Scott Pruitt embarks on a campaign to stifle science at the EPA
SCOTT PRUITT, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is still standing after a fusillade of scandals that would have felled a lesser cabinet member. As soon as he took up his post, Mr Pruitt lodged in a luxury flat owned by a lobbyist, paying $50 per night only on the evenings he slept there—a remarkable bargain for Capitol Hill. Mr Pruitt denied any impropriety, but it emerged this week that he had met his landlord’s husband, also a lobbyist representing a pork manufacturer before the agency, contradicting his earlier claims. Mr Pruitt struck similar sweetheart deals in his previous job as attorney-general of Oklahoma. But since coming to Washington, other furores show that Mr Pruitt has let his newfound prominence get to his head.
He spent lots of taxpayer cash on first-class airline tickets, tripled the size of his security detail (which accompanied him on holiday to Disneyland) and installed a soundproof phone booth in his office, costing $43,000—which the Government...Continue reading