Before Backing Lobbyist for EPA, Senators Were Feted by Him
Before Backing Lobbyist for EPA Job, Senators Were Feted by Him
(Bloomberg) -- The coal lobbyist in line for the No. 2 job at the Environmental Protection Agency hosted fundraisers for top Republicans on the committee that advanced his nomination Wednesday.
Andrew Wheeler, tapped to be the EPA’s deputy administrator, was narrowly approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on a party line vote Wednesday, sending his nomination to the full Senate.
But last May, while Wheeler was an outside lobbyist for energy companies including coal miner Murray Energy Corp. and uranium explorer Energy Fuel Resources Inc., he helped organize Washington fundraisers for the committee’s chairman and former chairman -- Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and James Inhofe of Oklahoma.
The events, first reported by The Intercept and the watchdog group Documented on Wednesday, included a lunch with former Inhofe staffers at a Mexican restaurant in Washington on May 4, 2017, and a breakfast at Wheeler’s K Street office roughly two weeks later.
Attendees paid at least $500 to attend both events, according to a list of fundraisers distributed by the National Republican Senate Committee at the time. The price to be a named host was twice that for Barrasso’s May 18 breakfast and $500 for the Inhofe lunch.
Both sessions came months before Wheeler was formally nominated in October.
Wheeler is a former Republican staffer on the Environment and Public Works Committee and a former aide to Inhofe. Inhofe has described Wheeler as a "close friend" -- a relationship developed over Wheeler’s long tenure with the senator, dating back to the nominee’s service as chief counsel in 1995. Wheeler also wasn’t alone in organizing the events; he was joined by other former Inhofe staffers now in private practice as hosts of that senator’s fundraiser, billed as an "alums" lunch.
Since leaving the Senate, Wheeler has worked for the firm Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.
Although laws restrict partisan political activities by federal government employees, Wheeler was in private practice at the time and therefore not barred from contributing to the senators or organizing fundraisers on their behalf. And it’s common practice for former congressional staffers to arrange fundraising events for their previous bosses once they leave Capitol Hill.
“Former staffers host fundraisers for their former bosses all the time," said EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox. "This isn’t news.”
A representative for Barrasso declined to comment. Representatives for Inhofe did not immediately comment.
Democrats on Wednesday decried Wheeler’s close ties with industry, saying it could contaminate his work at EPA.
"He is another lobbyist for another industry, in an administration that promised to drain the swamp but instead we see a revolving door of lobbyists and D.C. bureaucrats taking appointments in the administration to new levels on issues directly related to their former clients," said Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon.
--With assistance from Ari Natter
To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Washington at jdlouhy1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman
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