Hours before Barrasso’s missive to Granholm, the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust wrote to the Energy Department’s inspector general demanding an investigation into Granholm’s “blatant violation of her ethics obligations.” The group wrote that Granholm’s violations are “egregious and clear-cut” and that because her “husband’s investments are imputed to her, this means Secretary Granholm had a direct financial interest in one of the companies to which her agency granted millions of dollars from a program she participated in personally and substantially.” Granholm’s husband, Daniel Mulhern, owned around $2,000 of Ford stock during her time in office.

Perhaps most concerning, PPT noted that Granholm “appeared in a cringeworthy video with transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg produced by DoE that appears to endorse and promote a Ford product.”

The latest barrage of criticisms levied at Granholm could spur an internal investigation by her department’s inspector general — and murmurs are growing that she may need to resign because of repeated ethical failures.

[I’d be stunned if Granholm does any such thing. Twenty years ago, this kind of ethics track record might have forced a resignation. These days, though, there is no shame or accountability in politics, and that’s one of the few bipartisan trends in the Beltway. — Ed]