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.