This is only my opinion, and not the representation of Saintel Daily, LLC.
When it comes to politics and the United States government, nothing surprises me anymore. Not because I don’t want it to, but because I feel like I’ve lost all hope in any kind of redemption for this government. And now we’re learning a lot more about Scott Pruitt. Is this Trump’s game plan? To pick the worst people to do these jobs and then have them be in the spotlight? I mean, it’s a good strategy to shift some of the bad press, isn’t it? Scott Pruitt may be committed to destroying his own agency, but until now we didn’t realize just how dumb he is. Pruitt has had dinners with accused child predators who also don’t believe in climate change. But worse than that, he’s been asking oil companies to send over resumes.
Maybe this is just sloppy? Or maybe, like I said, this is Trump’s way of controlling the situation. Instead of looking at him for what’s going on with his child concentration camps, we’re going to be looking at Pruitt. According to a report, Pruitt has made a recruiting plea to the top executives at the American Petroleum Institute. This is in an attempt to recruit regional directors. Emails prove that at least one employee of the gas and oil giant ConocoPhillips, as well as a personal friend of one of the company’s executives, responded to Pruitt’s request.
Former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who worked under George Bush had indicated that it would be highly unusual to go to a specific industry in an attempt to recruit. She also suggests that the EPA usually looks to the White House and Congress for recommendations. Which means, recruiting is kind of an unusual way to go about obtaining these posts.
According to the New York Times, a batch of emails obtained by the Sierra Club also shows that Pruitt probably entertained the idea of giving a job to a friend of J. Steven Hart, a DC lobbyist who represented notorious polluter Smithfield Foods and whose wife also happened to be renting Pruitt out an apartment at a below market rate. The Times wrote Hart repeatedly emailed back and forth with Pruitt’s chief of staff regarding potential hires, including both Hart’s personal friend and others desired by Smithfield:
The potential hiring of Mr. Hart’s family friend was discussed in emails between Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, and Mr. Hart, who was chairman of the Washington lobbying firm Williams & Jensen and whose wife, Vicki Hart, rented the condo to Mr. Pruitt. Other subjects discussed during and after Mr. Pruitt rented Ms. Hart’s condo included refrigerant chemicals, which was raised on behalf of Coca-Cola, and the Paris Agreement — the global climate pact to address climate change — discussed on behalf of the global bank HSBC.
The emails also show that Mr. Hart suggested other potential hires to the E.P.A., including one person who he emphasized was a Republican and an African-American, on behalf of an executive of the philanthropic arm of the pork giant Smithfield Foods.
But what does this mean – if anything? According to Sierra Club Executive Director, Michael Brune, this is concrete evidence that Pruitt offered to use taxpayer resources in order to do favors for the lobbyist who gave him the deal on the condo.
While I said that nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to this government, I guess I’d like to amend that. The fact that these things are happening isn’t surprising, but the fact that people are being so reckless is kind of surprising, isn’t it? Or do we just live in a different world now? A world where no one really tries to cover their tracks. Instead, they just continue to do shady things out in the open and we leave it at that? I certainly hope that things change after the midterm elections in November. If nothing else, then I’d like to see some more ethical people making decisions.