EDITORIAL: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke catches flak for comments

In this era of perpetual indignation, not a day can go by without another outrage — and perhaps even two or three.

With Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Democrats seem particularly susceptible to offense and insult. On Tuesday, they turned their sights on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Mr. Zinke was already in the cross-hairs for daring to recommend that a handful of new national monuments — including Gold Butte in Nevada — be slightly reduced in size. But the shaming machine ramped up to full power after Mr. Zinke gave a Monday speech to an oil industry group and criticized some Interior employees.

In the talk, the secretary compared his department to a pirate vessel and said, “I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the ship.” His point was that many bureaucrats under his command are captive to a radical green agenda and are impediments to reform.

For the sin of speaking the truth, Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat and the ranking minority member of the House Natural Resources Committee, called for Mr. Zinke to walk the plank and “apologize to the public servants he is supposed to be leading.” Rep. Grijalva argued that the secretary doesn’t “deserve” loyalty “with divisive comments like these.”

In the Senate, Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, called Mr. Zinke’s comments a “cheap shot” at Interior’s 70,000 workers. “Replacing them with purely political people will not protect our public lands or protect taxpayers from special interest sweetheart deals.”

But Mr. Zinke said nothing about replacing Interior civil servants “with purely political people.” Is it really so egregious that agency heads would prefer employees willing to carry out the president’s agenda, in line with existing laws, to those who have other ideas? This is true regardless of who holds the presidency.

“There’s too many ways in the present process,” Mr. Zinke said, according to The Associated Press, “for someone who doesn’t want to get (a regulatory action) done to put it in a holding pattern.”

He’s correct. Red tape and obstruction are the enemies of productivity and efficiency.

To that end, Mr. Zinke revealed that he will likely seek a reorganization of the Interior Department. “I really can’t change the culture without changing the structure,” he said.

The AP reports that any shuffle could include relocating several agencies —including the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation — from Washington, D.C., to the West in an effort to bring decision-makers closer to the areas they manage.

This is an excellent idea — and long overdue.

Far from being controversial, Mr. Zinke’s comments this week are encouraging. And on the matter of reorganization, Nevada’s congressional delegation should sit down with the secretary to pitch him on the advantages of the Silver State as a potential home for, say, the BLM. As the state with the highest percentage of federal land within its boundaries, Nevada should be the obvious choice.