We begin today’s roundup with Scott Bixby at The Daily Beast and his piece on EPA administrator’s Scott Pruitt’s corruption:
Not since Louise Linton—the Real Housewife of the United States Treasury who swanned into America’s collective consciousness with an Instagram rant defending taxpayer-funded trips on military jets and her use of hashtags like #hermesscarf and #valentinorockstudheels—has a member of President Trump’s coterie so aggressively courted the perception that public service is a smashing opportunity for graft. But where Linton only used her spouse’s position to build her online brand and catch the occasional $33,000 solar eclipse, Pruitt has used his position at the top of an underfunded federal agency to enjoy trappings fit for a head of state.
Ryan Cooper at The Week points out that Pruitt’s unethical behavior isn’t anything new:
Taking what look very much like bribes from energy lobbyists is just par for the course for Pruitt. Indeed, he may not have seen the ethical problem because he views his job as dismantling the agency for which he works on behalf of the fossil fuels industries. What's the big deal? It's not like it changed his views in any substantive way. He would have eagerly done the bidding of any energy lobbyist no matter how much money they were giving him. It's just what he did as the attorney general of Oklahoma, during which he repeatedly sued the EPA working hand-in-glove with oil and gas companies.
