Has Scott Pruitt Already Caught Up With Betsy DeVos As The Worst In Trumpanzee's Cabinet?

Forget about Pruitt using his influence-- and an EPA employee-- to buy a used mattress from a Trump hotel (notorious for bed-bugs) and as a realtor. And forget about Pruitt using an aide to find "a business opportunity" for his wife with Chick-fil-A. And, yes, it was a different EPA staffer from the one looking at the used mattresses. The Washington Post did report that "Pruitt’s efforts on his wife’s behalf-- revealed in emails recently released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Sierra Club-- did not end with Chick-fil-A. Pruitt also approached the chief executive of Concordia, a New York nonprofit organization. The executive, Matthew Swift, said he ultimately paid Marlyn Pruitt $2,000 plus travel expenses to help organize the group’s annual conference last September."

I'm guessing that all this what called Iowa Senator Joni Ernst (R) to call Pruitt "about as swampy as you get here in Washington, D.C., and if the president wants to drain the swamp, he needs to take a look at his own cabinet."

Pruitt’s tenure at the Environmental Protection Agency is under intensifying scrutiny, with at least 10 federal investigations probing his $50-per-night rental of a bedroom in a Capitol Hill condominium from a lobbyist, his frequent taxpayer-funded travel and his spending decisions.

...Ernst said she was frustrated with Pruitt’s handling of the U.S. biofuel mandate, arguing that he is undermining President Donald Trump’s campaign commitment to support ethanol.

“Mr. Pruitt is breaking our president’s promises to farmers,” Ernst said at the Platts Energy Podium in Washington. Maybe at some point Trump “will say it’s time for you to go, but that is up to the president.”

With someone “going against the campaign promises that are made,” Ernst added, “I don’t know how long that relationship can last.”

The comments from Ernst coincided with sharp words from her fellow Iowa Republican, Senator Chuck Grassley, who told reporters in a conference call on Tuesday that Pruitt “has betrayed the president.”

Neither went as far as calling for Pruitt’s resignation. Grassley said he would reserve judgment until after he’s reviewed a forthcoming White House outline of planned biofuel policy changes.

Trump administration officials are slated to detail those policy changes following weeks of negotiations by the Agriculture Department and the EPA, including a plan to lift summertime restrictions on the sale of a higher ethanol gasoline blend known as E15. But that outline has been delayed for weeks amid sharp disagreements over the possible changes.

Farm-state lawmakers have blasted the EPA’s moves to more liberally waive small refiners from annual biofuel blending quotas, following a federal court decision last year. Ernst said she was also frustrated Pruitt was pursuing a change that could allow exported biofuel to count toward compliance with the domestic blending mandates, after rejecting the idea in a letter to her last year.

Farmers nationwide rallied behind Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, forming part of the rural-voter bedrock that put him in the White House. But fissures in that rural support have developed over biofuels and trade initiatives that threaten agricultural exports.

“Right now, support is wavering in Iowa; people are really worried,” Ernst said. The White House’s planned biofuel policy changes “could further destroy our corn and biofuels demand, and at a time when our farmers are hurting.”

And, of course, it isn't just Republicans criticizing Pruitt. This morning Omaha Democratic candidate Kara Eastman told us that "Our children are our most valuable resources. As someone who has been fighting to ensure all children have access to safe and healthy homes that are free from toxics such as lead, mold and radon, I have seen the impacts that solid EPA programs can have in communities like Omaha. Mr. Pruitt is not only unethical in his business practices, but a poor choice as a leader when it comes to protecting our kids. We simply deserve better."

Tom Guild, the progressive candidate for the Oklahoma City seat (OK-05) was aware of the Pruitt dangers before most of us. And Pruitt's employment in the Trump cabinet hasn't made him feel any better about him. Guild: "Scott Pruitt is an embarrassment to the state of Oklahoma and America. He feeds on the sewer water beneath the streets of the nation’s capital. He is involved in so many scandals and ethics probes, it is nearly impossible to follow the bouncing ball. Draining the swamp is a bad joke as long as Pruitt holds high office at the EPA. It’s bad enough that he is charting a course to do permanent and irreversible damage to America and Planet Earth, but he is also lacking in integrity, common sense, good judgment, and scruples. Thinking of Pruitt automatically initiates my gag reflex. If there is anyone who epitomizes the worst excesses and screaming hubris of our national government, Pruitt takes the prize. He needs to lift up the rock he was hiding under, go back into hiding, and stay there. He doesn’t have the sense God gave a peanut (with apologies to members of the peanut family.) I’ve run out of adjectives and nouns to describe his behavior and persona. Now we know why some wild animals devour their young!"