Written on 29 May 2019.

USDOT Secretary Elaine Chao made $40K from Vulcan Materials despite promise to divest shares | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC

Columbus Ohio Dump Truck Company Brief:

Since taking office in January 2017, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has made $40,000 from the Vulcan Materials Co. stock she received as a payout for the two years she served on the asphalt material supplier's board of directors, The Wall Street Journal reported.

First, in 2017, prior to her confirmation as Secretary of Transportation, Chao signed an ethics agreement stating that she would receive a cash payout in April 2018 for all vested deferred stock she earned as compensation for her tenure on the Vulcan board. Chao was instead given columbus oh dump truck company shares as payment, which Vulcan officials told The Journal was standard policy. Chao then allegedly stated on a subsequent disclosure in May 2018 that she still anticipated a cash payout that never came to pass.
USDOT ethics officials said that Chao's holding of shares is not an ethics violation since she does not participate in issues affecting Vulcan. A Vulcan spokesman also told The Journal that the columbus oh dump truck company has not lobbied the USDOT since Chao took office. However, the former head of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, told The Journal that "for the head of the DOT to have a financial interest in an asphalt company, that is not sending a message to employees of DOT that she is making ethics a priority."

Dump Trucks Columbus OH Insight:

The Center for Responsive Politics tracks the amounts that companies spend on federal lobbying efforts and, according to the center's database, Vulcan spent $390,000 in 2017; $510,000 in 2018; and $120,000 in the first quarter of 2019. In 2017, there were at least four reports that indicated firms hired by Vulcan lobbied the USDOT while Chao headed the agency, as well as another four in 2018 and one in 2019. Construction Dive has reached out to Vulcan for a comment.

But certainly, Vulcan isn't the only construction-related columbus oh dump truck company or group lobbying the USDOT. Fluor Corp., HNTB, AECOM Global and Cemex, as well as employer groups like the Associated General Contractors of America and the Associated Builders and Contractors have already lobbied the agency this year.

So far in 2019, the construction industry has spent $12.5 million dollars in its federal lobbying efforts. Building suppliers, like Vulcan, have spent the most so far ($4.1 million), followed by construction services companies ($3.4 million), general columbus oh dump truck company ($2.4 million), home builders ($1.7 million) and special trade columbus oh dump truck company ($973,945).