Plan B Forum

It only took 14 ethics investigations:

President accepts resignation of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Trump tweets he has accepted resignation of scandal-plagued EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will...
12:37 PM - Jul 5, 2018

...on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA. I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!
12:37 PM - Jul 5, 2018

This story is developing. More information to follow.

http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Preside ... 28581.html

I am so pleased. But who will follow - probably someone just as bad from an environmental point of view, but maybe not so ethically vacant. And there are those who think that, however improbable, Pruitt will replace Sessions at AG. Not unlike - hooray, Trump is in jail / impeached / resigned - oh shit, now we have President Pence.

So will Trump now replace Sessions with Pruitt?

but maybe not so ethically vacant.

That's almost certain to be true...

Swampy leaves some very big shoes to fill in that department; it's going to be tough to find somebody to meet the standards for ethical emptiness he set...

Unless Trump tries to appoint Manafort, or himself of course...

Deacon Pruitt's behavior seems to be consistent. From his entry in Wikipedia:

"In October 2003, while a state senator, Pruitt purchased a home in Oklahoma City through a shell company, Capitol House L.L.C., in which six partners held equal shares. The buyers included lobbyist Justin Whitefield, healthcare executive Jon Jiles, Robert Funk (who was Pruitt's PAC chairman), and attorney Ken Wagner. The home was purchased at about a $100,000 discount from its purchase price of a year earlier and included its furnishings. The seller was Marsha Lindsey, a lobbyist who advocated on behalf of a telecommunications company. Lindsey's loss was partly offset by her employer's retirement package. Pruitt and Whitefield both lived at the home while on business in the state capital. At the time, Whitefield was a registered lobbyist for industry-aligned groups that sought legislative changes to Oklahoma's workers' compensation laws; Pruitt was the major legislative supporter of these efforts. The home was sold by the L.L.C. in 2005, for $470,000. Pruitt failed to publicly disclose his financial relationships with Whitefield and the others, which were revealed by the press in 2018 In 2017, Wagner was hired by Pruitt as the EPA's state and regional affairs adviser."

His first accomplishment as a politician in the Oklahoma legislature was introducing a bill to create "property rights" to the biological father of a fetus. This was intended to require a pregnant woman to get permission from a man before she got an abortion.

Unhappily, recent experience indicates his replacement at EPA will be even less qualified or competent.


snailgate.

I sent a text to my sister, the Okie, to give her the good news. I heard it on NPR minutes after it broke. I said he could go back to Oklahoma to "screw" it up instead of continuing to "screw" up the whole country now. (I'm using "screw" for public consumption.) She said she'd rather see him in the Federal pen instead. They have one just west of OKC, so at least he'd be close to home.

Have you seen his resignation letter?

Mr. President,

It has been an honor to serve you in the Cabinet as Administrator of the EPA. Truly, your confidence in me has blessed me personally and enabled me to advance your agenda beyond what anyone anticipated at the beginning of your Administration. Your courage, steadfastness and resolute commitment to get results for the American people, both with regard to improved environmental outcomes as well as historical regulatory reform, is in fact occurring at an unprecedented pace and I thank you for the opportunity to serve you and the American people in helping achieve those ends.

That is why it is hard for me to advise you I am stepping down as Administrator of the EPA effective as of July 6. It is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role first because I count it a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also, because of the transformative work that is occurring. However, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us.

My desire in service to you has always been to bless you as you make important decisions for the American people. I believe you are serving as President today because of God’s providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service. I pray as I have served you that I have blessed you and enabled you to effectively lead the American people. Thank you again Mr. President for the honor of serving you and I wish you Godspeed in all that you put your hand to.

Your Faithful Friend,
Scott Pruitt

Seriously, I think Trump wrote this, much as he wrote his doctor's recommendation during the campaign. The ungrammatical nature of the letter plus the weird capitalization (e.g., Your Faithful Friend) are dead giveaways. The man is vomit-inducing; his fawning letter (subtext: please please make me AG) is doubly so.

Seriously, I think Trump wrote this...

By jove, I believe you may be right...

Nice catch...

Too many big words.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/scot ... 55316.html

Former attorney general for the state of Oklahoma demonstrates amazing ignorance of the law.

snailgate

Burning Petard wrote:
Former attorney general for the state of Oklahoma demonstrates amazing ignorance of the law.

snailgate

He was heavily into ignorance of the law when he was the Okla AG too. He sued the EPA 13 times while he was in that position. His actions helped to allow the continued use of hydraulic fracturing (AKA fracking) which has apparently caused hundreds of earthquakes in OK and southern KS.

Meet the new boss... same as the old boss.

Scott Pruitt’s replacement at the EPA has a long, lucrative history of working for coal and chemical companies
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/06/scott-p ... anies.html