Off-edu, I take a look at Ryan Zinke in U.S. News & World Report.
When President Trump announced his selection of Ryan Zinke to lead the Department of Interior, it landed pretty well. Zinke was a well-regarded former Navy SEAL and congressman known as a champion of protecting public lands and for being attentive to native issues. As opposed to some Trump nominees where defections of Republicans complicated the Senate math, Zinke was confirmed with a bipartisan 67 Senate votes – a landslide in the Trump-era.
During his Senate confirmation, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, a pro-public lands conservation group, said, “Both Zinke and President-elect Trump have identified themselves as conservationists in the model of Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican who helped create America’s priceless public land heritage.
That was then…
The story is different now and the Roosevelt comparisons a lot less flattering. You can read the entire column here.