Transportation Department Used Resources to Promote “Mayor Pete” Documentary to Employees

This post follows one I wrote back in April 2022. Protect the Public’s Trust, an ethics watchdog, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Transportation. The lawsuit was in response to the department’s failure to release records involving the movie “Mayor Pete.” PPT requested records regarding the movie, its production and its release.

This lawsuit led to the acquisition of records. The records prove that he was not involved in film promotion. “Mayor Pete,” It seems that the agency used its resources to promote this film to DOT employees. Buttigieg stated that he had no financial interest, but the film could prove to be a benefit in his future bid for the presidency.

This is how I described my documentary in The original post:

“Mayor Pete” is a movie about Buttigieg’s run for president during the 2020 Democrat primary. It was not released until the end of 2021 while Buttigieg still was Secretary of Transportation. On October 14, 2021 the Chicago International Film Festival gave the film its world premiere. It was available on Amazon Prime Video, November 12, 2021.

While Buttigieg may not have been financially involved in the documentary on his failed presidential campaign, his marriage, and his arrival into the Biden cabinet, repeated pitches were made by DOT employees to hype the documentary. PPT received emails containing links to news stories about significant DOT work. These emails were sent out to DOT employees. Nearly 60,000 DOT employees work across the country. In the fall of 2021 the top page of an email contained news about the documentary’s release date and Amazon Prime availability. Over three months leading up to and even after the film’s release, DOT employees were bombarded with nearly a dozen emails containing links to information about “Mayor Pete.”

From The press release:

Many emails contained summary of information. “key” Some aspects of the linked news stories include “Pete Buttigieg hasn’t given up on his dream of being president,” “[on the campaign trail] he also faces [d] blatant homophobia and tough questions about racial politics,” “the breakthrough of the film is its documentation of his relationship with his husband.” It is not easy to determine how these stories relate to the work at DOT. Additionally, it is unclear how many taxpayer resources were used to compile, summarize and disseminate these stories “Mayor Pete” DOT employees can receive promotional emails during working hours.

Even more disturbing is the blatant and repeated references to the film’s availability on Amazon Prime, which may run afoul of ethics regulations prohibiting federal employees from using their positions to induce subordinates to provide any benefit, whether it be financial or otherwise, to the employee, his friends, relatives, and others with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity. It is possible to imagine that employees were pressured to buy the movie by DOT employees, if only to have the opportunity to talk about the film with their coworkers. The documents do not indicate who actually benefits financially from the sale of the movie. “Mayor Pete,” although, while the Department states the Secretary does not have a financial interest in the movie, and promotion of the film would certainly accrue to his benefit in a future quest for elected office and – considering he earned more than $150,000 for an iHeartMedia podcast, was a guest host for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, and received several book royalties and advances – the money may not be as important.

While he might not be paid any money for the documentary, Buttigieg can still enjoy many perks that will benefit his career and bank account in the long-term. It all helps keep his profile high with the public, and we know that he would like to run again for president.

Buttigieg is a failure as Transportation secretary. He was the Transportation Secretary and checked an important box for the Biden administration. He was also rewarded for his endorsement for Biden after he (Buttigieg), dropped out of 2020’s presidential primary. He wasn’t hired for his expertise or experience. It is clear that he took advantage of his position to promote the documentary. It’s a bad look for a cabinet secretary who already looks like he isn’t paying much attention to his job.

I’ll end with a statement from Michael Chamberlain, Director of Protect the Public’s Trust.

“It is becoming ever more clear why so many crises involving the DOT, from the supply chain to air travel chaos, have surfaced during Secretary Buttigieg’s tenure,” explained Michael Chamberlain, Director of Protect the Public’s Trust. “Expending taxpayer resources to repeatedly publicize ‘Mayor Pete’ to DOT employees is just further evidence of the lack of attention to the day-to-day work for the American public under his leadership. Such conduct further erodes the public’s ongoing loss of trust that the government is working in their interests.”

There has been talk of Buttigieg replacing Kamala Harris in Biden’s re-election bid. I don’t see it but who knows? Kamala has the long knives out and Democrats are questioning her ability as vice president. Would Biden choose a biracial man over a gay white male? Biden knows that he needs the black vote in order to win reelection.