For Arizona Democratic Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, writing letters demanding information from the Department of the Interior is more convenient than using Google, causing friction with other congressmen.
Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop sent a letter to Grijalva Wednesday, telling him a June 7 letter that Grijalva wrote to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke was wholly unnecessary. Grijalva’s letter requested that Zinke provide an itinerary of the Secretary’s travels throughout Utah and an account of all comments related to Utah’s National Monuments.
All of the information that Grijalva requested was already publicly available.
“I am also pleased to let you know that after a few cursory Google searches, it appears as though the administration has already made the information you requested … publicly available online,” Bishop said in a letter obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Aside from media documenting Zinke’s tour of Utah, the Interior Department released Zinke’s itinerary on the agency website.
The secretary also documented his trip on his public Twitter account, along with snapshots of the local vistas.
Zinke took unprecedented steps toward transparency, creating a “first-of-its-kind public comments section, something that has never been done in the history of the Antiquities Act,” Bishop wrote.
Bishop ended his letter calling for a unified commitment to open and transparent government.
“I sincerely hope you will join me in my efforts to reform the Antiquities Act and support Secraetary Zinke as he conducts this honest, fair, and open review of previously designated national monuments,” Bishop said.
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