If the Trump Administration’s recent order to staff at the U.S. departments of Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency to halt external communications had landed on a few more departments’ desks, the outcry would not likely be so great.
In recent days at the USDA, employees have been instructed to centralize all media inquiries and direct them to the Office of the Secretary. EPA employees have been told not to generate any new communications in any form (news releases, blog, web or social media posts) and to not speak directly to the press and public. EPA staff has been directed to remove, then leave, then remove climate change data from its website. It is likely the pages will be taken down, but data links will remain accessible to the public.
It makes sense for a new administration to want to set its tone and for communications to reflect its policy priorities and initiatives, but the way they are going about it is troubling nonetheless. Orders of this kind – asking agencies to review and remove dated references from websites, blog posts and other social media – were issued by the Obama administration in 2009. In what some are calling a “media blackout,” the new administration has taken transition protocol several steps further than President Obama.
We hope this is just a sign of a new administration and staff getting its message down and everyone on the same page, rather than one that is excessively controlling. What is clear is that the new administration is in some disarray. How it is handling its relationship with the public and the press is straining traditional political and cultural norms around government transparency and accountability. Other representatives may be following suit.
As was reported in the Herald on Wednesday, more than 50 local residents expressed their frustration that Sen. Cory Gardner and his staff have not been sufficiently responsive to their repeated attempts, via emails, phone calls and an on-site visit (the office was dark), to express their views on a range of issues.
From D.C. to Durango, it is up to citizens to hold government officials to account – and to keep trying.
