Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has attended at least two additional political fundraisers while traveling for official business, including a weekend ski getaway less than three weeks after he was sworn in that donors paid up to $3,000 to attend, according to sources and documents reviewed by POLITICO.

Zinke's previously undisclosed attendance at the events adds to scrutiny he is facing over his habit of mixing political activities with official business when traveling outside of Washington, D.C., and to questions over travel expenses incurred by members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. In addition to the fundraisers, Zinke has held at least a half-dozen other events with big donors or influential conservative organizations while on official trips.


Zinke, a former Montana congressman who became secretary March 1, started his fundraising appearances even before attending a March 30 Virgin Islands Republican Party fundraiser in St. Croix that POLITICO reported last week, at which donors paid up to $5,000 per couple for a photo with him. The Office of Special Counsel, which is investigating Zinke's use of travel and political activities in office, has been asked by a watchdog group to look into his appearance there.

In the first of the newly disclosed appearances, Zinke attended a mid-March fundraiser at a ski resort in Big Sky, Montana, organized by committees affiliated with Republican Sen. Steve Daines, according to two attendees who saw him there. And in May, Zinke briefly stopped by a fundraiser for GOP Rep. Don Young at a steakhouse in Anchorage, Alaska, a spokesman for Young's campaign told POLITICO.

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All three fundraisers occurred on trips that Zinke took for official Interior Department business. The Hatch Act and other federal laws allow Cabinet secretaries to participate in partisan political activities only if they do so on their own time and do not use any governmental resources. Federal Election Commission records for the campaign committees do not list any reimbursement payments to Interior for the events.

"Both law and common sense tell us that taxpayer resources are supposed to be used when you're doing the taxpayers' business [but] are not supposed to be used to help candidates get elected," said Brendan Fischer of the nonprofit watchdog organization Campaign Legal Center.

An Interior Department spokeswoman did not respond to specific questions about Zinke’s attendance at the events nor whether the campaigns reimbursed Interior for any of his travel expenses, but she said ethics officials sign off on the secretary's trips and all of them comply with the law.

“The Interior Department under the Trump Administration has always and will always work to ensure all officials follow appropriate rules and regulations when traveling, including seeking commercial options at all times appropriate and feasible, to ensure the efficient use of government resources,” Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said in a statement.

Other guests attending the Montana fundraiser included Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), according to an invitation to the March 17-19 event posted by a local political blog earlier that month. Donors were asked to contribute $3,000 if they were attending on behalf of a political action committee or $1,500 for an individual. Another invitation for events that weekend obtained by POLITICO sought donations as low as $500 to attend two dinners for Daines.

Hoeven hosted his own reception Friday night before the Daines dinner and a lunch Saturday, according to a campaign invitation obtained by POLITICO, which also informed guests that they could purchase "discounted ski lift tickets" at the resort.

Zinke was not named on the invitations, but his official schedule lists him as attending a “welcoming reception” for Daines on Friday night, spending “personal time with Senator Murkowski” at Big Sky Resort on Saturday and attending a “reception & dinner” for Daines that evening.

Two sources who attended the Daines fundraiser recalled seeing Zinke there. One of the sources, a lobbyist, said Zinke attended the Friday night social and the breakfast buffet the next day. The lobbyist said that when Daines introduced Zinke, the Montana senator mentioned that Zinke was the state's first Cabinet secretary.

The Hatch Act bars Zinke from taking part in political events while acting in his official role as Interior secretary, which includes being identified by his title in invitations. But Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota professor and former White House chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said Daines referring to Zinke's Cabinet position doesn't appear to violate the law.

Zinke "should take reasonable steps to make sure people aren't using his official title" and not use the title himself at political events, Painter said. "But I don't know that he has an obligation to jump in and tell the senator he can't do that."

The secretary spent most of the day that Friday touring Yellowstone National Park, which the Interior Department manages through the National Park Service. He did not have any other official events listed on his schedule for Saturday and flew back to Washington, D.C., on Sunday.

A report posted by Interior on Zinke's March travel expenses shows that he claimed 75 percent of his per diem that Friday and did not claim any lodging or reimbursements over that weekend, which he took as personal days off. He did fly home on official taxpayer-funded travel, however.

The Young fundraiser occurred May 31, when Zinke was in Anchorage for a speech to the Alaska Oil and Gas Association's annual conference , where he signed a secretarial order for an updated assessment of how much oil exists in part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The invitation to the reception, a copy of which was obtained by political blog Must Read Alaska and shared with POLITICO, does not list Zinke as a special guest, nor does it say how much donors had to contribute to attend.

FEC records for the Alaskans for Don Young campaign committee show it received $9,800 in campaign contributions from individuals and political action committees on that day.

Young’s campaign spokesman , Matt Shuckerow, said in an email that Zinke made "only very brief remarks" at the event, and that the campaign did not confirm his attendance in advance and did not require guests to pay to attend. "Not only did the campaign seek out the guidance of the Interior Department's ethics personnel prior to the event, it took concerted efforts to follow their strict guidance," Shuckerow said. He did not say whether the campaign reimbursed the Interior Department for any costs associated with Zinke's trip.

Zinke’s calendar for that day includes a brief stop at Sullivan’s Steakhouse in Anchorage, the same venue listed on the invitation, for a “Rep. Don Young Reception.” Later that night, Zinke went to dinner with representatives of sportsmen's groups, according to his schedule.

The Anchorage stop came in the middle of a weeklong trip that included the use of a military plane to fly from Washington, D.C., to Norway, Greenland and then Alaska. Interior paid for Zinke and three Interior staff members to take the flight. Zinke’s wife, Lola, also accompanied him on the trip but reimbursed the government for the cost of her seat, Interior has said.

In both of the newly disclosed appearances, Zinke did not pose for photos with high-dollar donors, as had been the case with the Virgin Islands Republican Party fundraiser. POLITICO’s report on Zinke’s appearance in that photo line led Walter Shaub, a former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics who is now with the Campaign Legal Center, to ask the Office of Special Counsel to open a Hatch Act investigation. The OSC typically opens investigations in response to complaints it receives, but a spokesman declined to comment on the status of Shaub's request.

Still, some watchdogs question whether Zinke is focused enough on his day job given how much attention he has paid to politics.

“There’s always the risk that a high-level government official spending more time involved in political events may not be attending to their official duties," said Nick Schwellenbach, director of investigations at Project On Government Oversight.

CLARIFICATION: This article has been updated to clarify the specific office investigating Zinke’s travel and political activities.