Jun 2, 2018

Scott Pruitt’s ongoing spending saga

Shannon Vavra

Scott Pruitt touches his face. — Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Reports that last year, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt bought 12 fountain pens for $1,560, and went to a University of Kentucky basketball game with his son with seats bought off a coal baron is just the latest in a saga of Scott Pruitt's expenditures. His landlord’s husband also lobbied the EPA while Pruitt was living in the lobbyist’s wife’s apartment, even though he previously denied that activity.

The trend: These are the most recent revelations about Pruitt’s many indiscretions — including paying for a $43,000 phone booth, a pricey security detail, and spending taxpayer dollars on first-class travel.

The details:

The pens: EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox told the Post the pens were bought to give as gifts to Pruitt’s foreign counterparts, per the Hill.
Basketball game: Scott Pruitt bought the basketball seats off of Joseph W. Craft III, of Alliance Resource Partners, for $130 each, reports the New York Times, and the EPA ethics office approved the purchase in advance.
D.C. apartment: The lobbyist’s firm, Williams & Jensen, said that once it learned that the lobbyist, J. Steven Hart, had omitted some lobbying activities, they hired an outside investigator, which found 7 instances of Hart failing to disclose lobbying efforts, per The Hill.

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Scott Pruitt’s ongoing spending saga

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