Executive Departments Part 2

[formergothardite]

Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! Pruitt needs to go fast and not into another position. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Not only did Scotty get a sweetheart "rental" deal, but he didn't always pay on time: "Pruitt fell behind on payments for his $50-a-night condo rental"

Quote

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt was at times slow to pay the rent on his $50-per-night lease in a Capitol Hill condo, according to two people with knowledge of the situation — forcing his lobbyist landlord to pester him for payment.

...

And late Thursday, Pruitt faced a new batch of damaging reports, including one from The New York Times that detailed how at least five EPA officials were pushed out of their jobs or resigned after questioning the EPA chief's expensive spending habits.

Pruitt’s lease agreement, first reported last week by Bloomberg News, has become a point of contention because political appointees sign an ethics pledge prohibiting them from accepting gifts from lobbyists — which would cover cut-rate lodging.

A lease agreement covering February through April 2017 indicated Pruitt’s rent was “payable on the 1st day of each month, in installments of $500 on March 1, 2017 and any remaining balance on April 1, 2017 based on days of actual occupancy,” according to a memo obtained by the Campaign Legal Center.

Had Pruitt stayed in the condo every night in a given month, he would have owed $1,500 — but canceled checks reviewed by Bloomberg show Pruitt made a payment of $1,700 on Sept. 1, suggesting he eventually paid his back rent.

A spokesman for Pruitt declined to comment.

The uncertainty about Pruitt’s fate comes in the wake of Trump’s successive dismissals last month of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin.

His situation may more closely resemble that of former “Apprentice” contestant Omarosa Manigault, who was fired in December of last year despite the president’s initial objections after Kelly convinced him that her abuse of a White House car service, among other things, was a scandal in the making.

Pruitt was among a handful of Cabinet-level officials slapped on the wrist last month by Kelly, who called him into the White House to drill home the notion that — legality aside — “optics matter.” CNN first reported on the meeting.

Pruitt has made clear he wants to keep fighting. He pushed back on allegations in the interview with Fox News on Wednesday. In the interview, Pruitt described his housing arrangement as “an Airbnb situation” and said EPA ethics officials had signed off on it.

An EPA ethics official clarified later Wednesday that he had concluded only that the $50-per-night lease did not constitute an improper gift but did not investigate whether Pruitt’s arrangement ran afoul of other ethics rules.

Asked by Fox whether renting a room from a Washington lobbyist was inconsistent with Trump’s promise to drain the swamp, Pruitt replied: “I don’t even think that that’s even remotely fair to ask that question.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

 

[onekidanddone]

Because Jamie:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I love this video. Ana Navarro says that Scotty makes Betsy look like Einstein:

 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/04/06/pruitt-spending-navarro-sot-ctn.cnn

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Pruitt's revealing view on lights and sirens"

Spoiler

Josh Campbell is a CNN law enforcement analyst, providing insight on crime, justice and national security issues. He previously was a supervisory special agent with the FBI. Follow him on Twitter at @joshscampbell. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN)There is precisely one specialty field in law enforcement that should command the immediate, unyielding and unquestioned respect of anyone focused enough to catch these unsung heroes in action.

Those who hold this job are not famous. Although they live in our neighborhoods, shop where we shop and dine where we dine, you would never recognize them on the street. Rather than seeking celebrity, they hide in plain sight, which is exactly how they want it.

These patriots do not hold high office, but instead are the men and women of protective security details throughout government who risk their lives every day to serve and protect those who control the levers of power.

This week we learned that one of those individuals in power, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who receives protection from armed security officers, reportedly retaliated against at least one of his security agents after being told it was against policy to activate their vehicle's emergency lights and siren so Pruitt could rush to the airport or to dinner at a Washington restaurant.

While halting traffic and blowing through intersections might be permissible for a head of state, a government official under threat or one facing an emergency situation, Pruitt apparently thought it OK to inconvenience motorists and pedestrians around him simply because he was running late.

Travel the streets of Washington or state capitals around the country and you are bound to see black armored SUVs and sedans ferrying government officials from home to work, to meetings of great import, or to airports and train stations as they travel to conduct official duties. Although the official being transported -- the "protectee" in security detail parlance -- may have different goals to accomplish at a given meeting or event, the mission of the security detail is always the same: to safeguard the protectee from harm and embarrassment.

With continually evolving threats from violent individuals and groups, the number of government officials receiving personal protection has increased as agencies have moved to create highly trained teams and units to secure their respective chief executives. Some of these executives receive 24-hour physical security, while others receive scaled-down versions based on the threat picture on any given day.

When I worked at the FBI as a staffer under former Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller, I saw firsthand the incredible bond that forms between senior government officials and their security agents. The assigned protective team learns and adapts to the wishes and idiosyncrasies of the protectee, and the person being protected comes to understand and appreciate the gravity of being surrounded by a team of professionals whose job it is to sacrifice their own lives, if need be, to protect the official.

In Washington, there is an unfortunate phenomenon known as "earpiece envy," where being surrounded by armed security agents speaking into microphones attached to their shirt cuffs is something to be coveted as it bolsters an incredible sense of self-importance. With all the trappings of power, it can be easy for government leaders to start viewing their security bubble as less of a privilege and more as a commodity that exists to ensure their own personal contentment and comfort.

Reports that Pruitt took issue with a security agent who was simply following the rules demonstrates his outsized ego and is outrageous. That he would reportedly demote the agent shows us his character. (EPA official Ryan Jackson was quoted by CBS News, saying, "We have no knowledge of anyone being removed from the detail for not using lights and sirens.")

Most important to a security detail is not being liked by the boss, but, instead, receiving a clear indication that the government official being protected will respect the judgment of those security professionals who wake up each morning in the service of another, not knowing if today will be the day they step in harm's way to save their sole client.

To underscore the seriousness of the mission, watch closely next time you see a government leader getting into a vehicle and you'll notice that, incredibly, it is the job of one specific security agent to shield the protectee's body with his own as the door on the vehicle is closed, quite literally serving as the last line of defense from a potential assassin's bullet.

Officials such as Pruitt and those entrusted with serving in powerful positions that warrant personal protection must respect the decisions, wishes and sacrifices of those doing the protecting, and should start treating them like professionals rather than pawns.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I couldn't agree more with Aunt Crabby:

[Cartmann99]

54 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I couldn't agree more with Aunt Crabby:

Is he wearing a bulletproof vest in the shower? 

[GreyhoundFan]

1 minute ago, Cartmann99 said:

Is he wearing a bulletproof vest in the shower? 

Careful, I could see him thinking Hillary is Norman Bates' mother and she is just waiting to attack him in the shower. Sorry, "Psycho" was on the other day.

[CTRLZero]

Why on earth is Scott Pruitt still around?  Oh, right, they have already scraped the bottom of the barrel so who is there to replace him... 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 Just because Scott Pruitt is paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get him.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

Oh Scott...

you couln't get a lawyer to pay your rent for you?

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

There is a plus side to Pruitt's corruption:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Pruitt’s round-the-clock security has cost taxpayers nearly $3 million"

Spoiler

Scott Pruitt’s security detail has required far more resources than his predecessors’, costing taxpayers nearly $3 million when factoring in overtime and frequent travel for the agents who protect the Environmental Protection Agency administrator 24/7, according to an EPA official.

That figure, first reported by the Associated Press, sheds new light on the unprecedented level of security that has surrounded Pruitt since shortly after he arrived at the agency.

And it comes as he faces increasing scrutiny over his spending and management, as well as over his unusual residential rental arrangement last year with a longtime lobbyist. Even some Republican lawmakers have called for Pruitt’s ouster in recent days, although President Trump has joined many conservatives and industry representatives in standing by the EPA chief.

Travel schedules and agency correspondence obtained by The Washington Post show that Pruitt’s detail, which is triple the size of those for prior EPA administrators, has stretched the agency’s resources and required regular overtime for the men and women who guard him.

In the early months of Pruitt’s tenure, that round-the-clock security arrangement prompted officials to bring in, on rotation, special agents from across the country who otherwise would have been investigating environmental crimes; they were assigned to two-week stints helping to protect Pruitt. His detail now comprises at least 18 full-time agents who provide coverage for him whether he is on official business or off duty. The AP reported that given Pruitt’s busy travel schedule and frequent trips home to Oklahoma, many agents racked up so much overtime that they hit annual salary caps of about $160,000.

Pruitt is among the most high-profile Cabinet members and one of the most polarizing. In justifying his constant security, EPA officials have said Pruitt has received far more threats than previous administrators — some of them “very personal, ugly threats,” an assistant inspector general told The Post last year.

Another agency official told The Post in February that verbal confrontations with members of the public prompted Pruitt to begin flying first-class last year so there would be a buffer between him and the public, as recommended by the leader of the security detail, Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta.

“Scott Pruitt has faced an unprecedented amount of death threats against him and his family,” EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement when asked about Pruitt’s security costs. “Americans should all agree that members of the President’s cabinet should be kept safe from these violent threats.”

In several emails obtained by The Post, EPA security officials made clear last year that the administrator’s extensive travel schedule put a strain on resources before the agency hired additional officers. In a June 9 email to the team, one special agent described the work that went into guarding Pruitt during a trip to Italy.

“I have done enough of these over the years to understand that it takes a lot of effort by those involved to make it look seamless and easy. It is exhausting — stress, jet lag and long days — and continued cooperative efforts between staff, security, embassy personnel and foreign police,” he wrote. “And unfortunately there will be little rest for the weary as the team will start right back to work here in D.C. on Monday.”

Noting that a set of agents usually assigned to doing criminal investigations had just finished a two-week assignment in Washington and were about to be replaced with a new group, the agent wrote, “The detail will jump right into a week of events here in Washington D.C. to end on Friday with yet another trip to Tulsa for the weekend.”

By late 2017, the security detail had hired enough agents that the EPA no longer had to routinely bring in agency investigators from elsewhere in the country.

Yet on Dec. 22, in an email to Pruitt’s detail about the upcoming week’s schedule, another agent highlighted the 12-hour shifts necessary to guard the EPA head over the holidays. Numerous agents were deployed as he spent Christmas in Oklahoma, attended a University of Kentucky basketball game and flew with his family to California to attend the Rose Bowl football game and spend time at Disneyland.

While Pruitt has retained the public support of Trump in recent days — the president tweeted Friday that Pruitt has done “a great job” — some top White House aides have recommended that he be dismissed, given the mounting reports about his ethics and management decisions. Even some political allies have wondered whether he should remain.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, suggested Friday that Pruitt would not hold his job much longer.

During a book-signing event at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Gowdy was asked about the administrator’s latest troubles, which include big pay raises given to two top aides. Gowdy’s remarks, captured by an attendee shooting video on a cellphone, were posted online by the environmental advocacy group Friends of the Earth.

The lawmaker first said his committee had seen, but not yet received, documents requested of EPA. “I’m not sure he’s gonna make it that long,” Gowdy said of Pruitt. Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t have a lot patience for that kind of stuff.” A government official has “got to be a good steward” of taxpayer resources, he added.

Could Gowdy be more hypocritical? This is the man who conducted endless Benghazi "investigations" at the cost of millions to taxpayers.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Ronny Jackson, Trump’s pick for Veterans Affairs, may pass up $1 million to join the Cabinet"

Spoiler

President Trump’s controversial nomination of Ronny L. Jackson to head the Department of Veterans Affairs has grown further complicated by the Navy physician’s pending military promotion, which he could be forced to pass up — along with an estimated $1 million in future retirement income — if confirmed for the Cabinet post.

Jackson, a one-star admiral and the president’s White House doctor, was nominated by Trump for promotion to be a two-star admiral in the days leading to VA Secretary David Shulkin’s departure late last month. The White House has said Jackson intends to remain on active duty until the Senate confirms him to become VA secretary, at which point he would retire from the service. A Navy spokesman said there’s been no change in the admiral’s duty status.

The dual nominations and a lack of clarity from the White House have left lawmakers flummoxed about how to proceed, said a Senate aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment of Jackson’s unusual circumstances. It’s symptomatic of broader frustration on Capitol Hill, particularly among Senate Republicans, with the administration’s contentious personnel moves. They have complained that the time and effort required to consider multiple Cabinet nominations — the top jobs at VA, the State Department and CIA all are pending — is an unwanted distraction during a challenging midterm election cycle.

“This whole situation is very much out of the norm,” the Senate aide said. “There’s some question here whether [Jackson’s] flag officer nomination will move forward given his VA nomination. It’s all TBD because he can’t serve in both positions concurrently, so it wouldn’t make sense for the Senate to move the nominations concurrently.”

The timing most likely is coincidental, as the military evaluates those eligible for promotion months before their nominations are sent to Congress.

The White House did not respond to questions seeking clarity on whether it intends to deconflict Jackson’s two nominations, if the admiral has discussed his pending promotion with Trump or if it’s the president’s goal for Jackson to be promoted before he joins the Cabinet.

The dilemma adds another dimension to Trump’s surprising announcement that he had chosen Jackson, whose flattering assessment of the president’s health was met with skepticism earlier this year, to lead the government’s second-largest agency — and arguably its most challenged. His nomination stunned lawmakers, advocacy groups and former White House colleagues dubious of his qualifications or suspicious of Trump’s desire to expand a program that enables veterans to seek medical care outside the VA network.

In an interview published over the weekend by the Avalanche-Journal in Lubbock, Tex., Jackson, a Texas native, pushed back against his critics and suggested his military experience has prepared him for the challenges he would face leading such a sprawling and complex bureaucracy.

“I’ve been in leadership school for 23 years now,” he told the newspaper. “. . . And I’ve been able to rise to the level of an admiral, a flag officer in the Navy. I didn’t just stumble into that. So I’ve gotten a lot of leadership background, I’ve got a lot of leadership experience as a Navy officer, and I’ve got a lot of day-to-day leadership experience. You know, I’m not just an officer in the Navy; I’m an emergency medicine physician in the military. I’ve been confronted on a day-to-day basis with life-and-death decisions.

“I think I’ve got what it takes, and you know, I don’t buy into that argument at all.”

Jackson is well liked inside the White House, where he’s worked for the past 12 years, and he is respected by those who know him and have been in his care. Trump is said to have marveled at Jackson’s January appearance in the White House briefing room, where he praised the president’s physical wellness and cognitive acuity. Before settling in Washington, Jackson was deployed to Iraq, where he led an emergency trauma unit responsible for treating troops grievously wounded during one of the war’s most violent stretches.

He was surprised, however, by the president’s offer to run VA, White House officials have said, and initially questioned whether, as a career Navy officer with limited managerial experience, he’s an optimal candidate to lead an agency of more than 360,000 employees.

By all accounts, “he’s an extremely sharp officer and a terrific doc,” said Barry McCaffrey, a retired Army general who later served as President Clinton’s drug czar. “If he retired from the military with two stars and went back to civilian life, he would have career prospects for sure. But after 12 years in the White House . . . the only qualification he has [to run VA] is the confidence of the president.

“I think it’s 50-50 he is confirmed. And if he’s confirmed, I have great empathy. Why would he succeed? The answer is: Because the president put him there.”

Jackson’s political views and his position on key policy questions have not surfaced publicly, though he told the Avalanche-Journal that military veterans “want to know that they have access” to medical care.

“We owe the vets the absolute best care that’s available out there,” he said. It’s unclear whether Jackson was weighing in specifically on the administration’s drive to outsource more medical services. There is deepening concern among those who oppose this effort that the admiral won’t stand up to those closest to Trump who have proposed the most aggressive measures. As such, it is believed Jackson will face a difficult confirmation.

Separately, a move to VA could entail financial sacrifice. As a Cabinet secretary, Jackson would earn a salary of $210,000, up significantly from the $150,000 he earns as a one-star admiral and the $170,000 he’d make as a two-star, according to current Defense Department pay tables. As a senior officer living in Washington, he also rates thousands of dollars annually in military housing allowance and other special incentive pay the military makes available to medical professionals.

But a higher rank would qualify Jackson for a more generous pension, which is determined in part by a service member’s final pay grade and years of service. Assuming he lives to age 90, the difference before taxes is $6.4 million versus $5.3 million, according to estimates based on the Defense Department’s retirement pay calculator.

Specialists with First Command Financial Services, which offers financial planning and advisement for the military community, independently verified these results at The Washington Post’s request but cautioned that other variables could influence Jackson’s decision-making in forgoing the promotion in favor of joining Trump’s Cabinet.

For instance, he is probably boosting his future marketability and earning power in the private sector if he can demonstrate success while running VA. Chief executives of major medical networks can command sizable salaries, and Jackson, 50, though of age to retire from the military, is at the outset of his prime earning years.

There’s also the satisfaction that comes from working in service to the nation ­and for those who’ve sacrificed on its behalf, said Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine general who also spent many years on staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee, overseeing, among other matters, the promotion confirmation process.

“It’s been my experience,” Punaro said, “that senior military officers — like Admiral Jackson — aren’t motivated by money. They’re motivated by service. They’re motivated by mission.”

Senate leaders have not set a date for Jackson’s confirmation hearing or a vote on his nomination for promotion.

 

[fraurosena]

Whoops! Another of Pruitt’s excuses just flew out the window.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Today in Musical Chairs,

 

[AmazonGrace]

Quote

Kevin Sabo, who was originally hired for a career position in budget analysis at the DOI in 2016, was promoted to the political role of acting chief of the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs at the Bureau of Reclamation 

He seems nice:

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[candygirl200413]

So I'm currently in grad school and I never been more terrified of writing papers now because of the willingness of this administration to just keep deleting EVIDENCE-BASED information from their websites.