April 20, 2018
By Jennifer Rubin –
Even casual political-watchers know that Friday is the customary day for dropping bad news and dumping senior officials. No senior official is more deserving of being dumped than Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general plans to investigate whether Scott Pruitt, the agency’s embattled chief, acted improperly when he used an E.P.A. security detail for personal trips to the Rose Bowl, Disneyland and basketball games, among other places.
The latest probe brings the number of investigations into Mr. Pruitt’s use of taxpayer money and possible ethics violations to 10.
Ten? There are scandals concerning first-class travel, a $43,000 soundproof booth, an apartment leased from the wife of a lobbyist, outsize pay increases for top aides (one of whom allegedly spent time on Pruitt’s housing search, a violation of law if true), $10,200 to lease a super-duper upgraded SUV, retaliation against aides who objected to his spending sprees and “$45,000 in government money to fly five people to Australia to prepare for a planned trip that was later canceled” (according to a new Reuters report).
With the exception of the president himself, there is no Cabinet secretary or senior official who has so unabashedly wasted the taxpayers’ money on his own creature comforts.
Until now, right-wing activists and GOP lawmakers who are enraptured by his climate-change denial and attacks on Obama administration-era regulations have largely given Pruitt a pass. I suppose if you’ve blown a hole in the budget to the tune of $804 billion this year ($139 billion more than 2017) and $2.7 trillion (over 10 years) more than previously calculated, a few hundred thousand dollars is pocket change. Really, who among us would begrudge the EPA chief a security detail bigger than the attorney general’s, or more than $100,000 in European travel (even though, thanks to Pruitt, we’ve exited from the Paris climate accord)?
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is “to protect human health and the environment.” Disgraced EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt tried his best to undermine this vital mission by choosing to slash critical health protections and let corporate polluters off the hook. Now that Pruitt’s been booted, we need an EPA administrator dedicated to undoing his toxic agenda and restoring the agency to its core mission. Progress is possible and necessary – but another corporate crony or climate skeptic will not get us there.
Scott Pruitt is gone, but the fight is just beginning. We need an EPA administrator who puts our health and environment first, period. Any alternative is unacceptable.
