Corrupt DoT head takes oil money to film reality TV show during oil price spike

Sean Duffy, whose transportation expertise comes from being a contestant on the reality TV show Road Rules, is going back to his roots and filming a reality TV show while on the job.

But, as is fitting for the corrupt cabal he’s a member of, he’s made sure to let companies he’s supposed to regulate pay for his family’s vacation. And he’s doing this right as he works his hardest to ensure that your roadtrips are less attainable, with higher energy prices across the country as the direct and intended result of his policies.

Duffy is currently squatting as head of the Department of Transportation, having been directed to the position by a man who cannot legally hold office in the US.

In his time in that position, he’s worked to increase energy prices for Americans. His very first act when he started the job was to sign a memo intending to raise your fuel costs by $23B, a plan which he later formalized.

He has also retroactively refused to enforce the law against polluting automakers, which already cost cleaner automakers billions of dollars.

Outside the Department of Transportation, republicans in government have been working hard to raise energy costs in myriad other ways as well. The EPA and DoE combined on an effort to raise gasoline costs by .76c/gal, the DoE keeps forcing broken dirty plants to stay open and the Dept. of Interior keeps shutting down cheap clean ones. And Congress has made clean energy more expensive for homes.

Many of these efforts are getting stopped in court, but all of them are intended to raise your energy costs, and have been successful in doing so.

Then, of course, there’s the idiotic war on Iran, which has shot oil prices through the roof globally, providing financial support to hostile foreign governments, many of the most evil companies on the planet, and even the target of the war to begin with.

So, what’s a Transportation Secretary to do… except take money from the same companies that are benefitting from this war and take his whole family on a free roadtrip while every citizen’s life gets more expensive as a result of his policies?

That’s what Sean Duffy has been up to lately, filming a reality TV show he calls the Great American Road Trip. Along for the ride are his kids and wife, who is also a former reality TV contestant and currently a host on the Fox propaganda network, owned by climate denier Rupert Murdoch. Duffy appeared on the propaganda network himself to promote the show.

Duffy proudly announced that “zero taxpayer dollars were spent on my family,” saying that they were not paid a salary for their part in the production. But the DoT did not deny that taxpayer dollars were used in funding Duffy’s travel back and forth from filming locations.

This must have added up to a lot of flight and carbon costs, given the show was filmed only one or two days at a time over the course of seven months. Not only is this inefficient travel, it’s also not how a roadtrip works – you don’t drive for a day at a time then fly back and forth, you take the road the whole way. That’s kinda the entire point.

More worryingly, a DoT spokesperson admitted that costs for the trip – gas, rentals, lodging and activities – were paid for by sponsors including Boeing, Shell, Toyota, United Airlines and Royal Caribbean. All of these are companies that the DoT is supposed to regulate (and several have been fined or audited by DoT before), and yet Duffy accepted a lavish trip for his entire family from them.

To be clear: travel on government business should be paid for by taxpayers, not sponsored by private entities, and that travel should be for official business, not for a free family vacation.

This point was brought up in an ethics complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), stating

The federal gift ban states that, except under a limited set of circumstances, no officer or employee of the executive shall solicit or accept anything of value from an entity involved with their agency. Because federal officials’ travel must be paid for by taxpayer funds to ensure private interests are not driving government decisions, rules mandate that federal officials’ travel on agency aircraft generally must be for official purposes. The Standards of Ethical Conduct prohibit executive branch officials from using, or permitting the use of, their government position or title to imply that their agency or the government endorses their personal activities. Officials are also prohibited from using the authority of their position to endorse any product, service or enterprise.

It makes sense that companies like Toyota and Shell would want to thank Duffy for his work to improve their business, as Shell’s profits doubled last quarter as a result of what it called an “unprecedented disruption in global energy markets” brought on by Duffy’s administration’s war in Iran. And of course, encouraging Americans to consume more fuel with trips during these historic high prices can’t hurt Shell’s bottom line for the coming quarter.

Toyota’s profits didn’t fare so well, as its operating income was down 21% year over year this last quarter. This was largely due to the company’s refusal to build electric cars, which has led its China business to crater and for it not to be ready for the current increased interest in EVs brought on by high oil prices.

But Toyota has always been a huge supporter of climate deniers like Duffy, so its participation in the project does not come as a surprise. It was rewarded by having its vehicles prominently featured in promotions for the show.

So, as your wallet is squeezed by the very policies being pushed by Duffy, wondering whether you can take the same summer family getaway that we all sorely need right now, rest assured that at least the corrupt monster who is working so hard to raise your costs is at least getting a free one paid by the companies he’s working to benefit. But at least it will be broadcast so you can live vicariously through him, I guess?

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