Executive Departments Part 2

[AmazonGrace]

Because of course he did.

[formergothardite]

Why isn't he fired yet? 

[GreyhoundFan]

I'm surprised he isn't blaming Hilary too: "Trump Official Blames Obama for His $1 Million Office Redesign"

Spoiler

Since the Trump administration moved in last year, there’s been an unspoken competition among Cabinet officials to spend as much taxpayer money as possible in the most questionable of ways. A favorite among the group, of course, has been refusing to come within 20 feet of coach, insisting instead on flying business or first class or, hell, just renting a private plane or borrowing a jet from the government. Also popular? Dropping tens of thousands—and in some cases hundreds of thousands—on office redesigns as though they’re Fortune 100 C.E.O.s and not government bureaucrats.

Over at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, whose department had its funding slashed in the latest White House budget, dropped $31,000 on a dining set for “safety” reasons. At the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, the front-runner for Most Blatantly Corrupt Trump Official, invoiced taxpayers for a “brown maple wood stand-up desk with brass locks,” a second “oversize desk with decorative woodworking that some E.P.A. employees compared to the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office” (cost of refurbishment: $2,075), and a nearly $43,000 soundproof phone booth, which, it turns out, was illegal for him to purchase without notifying Congress first. And to round out the club, on Tuesday afternoon we learned that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, one of the people responsible for dragging us into a trade war with China, spent nearly $1 million to redecorate two of his offices.

According to the New York Post, Lighthizer spent $3,500 of taxpayer money on an antique desk, $859 on a hugely important 30-inch “Executive Office of the President” plaque, and $830 to “transport and install two paintings on loan from the Smithsonian.” In addition, he paid Executive Furniture of Washington, D.C., which specializes in high-end furniture and wood-finished desks, a whopping $475,000. For his staff, he splurged on 60 sit-stand desks ($18,500), a modular wall system ($290,000), and 90 Herman Miller Aeron office chairs ($54,000). But if you thought Lighthizer would take responsibility for the expenditures, think again:

When asked about the spending spree, Lighthizer’s office pointed the finger at the Obama administration.

“The furniture purchases are the culmination of a longtime, planned project that began under the Obama administration to replace two-decade-old furniture,” Lighthizer’s office said in a statement.

(An official from Lighthizer’s office further explained to The Hive: “Ambassador Lighthizer did not direct these expenditures, which were planned and executed consistent with career staff’s spending authority. All furnishings were acquired through Executive Office of the President contracting procedures. In my opinion as a senior career official responsible for developing and implementing this project, these funds were critical for continuing to execute effectively USTR’s mission.”)

Obama-era, unsurprisingly reps were having none of this explanation, telling the Post that they didn’t approve any major remodeling plans and that it was “laughable” Team Trump would try to pin this on them, considering the new administration had no problem pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on day four of Trump’s presidency. “We told 11 other countries that we were going to do a trade deal with them, and the Trump administration found the power to unwind that,” an Obama trade official told the Post. “So furniture purchases cannot be as binding.”

As for whether Lighthizer will suffer any consequences for the pricey interior design choices, the odds are about as likely as Trump blurbing a second print run of James Comey’s book. Though the president is indeed on a firing spree, ethical transgressions like Lighthizer’s seem only to improve one’s standing with the boss. If Pruitt can hang on after his office decor spending spree, shady housing arrangement, and insistence on outfitting his official business car like it’s the Batmobile, then Lighthizer should be just fine.

 

[onekidanddone]

Is Pruitt gone yet?

[Cartmann99]

 

[onekidanddone]

47 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

The asp investigating the cobra.

[AmazonGrace]

The asp weighed in on the Puerto Rico situation too 

 

[AmazonGrace]

It's not a bug it's a feature

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Audrey2]

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

So, to borrow our British friends' term, does that mean the rest of the time the men will be buggering each other, particularly if they only want 1-2 children? Or would they put extra  effort into pleasuring themselves? This also means no premarital sex and no affairs. 

I've never understood ultra "moralistic" men like this. If their wives only had sex with them a few times during their marriage, the men would leave them. Most make premarital sex a condition of marriage (try before you buy). If they are forcing women into a lifetime of near celebacy, how could they miss that they'd have to be celebate as well?

[GreyhoundFan]

More fun with Scotty: "EPA chief Scott Pruitt flew in coach when taxpayers weren’t footing bill"

Spoiler

WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt flew in coach-class seats on at least two trips home to Oklahoma when taxpayers weren't footing the bill, despite claims he needed to travel in first class at government expense because of security threats.

Copies of Pruitt's official schedule released this week following a public records request show flights made in August and October to Tulsa on Southwest Airlines, a budget carrier that doesn't offer premium-class seats.

The Associated Press reported earlier this month that an EPA official said the administrator sat in coach on personal flights to watch college football games using a companion pass obtained with frequent flyer miles accrued by Ken Wagner, a former law partner Pruitt hired as one of his senior advisers at EPA. The official spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of retaliation.

Pruitt's full-time security team still accompanied him on the trips to Oklahoma, with their travel expenses still borne by taxpayers. The EPA administrator has said the agency's security officials determined that he should fly in first class during government trips following "unpleasant interactions" with other airline passengers.

Asked Wednesday about the records reviewed by AP, EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said "the same security procedures are followed whether Administrator Pruitt is on official or personal travel." Wilcox did not directly respond to why Pruitt didn't need to fly in first class on the personal flights.

EPA ethics lawyer Kevin Minoli also confirmed for the first time that Pruitt flew on a companion pass during the personal flights, reimbursing Wagner for a $5.60 airline fee and half the cost of the adviser's ticket. The agency did not disclose the original cost of Wagner's ticket or whether he paid for it with frequent flyer miles.

Minoli added that EPA ethics officials are now consulting with the Office of Government Ethics to determine "whether any additional steps needed to be taken to ensure full compliance with the ethics requirements."

Former Office of Government Ethics director Walter Shaub said Wednesday the companion tickets provided to Pruitt likely violated a federal prohibition that bars officials from accepting gifts from their subordinates exceeding $10. Shaub said the value of the gift is determined not by what Wagner actually paid for the ticket, but what the full market value would have been had the ticket been purchased with cash.

"EPA's discussion of the discounted price that the donor paid is disingenuous," said Shaub, who resigned last year after clashing with President Donald Trump on ethics issues. "In this case, EPA should look to see what Pruitt would have had to pay if he had purchased the ticket on the day that he accepted the gift of free airfare from his subordinate."

Shaub said he expected his former colleagues in the Office of Government Ethics would advise Pruitt that it was inappropriate for him to accept the gifted airfare from an EPA employee and that he must repay Wagner at full market value.

The cut-rate airfare is the latest ethical issue to ensnare Pruitt, who has been under intense scrutiny since it was first revealed last month that he had stayed last year in a bargain-priced Capitol Hill condo tied to a fossil-fuels lobbyist.

The embattled EPA administrator and those around him are the subject of multiple investigations launched by government watchdogs and congressional committees looking into luxury travel expenses, outsized security spending and massive raises awarded to political appointees.

So he used his aide's frequent flyer miles when taxpayers weren't footing the bill. What a prince.

[AmazonGrace]

This is a feature, not a bug.

[AmazonGrace]

 

Bye Nasa, it was nice knowing you

 

[formergothardite]

Someone please reassure me that this disaster is fixable if we get normal humans running the government. 

[fraurosena]

2 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

Someone please reassure me that this disaster is fixable if we get normal humans running the government. 

Rest assured. Things can be fixed. Made better even. You just need time.

And to VOTE of course.

[Audrey2]

4 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Bye Nasa, it was nice knowing you

 

What, did not of the flat earthers or moon landing deniers answer their phones?

Here's another article

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-confirms-climate-change-denier-184241292.html

"The former Navy Reserve pilot previously served as executive director of the Air and Space Museum & Planetarium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During his tenure, the nonprofit suffered financial losses, and an investigation by the Project On Government Oversight found that Bridenstine used the nonprofit’s resources to benefit a company he co-owned, according to a report from The Daily Beast this week. "

He'll fit right in. Poor financial management decisions, check. Political profiteering, check. Completely ignorant about his department, check. 

[fraurosena]

I just love it that at every turn this administration is stopped in their evil tracks by justice and the rule of law.

 

[Cartmann99]

On 4/19/2018 at 10:09 AM, Audrey2 said:

So, to borrow our British friends' term, does that mean the rest of the time the men will be buggering each other, particularly if they only want 1-2 children? Or would they put extra  effort into pleasuring themselves? This also means no premarital sex and no affairs. 

I've never understood ultra "moralistic" men like this. If their wives only had sex with them a few times during their marriage, the men would leave them. Most make premarital sex a condition of marriage (try before you buy). If they are forcing women into a lifetime of near celebacy, how could they miss that they'd have to be celebate as well?

It also makes life even more difficult for women who will be beaten or raped if they attempt to refuse sex. That's a horrible situation to be in, but it's even worse if her abuser keeps impregnating her so that he has more people to terrorize.

People like this make me furious, and their precious morals just add immense burdens to the lives of people who are already struggling. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Sessions told White House that Rosenstein’s firing could prompt his departure, too"

Spoiler

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently told the White House he might have to leave his job if President Trump fired his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the exchange.

Sessions made his position known in a phone call to White House counsel Donald McGahn last weekend, as Trump’s fury at Rosenstein peaked after the deputy attorney general approved the FBI’s raid April 9 on the president’s personal attorney Michael Cohen.

Sessions’s message to the White House, which has not previously been reported, underscores the political firestorm that Trump would invite should he attempt to remove the deputy attorney general. While Trump also has railed against Sessions at times, the protest resignation of an attorney general — which would be likely to incite other departures within the administration — would create a moment of profound crisis for the White House.

In the phone call with McGahn, Sessions wanted details of a meeting Trump and Rosenstein held at the White House on April 12, according to a person with knowledge of the call. Sessions expressed relief to learn that their meeting was largely cordial. Sessions said he would have had to consider leaving as the attorney general had Trump ousted Rosenstein, this person said.

Another person familiar with the exchange said Sessions did not intend to threaten the White House but rather wanted to convey the untenable position that Rosenstein’s firing would put him in.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Rosenstein’s status remains uncertain, but the pressure he is facing seemed to subside after last week.

Last summer, when it appeared Trump was going to fire Sessions or pressure him to resign, Republican lawmakers and conservative advocacy groups rallied to Sessions’s side and warned the president not to move against him.

Trump had told senior officials last week that he was considering firing Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support last year. Since then, alumni of the Justice Department have rallied to Rosenstein’s defense.

As of Friday afternoon, more than 800 former Justice Department employees had signed an open letter calling on Congress to “swiftly and forcefully respond to protect the founding principles of our Republic and the rule of law” if Trump were to fire the deputy attorney general, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III or other senior Justice Department officials. The group MoveOn.org has sought to organize nationwide protests if such an event were to occur.

Rosenstein, on behalf of the Justice Department, is set to argue a sentencing case, Chavez-Meza v. United States, before the Supreme Court on Monday. Appearing before the high court has long been a professional goal, people close to Rosenstein say.

A senior administration official said Sessions does not like the way Rosenstein has been treated by the president and had expressed such concerns for months. He has regularly sought guidance from the White House about Rosenstein’s standing with the president and asked about his interactions with Trump, this official said.

But Sessions has had little ability to do anything about it, given his own shaky standing with Trump for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, this official said. Trump has, at times, referred to Sessions as “Mr. Magoo” and Rosenstein as “Mr. Peepers,” a character from a 1950s sitcom, according to people with whom the president has spoken.

The relationship between Sessions and Rosenstein — and their staffs — has been strained at times over the first year of the Trump administration. But people familiar with Sessions’s thinking say that he has said several times that he would find it difficult to remain as attorney general if Trump fired for no good reason the veteran prosecutor in Baltimore that Sessions chose to be his deputy. The two men, along with Solicitor General Noel Francisco, were spotted in February dining together at a restaurant near the Justice Department, generating some speculation that they were attempting a display of solidarity.

Rosenstein, the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, is tasked with running the day-to-day operations of the sprawling agency of 113,000 employees who work for the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Bureau of Prisons; U.S. attorneys offices; and Main Justice, the agency’s headquarters. But from the time he was confirmed in May of last year, the investigation into possible coordination during the 2016 presidential campaign between Trump associates and agents of the Russian government has overshadowed everything he has done.

James M. Trusty, a partner at Ifrah Law and a friend of Rosenstein’s, said the deputy attorney general “went into the job with a pretty fatalistic view,” but he “probably didn’t know it was going to be this much of a storm.”

“I remember him joking at his going-away party that nine months was the average tenure for the deputy attorney general,” Trusty said.

A wall of photographs outside Rosenstein’s fourth-floor office at the Justice Department illustrates the high-stress and political nature of the deputy attorney general’s position. President Barack Obama’s first deputy attorney general, David Ogden, stepped down from the job after less than a year. One of President Bill Clinton’s deputy attorneys general, Philip B. Heymann, lasted 10 months.

Trusty, who said he had spoken with Rosenstein about three weeks ago, said Rosenstein had kept his views on the situation largely private and had not sought surrogates or anyone else to press his case.

“I think he tends to view things in a very long-range way, kind of a this-too-shall-pass philosophy about the slings and arrows that will come at you,” Trusty said.

A month after Rosenstein became deputy attorney general, he was criticized for his role in the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey. Rosenstein authored a critical memo lambasting Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, and the White House later used the document as a pretext to remove the FBI director. After a few days, though, Trump said he was thinking about the Russia investigation when he fired Comey. Comey has said in recent days he believed Rosenstein “acted dishonorably” and could not be trusted.

At that point, Rosenstein was overseeing the Russia investigation because Sessions had recused himself. On May 17, about a week after the Comey firing, Rosenstein announced that he had appointed Mueller as special counsel to conduct the Russia investigation.

Rosenstein took the action without first consulting Sessions and notified him when he was at the White House meeting with Trump. The decision took Trump by surprise and greatly angered him.

A person close to the White House and the Justice Department said Sessions has “vacillated, I think, from being concerned about the deputy leaving or being fired and recognizing that Rosenstein has not been a friend of either him or the department.”

During the past year, Rosenstein has been involved in several policy issues in the Justice Department, as well as complex prosecutions involving cybercrimes and the first charges against Chinese-based fentanyl manufacturers and distributors.

But Russia continues to consume his days. This week, two of Trump’s top legislative allies and leading members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus met with Rosenstein and pressed him for more documents about the conduct of law enforcement officials involved in the Russia probe. They warned him that he could face impeachment proceedings or an effort to hold him in contempt of Congress if he did not satisfy Republican demands for more documents.

 

[AmazonGrace]

18 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Sessions told White House that Rosenstein’s firing could prompt his departure, too"

  Reveal hidden contents

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently told the White House he might have to leave his job if President Trump fired his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the exchange.

Sessions made his position known in a phone call to White House counsel Donald McGahn last weekend, as Trump’s fury at Rosenstein peaked after the deputy attorney general approved the FBI’s raid April 9 on the president’s personal attorney Michael Cohen.

Sessions’s message to the White House, which has not previously been reported, underscores the political firestorm that Trump would invite should he attempt to remove the deputy attorney general. While Trump also has railed against Sessions at times, the protest resignation of an attorney general — which would be likely to incite other departures within the administration — would create a moment of profound crisis for the White House.

In the phone call with McGahn, Sessions wanted details of a meeting Trump and Rosenstein held at the White House on April 12, according to a person with knowledge of the call. Sessions expressed relief to learn that their meeting was largely cordial. Sessions said he would have had to consider leaving as the attorney general had Trump ousted Rosenstein, this person said.

Another person familiar with the exchange said Sessions did not intend to threaten the White House but rather wanted to convey the untenable position that Rosenstein’s firing would put him in.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Rosenstein’s status remains uncertain, but the pressure he is facing seemed to subside after last week.

Last summer, when it appeared Trump was going to fire Sessions or pressure him to resign, Republican lawmakers and conservative advocacy groups rallied to Sessions’s side and warned the president not to move against him.

Trump had told senior officials last week that he was considering firing Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support last year. Since then, alumni of the Justice Department have rallied to Rosenstein’s defense.

As of Friday afternoon, more than 800 former Justice Department employees had signed an open letter calling on Congress to “swiftly and forcefully respond to protect the founding principles of our Republic and the rule of law” if Trump were to fire the deputy attorney general, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III or other senior Justice Department officials. The group MoveOn.org has sought to organize nationwide protests if such an event were to occur.

Rosenstein, on behalf of the Justice Department, is set to argue a sentencing case, Chavez-Meza v. United States, before the Supreme Court on Monday. Appearing before the high court has long been a professional goal, people close to Rosenstein say.

A senior administration official said Sessions does not like the way Rosenstein has been treated by the president and had expressed such concerns for months. He has regularly sought guidance from the White House about Rosenstein’s standing with the president and asked about his interactions with Trump, this official said.

But Sessions has had little ability to do anything about it, given his own shaky standing with Trump for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, this official said. Trump has, at times, referred to Sessions as “Mr. Magoo” and Rosenstein as “Mr. Peepers,” a character from a 1950s sitcom, according to people with whom the president has spoken.

The relationship between Sessions and Rosenstein — and their staffs — has been strained at times over the first year of the Trump administration. But people familiar with Sessions’s thinking say that he has said several times that he would find it difficult to remain as attorney general if Trump fired for no good reason the veteran prosecutor in Baltimore that Sessions chose to be his deputy. The two men, along with Solicitor General Noel Francisco, were spotted in February dining together at a restaurant near the Justice Department, generating some speculation that they were attempting a display of solidarity.

Rosenstein, the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, is tasked with running the day-to-day operations of the sprawling agency of 113,000 employees who work for the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Bureau of Prisons; U.S. attorneys offices; and Main Justice, the agency’s headquarters. But from the time he was confirmed in May of last year, the investigation into possible coordination during the 2016 presidential campaign between Trump associates and agents of the Russian government has overshadowed everything he has done.

James M. Trusty, a partner at Ifrah Law and a friend of Rosenstein’s, said the deputy attorney general “went into the job with a pretty fatalistic view,” but he “probably didn’t know it was going to be this much of a storm.”

“I remember him joking at his going-away party that nine months was the average tenure for the deputy attorney general,” Trusty said.

A wall of photographs outside Rosenstein’s fourth-floor office at the Justice Department illustrates the high-stress and political nature of the deputy attorney general’s position. President Barack Obama’s first deputy attorney general, David Ogden, stepped down from the job after less than a year. One of President Bill Clinton’s deputy attorneys general, Philip B. Heymann, lasted 10 months.

Trusty, who said he had spoken with Rosenstein about three weeks ago, said Rosenstein had kept his views on the situation largely private and had not sought surrogates or anyone else to press his case.

“I think he tends to view things in a very long-range way, kind of a this-too-shall-pass philosophy about the slings and arrows that will come at you,” Trusty said.

A month after Rosenstein became deputy attorney general, he was criticized for his role in the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey. Rosenstein authored a critical memo lambasting Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, and the White House later used the document as a pretext to remove the FBI director. After a few days, though, Trump said he was thinking about the Russia investigation when he fired Comey. Comey has said in recent days he believed Rosenstein “acted dishonorably” and could not be trusted.

At that point, Rosenstein was overseeing the Russia investigation because Sessions had recused himself. On May 17, about a week after the Comey firing, Rosenstein announced that he had appointed Mueller as special counsel to conduct the Russia investigation.

Rosenstein took the action without first consulting Sessions and notified him when he was at the White House meeting with Trump. The decision took Trump by surprise and greatly angered him.

A person close to the White House and the Justice Department said Sessions has “vacillated, I think, from being concerned about the deputy leaving or being fired and recognizing that Rosenstein has not been a friend of either him or the department.”

During the past year, Rosenstein has been involved in several policy issues in the Justice Department, as well as complex prosecutions involving cybercrimes and the first charges against Chinese-based fentanyl manufacturers and distributors.

But Russia continues to consume his days. This week, two of Trump’s top legislative allies and leading members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus met with Rosenstein and pressed him for more documents about the conduct of law enforcement officials involved in the Russia probe. They warned him that he could face impeachment proceedings or an effort to hold him in contempt of Congress if he did not satisfy Republican demands for more documents.

 

Isn't that just a two-fer? Egging Trump on? Two Birds with one Stone? 

Here is just another instance of dehumanising immigrants

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

 I think Australia has phones and email but I'm not sure. 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[onekidanddone]

On 4/19/2018 at 1:30 PM, AmazonGrace said:

This is a feature, not a bug.

I took a SharePoint and was thinking about the phrase just this past week.

[GreyhoundFan]

Apparently Scotty's champagne tastes were in place before he took over the EPA: "‘A factory of bad ideas’: How Scott Pruitt undermined his mission at EPA"

Spoiler

The April 9 gathering in the Oval Office was supposed to be about ethanol policy. But the meeting had barely gotten underway when President Trump turned his attention to Scott Pruitt’s “rough week.”

The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency had suffered a barrage of negative headlines about his spending on first-class travel, his large security detail and steep raises for two favored aides, as well as his leasing of a Capitol Hill condo from a Washington lobbyist for $50 a night.

As Pruitt, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and White House counsel Donald McGahn listened, Trump mused about the size of the raises and whether the lease was indeed market rate, according to two senior administration officials familiar with the discussion. Then he switched to a happier subject, noting that Pruitt had shed “a lot of bureaucrats” from the agency.

Yes, Pruitt assured him. EPA staffing was “down to Reagan-era levels.”

“All right, Scott,” the president said, approvingly. But of the bad publicity, he added: “Cool it.”

Since then, Pruitt has adopted a determined strategy to placate the president and lie low. On his frequent travels, including a trip to the Midwest on Thursday, he has given up first class for coach when possible, according to aides. And he made a point of honoring a White House request for Cabinet officials to stop by a memorial to opioid victims installed on the Ellipse.

But while Trump has tweeted that Pruitt is “doing a great job,” the EPA chief is hardly out of the woods, yet.

In the past week, the Government Accountability Office announced a finding that his installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in EPA headquarters had violated federal spending laws. The EPA’s inspector general announced that it will probe Pruitt’s decision to have his security detail accompany him on personal trips. And more than half a dozen other inquiries are underway within the EPA, at the White House and on Capitol Hill, where Pruitt is slated to testify twice next week about his spending and management practices.

Meanwhile, the Senate has finally approved former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to be Pruitt’s deputy, a development that has been closely monitored in the West Wing. The day Trump signed Wheeler’s paperwork, a White House official said, aides in the West Wing called the agency to ask how soon the new deputy administrator would start.

The low-key Wheeler — a former staffer in the EPA and the Senate — was sworn in Friday, and his arrival could make Pruitt expendable should more embarrassing revelations surface, according to people inside and outside the administration. While Pruitt has long been a Trump favorite, he also has acquired a reputation as unresponsive and unwilling to take advice or instruction, according to three current and former White House aides, defiantly insisting that he has done nothing wrong and that Trump supports him.

“He believes in the audience of one,” said a senior White House official.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox declined to discuss Pruitt’s management practices, saying in a statement that the EPA chief remains focused on policy results.

“Administrator Pruitt has visited over 30 states. We will continue to visit those ignored by the Obama administration and implement President Trump’s agenda of regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship,” Wilcox said.

This story is based on interviews with 17 current and former officials in Washington and Oklahoma, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. They described Pruitt’s predicament as largely self-inflicted, the result of poor decisions by the EPA chief and a small cadre of trusted aides.

Although Pruitt continues to win high marks within the administration on policy, one EPA staffer said his management of the agency has become “a factory of bad ideas.”

Before coming to Washington last year, Pruitt was a rising star in Republican circles. Twice elected Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt had gained national prominence by challenging environmental policies of President Barack Obama. He once described himself as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.”

As attorney general, Pruitt displayed hints of his taste for VIP treatment and high-end travel. He ditched his predecessor’s aging 2006 Lincoln sedan and spent $88,500 to buy two Chevy SUVs — a 2014 Tahoe and a 2015 Suburban — according to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. Pruitt also had an armed agent serve as his driver, shuttling him the 100 miles from his home in Tulsa to his headquarters in Oklahoma City, according to a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.

Pruitt’s two political action committees also raised and spent nearly $1 million over a two-year period starting in 2015, much of it on organizational expenses such as consultant fees and rooms at high-end hotels in Dallas, New York, New Orleans and Washington.

Pruitt, known as hardworking and aggressive, largely avoided the sort of controversy that has defined his time at EPA, an $8-billion-a-year operation that dwarfs the Oklahoma attorney general’s roughly $13 million annual appropriation.

In Oklahoma, “there were very few opportunities for an executive officer to engage in profligate or excessive spending,” said University of Oklahoma political science professor Keith Gaddie.

Pruitt’s arrival in Washington, however, seemed to bring a fixation on symbols of status, according to current and former administration officials. He demanded to travel on private or military jets, like the president and higher-ranking Cabinet secretaries. Aides even investigated a charter plane contract but rejected the $100,000 monthly cost as too high.

More high-profile and polarizing than many of his predecessors, Pruitt immediately became the subject of threats on social media and elsewhere, EPA officials said, causing him to embrace a broad range of security recommendations. Agency officials installed the private phone booth and biometric locks in his new office and, on the advice of his security chief, Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, spent $3,000 to have the place swept for listening devices. (The agency hired one of Perrotta’s outside business partners to perform the task.)

“Similar security sweeps were done for EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy,” Wilcox said Friday.

Pruitt also accepted a round-the-clock protective detail, an unusual move for an EPA secretary, which so far has cost taxpayers at least $3 million in salaries and travel costs.

Other ideas were rejected: a plan to install a key card swipe system on the double doors leading to the waiting area outside Pruitt’s office. A request for a staffer to hand-deliver news clips about Pruitt to his home before he left for the office each day. A proposal to rent a second unit for Pruitt’s security detail in the luxury U Street apartment building where Pruitt was living last fall.

In “the current location security/special agents are not the norm, and as a result, we are now rather conspicuous” parked on the street overnight, Henry Barnet, the head of EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training, wrote in a Sept. 22 email to senior EPA officials.

The questionable spending quickly alienated many staffers at EPA, including some Trump administration loyalists hired by Pruitt. At least half a dozen political appointees have left the agency, including a longtime Pruitt associate and head of the Office of Policy, Samantha Dravis.

Another departed Trump appointee, Kevin Chmielewski, in conversations with congressional investigators accused Pruitt of excessive spending and ethical missteps.

“When [Chmielewski] refused to support your unethical and inappropriate spending, he was marginalized, removed from his senior position and placed on administrative leave,” several Democratic lawmakers wrote to Pruitt in an April 12 letter. Others were “punished, demoted, and retaliated against when they tried to resist inappropriate directions that came from you or through your favored staff,” the letter said.

For example, after Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, raised questions about a plan for Pruitt to travel to Morocco in December, Pruitt texted Jackson and disinvited him from future scheduling meetings, according to Chmielewski.

Meanwhile, Pruitt’s favorite aides were rewarded. This spring, EPA senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt was approved for a 52 percent pay increase, from $107,435 to $164,200, while scheduling and advance director Millan Hupp was given a boost in salary of 33 percent, to $114,590. Both women had worked for Pruitt in Oklahoma.

The agency reversed the raises after a public outcry, and Pruitt told Trump and disapproving White House aides that he had not known about them in advance.

But a Feb. 27 email obtained by The Washington Post suggests Pruitt was aware the salary increases were in the works. In the email, Greenwalt asks an EPA human resources official whether she will receive “an increase in salary as previously discussed with the Administrator.”

Asked about the emails, Wilcox said, “Salary determinations for appointees are made by EPA’s chief of staff, White House liaison, and career human resources officials. Salaries are based on work history; and, any increases are due to either new and additional responsibilities or promotions.”

Through it all, Pruitt has soldiered on in his campaign to roll back environmental regulations and prioritize traditional EPA roles such as cleaning up toxic-waste sites and upgrading aging water infrastructure around the country.

But Pruitt’s personal controversies threaten to overshadow his professional pursuits. This month, the White House canceled an appearance for Trump and Pruitt at which the EPA chief had planned to announce changes to how states must comply with federal air-quality standards. Trump later signed the order without fanfare.

Pruitt has tried to tamp down the bad publicity. Since The Post first reported on his routine use of first-class airline travel in February, he has continued domestic trips but also has postponed trips to Israel, Mexico and China.

But Pruitt has fumed privately about the constraints on his travel and his ambitions. Two agency employees said they recently heard him liken his cloistered, wood-paneled office at EPA headquarters to “a prison.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

How did he not spontaneously combust when tweeting this?