Disgraced EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s Return to Politics

Fittingly, Donald Trump appointed Scott Pruitt, career oil and gas lobbyist, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.  Pruitt, rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, and describes himself as a “leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda,” promptly went to work dismantling as much regulation as possible.

Republicans were thrilled that the United States had made so much progress in destroying environmental standards, but were embarrassed when, by July 2018, Pruitt found himself under at least 14 separate federal investigations by the Government Accountability Office, the EPA inspector general, the White House Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and two House committees over his spending habits, conflicts of interest, extreme secrecy, and management practices.

From Wikipedia:

As EPA administrator, Pruitt leased a condo in Washington, D.C., at a deeply discounted rate from a lobbyist whose clients were regulated by the EPA. Pruitt further caused ethics concerns by circumventing the White House and using a narrow provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act to autonomously give raises to his two closest aides of approximately $28,000 and $57,000 each, which were substantially higher than salaries paid to those in similar positions in the Obama administration, and which allowed both to avoid signing conflicts of interest pledges.

By June 2018, amid a steady succession of revelations of misconduct, a growing chorus of conservatives had begun suggesting that Pruitt should resign, and he did exactly that on July 9.

Here we are four years later, and, to the surprise of no one, Pruitt just announced his bid for a U.S. senate seat from his home state of Oklahoma.  Outside of the fact that he is a criminal, he’s a perfect choice.  He’s anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-Obamacare, climate denier, pro-fossil fuel; he has all the repulsive values that these folks adore.

Will voters care that Pruitt should have been indicted, tried, convicted and incarcerated?  Just kidding.