EXCLUSIVE: More Cabinet trouble for Trump? EPA chief lived in condo tied to lobbyist 'power couple'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: ABC News, via David Fahrenthold

EXCLUSIVE: More Cabinet trouble for Trump? EPA chief lived in condo tied to lobbyist 'power couple'

By JOHN SANTUCCI, MATTHEW MOSK STEPHANIE EBBS Mar 29, 2018, 11:22 AM ET

For much of his first year in Washington, President Trumps EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt occupied prime real estate in a townhouse near the U.S. Capitol that is co-owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist, property records from 2017 show.

Neither the EPA nor the lobbyist, J. Steven Hart, would say how much Pruitt paid to live at the prime Capitol Hill address, though Hart said he believed it to be the market rate. The price tag on Pruitts rental arrangement is one key question when determining if it constitutes an improper gift, ethics experts told ABC News.

I think it certainly creates a perception problem, especially if Mr. Hart is seeking to influence the agency, said Bryson Morgan, the former investigative counsel at the U.S. House of Representatives Office of Congressional Ethics. Thats why there is a gift rule.

Hart confirmed to ABC News in a brief interview that Pruitt had lived in the flat, which is owned by a limited liability company that links to an address listed to Hart and his wife Vicki Hart, a lobbyist with expertise in the healthcare arena. Steven Hart said Vicki Hart co-owns the condo. He said his wife was not the majority owner, but would not identify her partners. ... I have no ownership interest, he said. Obviously, I know the owners.
....

ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Ali Dukakis contributed to this report

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/exclusive-cabinet-trouble-trump-epa-chief-lived-condo/story

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Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold

EXCLUSIVE: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has spent much of his first year in Washington living in a townhouse one block from the U.S. Capitol that is co-owned by wife of a top energy lobbyist. https://abcn.ws/2Gi2ZSp

Link to tweet

[kysrsoze]

1. Whoopsies! Bye, Felicia.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. So many paragraphs.

In 2010, the newspaper Roll Call referred to the Harts as a “lobbyist power couple.”

Mr. Hart is the chairman and CEO of Williams and Jensen, a firm that reported more than $16 million in federal lobbying income in 2017, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Among his many clients are the NRA and Cheniere Energy Inc., which reported paying Hart’s firm $80,000 a year.

Hart’s firm specifically lobbied on “issues related to the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG), approval of LNG exports and export facilities.” The firm also lists on its website that it lobbies on other EPA policies like the Clean Air Act.
....

Another lobbying client of Hart’s, the railroad Norfolk Southern, spent $160,000 last year on lobbying Congress on “issues affecting coal usage, oil production, and transportation, including EPA regulation.” ... Norfolk Southern also declined to comment when reached by ABC News.

Full disclosure: I own shares of NSC.

[True Blue American]

12. My Dad worked at Norfolk and Western

My FIL retired from Southern. They merged.

[gohuskies]

5. But the Dotard only hires the best people!!

His entire body of staff hires at all levels is incompetent and rotten to the core just like Drumpf. Birds of a feather do flock together. As do his dedicated band of deplorable followers.

[cp]

3. Do let the door knock you on your ass on the way out

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[MyOwnPeace]

4. Oh, my!

Why, I am just SO surprised!!!

[Botany]

6. Grifters gotta grift.

end of story.

[dchill]

7. You know what'd be really great?

It'd be great if I thought that would be the end of Pruitt at EPA.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. You're acting as if they all sat around and talked to each other.

From http://www.discorsivo.it/magazine/2013/04/01/1951-ultimatum-alla-terra/

Also see https://magazinesandmonsters.com/tag/the-day-the-earth-stood-still/

[PatSeg]

9. It is all so in your face

They don't even try to hide the corruption.

[SonofDonald]

10. He wanted to drain the swamp so

He could refill it with expert grifters, you know, Trump Grifters, only the best, top people, until they bite the hand of the King or must be sacrificed for the cause.

Or to take over the next news cycle, so much winning.

[Moral Compass]

11. Blatant corruption on a scale never before witnessed

I wonder if there is a historical analog to this level of corruption.

Pruitt is a fossil fuel industry lobbyist in his heart. It is not really too surprising that he is good buddies with other lobbyists.

But once he was on the public dime you would think that even Scotty would understand that the optics of this would be just a little bit well...not good.

Was the last time we have corruption this blatant the Harding administration? The Reagan years were bad but nowhere near this blatant and inept simultaneously.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

13. "Drain the Swamp", was the diversion or gaslighting...

... we knew he would do the opposite. The intention is to destroy the administration of government. Or at least knock down the regulation part so some unfair rigging can be done that does irreparable harm to society.

And how about Trump's half donkey'd attacks on Amazon. Who is he taking instructions from/in cahoots with to set the market for weekly market dives, ie... put options.

[Achilleaze]

14. ReSwampLicans

deplorable ethics and morality

[gilligan]

15. Business as usual