Scott Pruitt’s DC Bargain Bedroom Guide

Let’s say you were an energy state Attorney General who sued the EPA 13 times to reduce clean air restrictions on oil, gas, and coal use. You’d expect energy companies to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to your election campaigns, even in 2014, when you ran unopposed. What you might not expect is for Donald Trump to name you EPA secretary. But he did, Scott Pruitt. Now you’ve got to stay in DC, at least when you can’t jet somewhere else.

Scott Pruitt doesn’t mind spending taxpayer dollars on first-class air travel, a custom soundproof phone booth for his office, dubious raises for his appointees, or a full-time security detail, but spending his own money when he’s in Washington? No way. Mr. Pruitt is the poorest member of the Trump Cabinet, so of course he accepted a sweetheart deal on a Capitol Hill condo owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist, $50 a night, at least half the AirBnB rate for the neighborhood.

Ethical lapses may mean Scott Pruitt is on the way out, but not before he’s destroyed his agency and America’s environmental safeguards.

More:

“Pruitt Had a $50-a-Day Condo Linked to Lobbyists. Their Client’s Project Got Approved,” Eric Lipton, New York Times

“Scott Pruitt’s D.C. Lobbyist Landlord Also Funded His Oklahoma Attorney General Campaign,” Sam Stein and Lachlan Markay, Daily Beast

“EPA chief Pruitt joined by family in condo tied to lobbyist ‘power couple,'” John Santucci, Matthew Mosk, and Stephanie Ebbs, ABC News

“EPA ethics official says he didn’t have all the facts on Pruitt’s lease,” Cristina Alesci, CNN

“5 lies Scott Pruitt told this week about his mounting scandals,” Umair Irfan, Vox

“Scott Pruitt’s defenses are crumbling,” Aaron Blake, Washington Post

“Scott Pruitt Stiffed Taxpayers for Around $3 Million in 24/7 Security and Expensive Flights,” Tom McKay, Gizmodo

“Top EPA staff who criticized Scott Pruitt were either demoted or reassigned,” Kyla Mandel, Think Progress

“Top Pruitt aide resigns amid growing scandal at EPA,” Katherine Faulders, John Santucci, Trish Turner, and Stephanie Ebbs, ABC News

“Inside the EPA: ‘It’s just a slow-motion train wreck,’” Emily Holden, Politico

“Chief of Staff Advised a Resistant Trump to Fire the E.P.A. Chief,” Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Lisa Friedman, New York Times

“Let’s Meet Scott Pruitt’s Potential Replacements,” Brian Kahn, Earther

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Mike Pence Casting Out the Lobbyists From the Trump Transition Team

“Swamp-drainer” Donald Trump’s initial transition team was chock full of the very lobbyists he had railed against on the campaign trail. It was embarrassing, so the president-elect brought in holy warrior Mike Pence to drive the money changers out of Trump Tower. Trump Tower has revolving doors, but the new administration’s incoming officials will pledge to forego lobbying for 5 years. As we know, ethics are very important to the founder of Trump University.

More:

“Donald Trump’s Lobbying Ban Effectively Bans Very Little,” on Schwarz, The Intercept

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Image (“Mike Pence Casting Out the Lobbyists From the Trump Transition Team, after Antoine Jean-Baptiste Thomas”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Q & A: 2 Minutes with Elizabeth Warren

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at the re/code Conference, May 26, 2015.

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Congress: Taxpayers Will Cover Citigroup’s Bad Bets

Unregulated derivatives trading crashed the U.S. economy back in 2008, and two years later Congress passed laws to prevent that from happening again. But Citigroup just wrote derivatives deregulation into the $1.1 trillion federal funding bill, and Congress passed it. Now Citi can blow people’s savings on bad exotic derivatives bets, and taxpayers will likely cover the losses.

Here’s what Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) had to say about that:

Pistol Packin’ Pork Lobbyist

Ronald Prestage, President-elect of the National Pork Producers Council, went to the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning because, you know, pork barrel politics. Mr. Prestage, a veterinarian who runs a 170,000-sow swine operation, was carrying a Ruger 9mm pistol. You never know when you’ll run across a fierce feral hog on The Hill, or a raging, veggie-wearin’ PETA protester. Unsympathetic Capitol Hill Police arrested him. House Republicans want everyone in DC to pack heat, just not around them.

When Dr. Prestage realized he had his gun in his bag, you can imagine how he felt. He’s a former Chairman of the National Turkey Federation.

No Standing

On Monday United States District Judge Janet C. Hall ruled that the National Shooting Sports Foundation lacked legal standing to challenge Connecticut’s recently enacted firearms laws and dismissed its lawsuit. NSSF is the trade association representing the arms and ammunition manufacturers and dealers who profit from the sale of the high-capacity magazines and military-style weapons forbidden by the new gun laws, passed after the killing of 20 young children and  6 educators in Newtown, Connecticut. Newtown is also home to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

On Wednesday, Newtown authorities released recordings of the 911 emergency calls from inside Sandy Hook Elementary School during the mass shooting of first-graders. The neighbors at the NSSF didn’t comment on that.

Newtown’s Gun Lobby in DC

This morning the NRA attempted to defend its insane proposals to put guns in all American schools and keep military-type weapons and magazines on the streets, the gun lobby’s reaction to the horrifying slaughter of 20 small children and 6 educators in Newtown Connecticut. But Newtown itself is home to another gun lobby group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and its last registered DC office is at 20 F Street NW (above) near the U.S. Senate, where it rents space.

The NSSF represents gun and ammunition manufacturers and dealers, so it’s no surprise that it has lobbied Congress against restrictions on military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. It even claims that the AR-15 is a legitimate hunting firearm.

Sandy Hook’s Dangerous Neighbor

In Newtown Connecticut, if you drive 3 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School heading towards Rock Glen State Park, you’ll reach the headquarters of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. NSSF is the association representing 7,000 firearms manufacturers, gun dealers, and shooting range businesses across the country.  Here’s what NSSF has to say about the massacre of 20 neighborhood kids and 6 local educators:

“DEAR NSSF MEMBERS AND INDUSTRY ASSOCIATES . . . We at the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute have been deeply shaken and saddened by the horrible events that took place in Newtown last week. There are not many degrees of separation in small communities like Newtown, and so, not surprisingly, we had family, friends and acquaintances that were affected. We are weighed down by their heartbreaking stories and the sorrow that has blanketed our community. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy.

Last Friday, we posted on the NSSF and SAAMI websites that out of respect for the families, the community and the ongoing police investigation, it would be inappropriate for our organizations to comment or participate in media requests. That remains our position at this time.”

That’s it. Heartfelt.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation Government Relations division had lots more to say when opposing laws against high-capacity magazines of the type used to slaughter kids three miles from the NSSF doorstep. A similar bill will be reintroduced in Congress. A Connecticut state bill banning high-capacity magazines was defeated last year due to pressure from the gun lobby.

More:

“The Second Most Powerful Gun Lobby Is in Newtown, Connecticut,” Lydia DePillis, The New Republic

“Gun lobby thrives just 3 miles from Sandy Hook school where shooter killed 26,” Larry McShane, New York Daily News

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Leave Congress, Cash In

It’s a sad day when our public servants leave the halls of Congress. They cry all the way to the bank. An analysis by Lee Fang finds that when congressmen become lobbyists, their income increases astronomically:

“When a Congressman Becomes a Lobbyist, He Gets a 1,452% Raise (on Average),” Lee Fang, Republic Report

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Occupy Starbuck’s

“They’re inside in the afternoon, tapping at laptops and  nursing lattes. They send emails and organize protests, chat with friends and  warm their hands. It’s been two months now, and no one shows any signs of  leaving. It’s undisputed and undeniable: The Starbucks at 15th and K has been  thoroughly Occupied.”

— “Starbucks near protesters’ compound thoroughly Occupied,” Aubrey Whelan, Washington Examiner

Starbuck’s? $5 lattes are for losers. Real K Street habitués occupy DC Coast, Lincoln DC, Café du Parc, The Prime Rib, Siroc, Bobby Van’s, Georgia Brown’s, Potenza, and BLT Steak. There’s no Wi-Fi at these places, but most have valet parking service.

Related: Occupy DC website

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