Transportation Department Defends Secretary on Ethics Accusation

The Transportation Department is defending Secretary Elaine Chao from suggestions that she may have used her office to aid her extended family’s shipping business.

As reported over the weekend by Politico, Chao—a Chinese-American whose Taiwanese father is CEO of a New York City-based shipping company focused on Asia—has been appearing in videos alongside her father with the department’s flag and logo in the background.

“In at least a dozen interviews with Chinese and Chinese-American media outlets since her nomination,” Politico’s Tanya Snyder wrote, “Chao has appeared beside her shipping magnate father, whose company carries goods between the United States and Asia, and who has given Chao and her husband at least $5 million in the past 10 years.”

In many of the videos, “James Chao is introduced as founder and chairman of the Foremost Group shipping company, and, in discussing a 2016 biography about his life, speaks proudly of his daughter’s role as secretary of transportation, as she sits beaming by his side.”

Ethics specialists raised questions as to whether the appearances run afoul of a provision of the U.S. code that prohibits federal employees from using their public office for their “own private gain; for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise; or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity.”

The possibility of such conflicts was raised by the news media soon after Chao was first nominated by President Trump during the transition. Chao—whose siblings are high officials in the shipping company—is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The issue was alluded to last week in an advertisement by West Virginia Republican Senate candidate Don Blankenship, who attacked McConnell for allegedly getting rich off his wife’s father’s firm.

Asked to respond, a Transportation spokesperson on Monday told Government Executive, “There is nothing inappropriate with a Cabinet member appearing with her father or other family members. The secretary’s appearances are intended to share an inspirational story about immigrants from a minority community who have become successful in our country.”

The Transportation statement went on to say that Chao, as the first Asian Pacific American woman with a Cabinet position, “is an especially inspirational role model to the Asian Pacific American community. She is proud of her heritage and hopes her family’s journey in America will give hope and encouragement to others.”

The department cited Chao’s family’s contributions in philanthropy, Chao’s past appearances with her father, and agency programs on career opportunities—at Transportation as well as the Labor Department during her time there—arguing that they are designed to celebrate an immigrant family’s successes. The resulting articles, Transportation said, are “motivational and not promotional in any form.”

The Transportation Department on May 16 will host its first such Opportunity Conference.