of corporate bullying is not how the people's business is supposed to be conducted.' Jacob Malcom, a former Interior Department executive, said Burgum's order directing Hassen to make 'appropriate funding decisions' for administrative changes and ensure 'the appropriate transfer of funds, programs, records and property' is unconstitutional — Congress appropriates funds, not assistant secretaries. 'Unless Congress has explicitly authorized those funds to be moved, they can't actually transfer the funds,' Malcom said. 'That's just flat out illegal.' What does Hassen's financial disclosure show? Although Hassen didn't file a divestment commitment, he did file a financial disclosure in February — revised five times, the most recent dated April 21 — revealing he made almost $4 million annually from Fitzgibbon's oilfield services companies. Hassen said he sold his equity in these companies and is being paid in installments through June 2026. Hassen reported that he holds $50,001 to $100,000 worth of stock in Fitzgibbon's company Block Harvest, a cryptocurrency mining business that uses flared natural gas to run data centers. He reported owning $250,000 to $500,000 worth of stock in Fitzgibbon's Global Guardian, a security company. Hassen also declared 254 stock holdings, including cryptocurrency, tobacco, foreign banking and between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of stock each in Archrock, a Houston company that specializes in natural gas compression services; WEC Energy Group, which holds electric and natural gas companies and Quanta Services, which is involved in pipelines and pumping. He's got a similar stake in Albemarle Corp., which owns the Silver Peak lithium mine in Nevada — the nation's only active lithium source. It's currently seeking authorization from Interior's Bureau of Land Management to expand its operations. Hassen's potential conflicts of interest have raised concerns among environmental groups and some U.S. lawmakers. He's attempting to remove regulations constraining the fossil fuel industries, said Josh Axelrod, a senior policy advocate with the National Resources Defense Council. 'As a member of those industries, he's uniquely qualified to flag the ones they don't like.' Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, the ranking Democrats on Interior's Senate and House oversight subcommittees, have demanded a stop to Hassen's large-scale reorganization. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico told Burgum in a May 7 letter that 'delegating sweeping authorities and responsibilities to a non-Senate confirmed person in violation of the Vacancies Reform Act is baffling and extremely troubling.'
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Telcos inconsistently block phones, regulator doesn't know how many
The communications regulator has not collected basic data on how telcos have implemented a new phone-blocking rule following the 3G network shutdown, despite flagging a potential "conflict of interest" inherent to it.
