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EPAs Pruitt spent $1,560 on 12 customized fountain pens from Washington jewelry store
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Washington Post
Posted: June 10th, 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/20...
Tiny Jewel Box, which calls itself Washingtons premier destination for fine jewelry and watches, had promised to expedite the order of a dozen customized silver fountain pens each emblazoned with the seal of the Environmental Protection Agency and the signature of its leader, Scott Pruitt. Now all that the EPA staff member working with the store needed was for a top Pruitt aide to sign off on the $3,230 order. The cost of the Qty. 12 Fountain Pens will be around $1,560.00, the staffer emailed Aug. 14 to Millan Hupp, Pruitts head of scheduling. All the other items total cost is around $1,670.00 ... Please advise. Yes, please order, Hupp responded. The exchange, included among thousands of pages of emails released this week as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Sierra Club, offered another glimpse of the high-end tastes of the EPA chief, who has faced months of scrutiny over his expenditures of taxpayer money on first-class travel, an unprecedented security detail, a $43,000 phone booth, a top-of-the-line SUV and other office upgrades. In a Senate hearing last month, Pruitt came as close as he ever has to publicly acknowledging any personal fault in the ethical decisions that have triggered a dozen federal inquiries, including probes by the EPAs inspector general, the Government Accountability Office and the White House itself. There have been decisions over the past 16 months that, as I look back, I would not make the same decisions again, Pruitt told lawmakers.
Note: EPA scientists have been leaving the agency in droves. The EPA is one of three federal agencies reported to have been "gagged" by the Trump administration. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on corruption in government and in the scientific community.
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