A legal advocacy group is asking federal ethics officials to look into potential conflicts of interest involving a top Trump administration agriculture regulator after a PAY DIRT report examined his prior role as a top influence-broker for the soybean industry.
Stephen Censky led the American Soybean Association before landing the No. 2 post at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he has been one of the administration’s most strident supporters of the Renewable Fuel Standard, a federal biofuel mandate favored by the soybean industry.
Government Accountability and Oversight, a nonprofit legal group, is asking the Office of Government Ethics to examine whether Censky’s work at USDA has run afoul of federal ethics rules, including an executive order imposed by President Trump to limit conflicts of interest by former lobbyists in his administration.
“As the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Censky should be held to the highest standards of ethical conduct, including avoiding even the appearance of improper conflicted acts, or failure to properly recuse himself as required,” GAO wrote in a letter to OGE Director Emory Rounds this month. “Public information suggests that OGE investigation of Mr. Censky’s communications and actions is merited.”
GAO is also representing the Institute for Energy Research, a nonprofit with ties to the oil industry, in a lawsuit filed this month that seeks to pry free documents related to Censky’s role in crafting Trump administration biofuel policy. The lawsuit is seeking the production of documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by IER earlier this year.
“Given that soybeans are the second largest source of biofuels used for compliance with RFS, any involvement by Mr. Censky in USDA’s interference stands to materially benefit his former employer,” IER said in a statement about the lawsuit. “Public records document efforts by [soybean] lobbyists to influence RFS policy through Mr. Censky, and Censky’s willing assistance.”
