This post is a follow-up to one I wrote 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 of the movie, its production, and its release.

That lawsuit resulted in obtaining records. The records show that, while he did not appear to promote the film “Mayor Pete,” it seems like the agency did use its resources to promote the film to DOT employees. Buttigieg claimed to have no financial interest in the movie that documented his failed presidential run, the film certainly could work to his benefit in any future run for office.

This is how I described the 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 late 2021 when Buttigieg was in office as the Secretary of Transportation. The movie had its world premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival on October 14, 2021. It was released on November 12, 2021, on Amazon Prime Video.

Buttigieg may have not had a financial interest in the documentary about his failed presidential run, his life with his husband, and his arrival in the Biden cabinet but repeated pitches were made to DOT employees hyping the documentary about the Secretary to DOT employees. Emails were produced to PPT that provided links to news stories of significant work of DOT. The emails were sent to DOT employees. There are almost 60,000 DOT employees across the country. During the fall of 2021, the top of the first page of the email provided news about the documentary, its release date, and its availability on Amazon Prime. 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:

The emails often contained summaries of “key” aspects of the linked news stories, such as “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,” and “the breakthrough of the film is its documentation of his relationship with his husband.” It is difficult to discern how these stories have relevance to the work of DOT, and also uncertain how many taxpayer resources were expended to compile, summarize, and disseminate these “Mayor Pete” promotional emails to DOT employees during work 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. Given the bombardment of DOT employees with information about the movie, it is not far-fetched to believe that the employees felt some pressure to purchase it, if for no other reason than to be able to engage in conversation about the movie if asked about it by fellow employees. It is unclear from the documents who ultimately gains financially from the sales of “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.

As I wrote above, he may not receive financial compensation directly from the documentary but there are plenty of perks Buttigieg enjoys that will enhance his bank account and career, certainly in the future. Most importantly, it all keeps his profile raised with the public and we know he wants to run for president again.

Buttigieg has been a failure as Transportation Secretary. He checked an important identity box for the Biden administration and was rewarded for his endorsement of Biden when he (Buttigieg) dropped out of the 2020 presidential primary. He wasn’t hired for his expertise or experience. It certainly looks like he exploited his position to promote his 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? The long knives are out for Kamala and even Democrats question her ability to be vice-president. Would Biden switch out a biracial woman for a gay white man? Biden needs the black vote to win re-election and he knows that.