BLACK ROCK BLUES

Federal Mine Safety Commissioner Appears to Have Consulted With Coal Exec: Report

Amid partisan disputes on the adjudicative panel, Politico reports that a Republican member contacted a coal executive for advice on personnel matters.

A Republican official on the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission appears to have consulted on personnel matters with his own self-described “network” of at least 70 outside individuals, possibly including a coal industry executive, Politico reported on Sunday. According to documents obtained by the D.C. news outlet, the federal agency’s chair Arthur Traynor requested an outside investigation of Republican commissioner Marco Rajkovich for possibly violating ethics rules when he consulted with his outside network—a group which, Traynor wrote, “appears to have been comprised at least in part of top executives of coal and other mining concerns, some of whom were recent former clients of Rajkovich’s law firm.” Politico further reported that, according to an email obtained via FOIA, Rajkovich did indeed consult with coal executive Heath Lovell on a commission hiring decision.