Senate Republicans Push Burgum’s Cronies Forward After Historic National Monument Rollback
Unqualified Interior Department Nominees Kevin Lilly & William Hague Advance to Full Republican Senate After Party-Line Committee Vote
HELENA, MT – Under the cover of historic attacks by the Trump administration and Doug Burgum on Americans’ outdoor heritage, the Republican-controlled Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week advanced the nominations of Kevin Lilly and William Hague, teeing up final confirmation votes in the full Senate for two of Doug Burgum’s key cronies to advance his fail-by-design plan for America’s parks and public lands.
Lilly, tapped to be Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, is a Texas wealth manager with no meaningful parks or wildlife background. Hague, nominated as an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, spent three decades as a telecom executive and was a major donor to Burgum’s presidential campaign before landing at Interior. The committee vote comes just days after Trump executed and Burgum oversaw the largest rollback of protected public land in American history, and advances two nominees whose ethics agreements disclose sprawling financial ties to the energy, mining, and telecom corporations they’d be responsible for regulating.
“Unqualified cronies Kevin Lilly and William Hague are living proof that Doug Burgum’s Interior Department is for sale to the highest bidder and neither should have advanced out of committee. A wealth manager and a telecom executive have no business managing our national parks or protecting wildlife, and every Senator who votes to advance them just told their constituents that cronyism matters more than conservation,” said Jayson O’Neill, Save Our Parks spokesperson. “These are unqualified patronage picks, plain and simple, delivered days after a historic amount of public land protections were gutted so few would notice. It’s up to the full Senate to reject these unqualified cronies, or those that vote for them will own every acre of public land Burgum sells off and every species his cronies fail to protect.”
The final confirmation floor confirmation vote has yet to be scheduled. Save Our Parks is calling on the Stewardship Caucus members and Senators who claim to support America’s public lands, parks, and wildlife to reject both nominees.
Additional Resources:
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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