What do bullet proof seat covers, first class flights to Morocco, $43k personal phone booths and 72% pay raises have in common?
They all came from the office of Donald Trump’s EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt.
Scott Pruitt is the former Attorney General of Oklahoma and during that tenure he was as firebrand of conservatism. He dissolved the state’s environmental protection unit, filed a lawsuit over Obamacare and took on animal rights groups.
Pruitt’s aggressiveness caught the attention of Trump’s transition team and on December 7, 2016, President Trump nominated Scott Pruitt as the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
While Pruitt has continued that legacy and – by many accounts – has begun dismantling the EPA to the thrill of the industry lobbyists, behind the scenes, he’s earned the nickname, Pampered Pruitt.
Thanks to Trump supporter and Deputy Chief of Staff Kevin Chmielewski, Pruitt’s lavish perks have come to light.
On top of a salary topping $200,000 a year, Scott Pruitt felt is necessary to spend nearly $3 million on a 20 man, 24-hour security detail despite government investigators finding no credible threats to his safety.
The round-the-clock security detail is a first for any EPA Administrator.
On top of his security team, the EPA’s Chevy Tahoe wasn’t good enough for the conservative crusader, so Pruitt demanded an upgrade to not just a blacked-out Suburban, but the top of the line model complete with leather bucket seats and a sunroof (unusual for Washington bureaucrats who typically go with the lower “LS” model).
But an LT Suburban still wasn’t good enough for Pampered Pruitt, so he had it decked out with bullet proof seat covers for a hefty upcharge.
While Pruitt’s first-class flights demands aren’t unusual (airlines typically upgrade members of Congress and administration officials behind the scenes), having his 26-year-old “scheduler” accompany him on a first-class trip to Morocco is just bizarre.
Not to mention, Pruitt’s former scheduler from Oklahoma, Millian Hupp, received a 72% salary increase, bumping the 26-year-old’s income to $114,590 per year.
Another Oklahoma tagalong, Sarah Greenwalt, who is a bit more seasoned than Hupp at a wise, old 30 years of age, increased her salary from $66,000 to $164,200 while working for Pruitt.
While Pruitt wasn’t busy dashing around Washington in his decked-out Suburban or taking hot towels in first class airline cabins, the EPA Administrator was talking it up in a $43,000 private phone booth he had installed in his office.
While taking a break from work, Pruitt would fly back to Oklahoma on the taxpayer’s dime or hang out in the lavish D.C. condo he “rents” from a lobbyist for $1,017 a month, while the property next door rents for $3,526 a month. According to reports, Pruitt has even fallen behind on those rent checks.
Despite being a slimy example of the D.C. swamp that Donald Trump was so eager to drain, Scott Pruitt retains the confidence of the President.
Ethical members of Washington stand by the old saying, “it’s not if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game”.
While Pruitt is rolling back Obama’s environmental legacy, his personal conduct and lavish spending give American’s even more reason to hate Washington.
Should Trump tell Pruitt to pack up, or keep looking the other way as taxpayers foot the bill?
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