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highplainsdem

(48,959 posts)
Sat Apr 21, 2018, 11:45 PM Apr 2018

Scott Pruitt Before the E.P.A.: Fancy Homes, a Shell Company and Friends With Money

Source: NYT

The lobbyist said that after the 2003 gathering, Mr. Pruitt — who had a modest legal practice and a state salary of $38,400 — reached out to her. He wanted to buy her showplace home as a second residence for when he was in the state capital.

-snip-

A review of real estate and other public records shows that Mr. Pruitt was not the sole owner: The property was held by a shell company registered to a business partner and law school friend, Kenneth Wagner. Mr. Wagner now holds a top political job at the Environmental Protection Agency, where Mr. Pruitt, 49, is the administrator.

-snip-

According to real estate records, the 2003 purchase of the house for $375,000 came at a steep discount of about $100,000 from what Ms. Lindsey had paid a year earlier — a shortfall picked up by her employer, the telecom giant SBC Oklahoma.

SBC, previously known as Southwestern Bell and later as AT&T, had been lobbying lawmakers in the early 2000s on a range of matters, including a deregulation bill that would allow it to raise rates and a separate regulatory effort to reopen a bribery case from a decade earlier. Mr. Pruitt sided with the company on both matters, state records show.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/politics/scott-pruitt-oklahoma-epa.html



Found thanks to a tweet from Walter Shaub:


12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Scott Pruitt Before the E.P.A.: Fancy Homes, a Shell Company and Friends With Money (Original Post) highplainsdem Apr 2018 OP
Looks like a Randy Cunningham repeat Zorro Apr 2018 #1
Gonif! Red Pest Apr 2018 #2
Looks like he's been a grifter from the start. The Velveteen Ocelot Apr 2018 #3
True. He could write a book: "The Audacity of Greed." highplainsdem Apr 2018 #11
So now Pruitt and his buddies are using the EPA as their personal ATMs dalton99a Apr 2018 #4
Corruption all around him. brer cat Apr 2018 #5
Note: With lobbyists money. He's a sell-out politician. . . . . . nt Bernardo de La Paz Apr 2018 #6
It's kind of like a perverse version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," except LastLiberal in PalmSprings Apr 2018 #7
PURE EVIL Angry Dragon Apr 2018 #8
Pruitt isn't just unethical or a grifter, but a crook DeminPennswoods Apr 2018 #9
Upon reflection, the hosts have decided this can be seen as news muriel_volestrangler Apr 2018 #10
Thanks! highplainsdem Apr 2018 #12

brer cat

(24,546 posts)
5. Corruption all around him.
Sun Apr 22, 2018, 01:05 AM
Apr 2018
The mortgage on the Oklahoma City home, the records show, was issued by a local bank that was led by another business associate of Mr. Pruitt’s, Albert Kelly. Recently barred from working in the finance industry because of a banking violation, Mr. Kelly is now one of Mr. Pruitt’s top aides at the E.P.A. and runs the agency’s Superfund program.
7. It's kind of like a perverse version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," except
Sun Apr 22, 2018, 02:10 AM
Apr 2018

Mr. Smith is played by a corrupt, status-seeking grifter who hit the jackpot when his dim-witted friend became president and appointed him to head an agency he despised and was committed to destroying.

Hopefully it won't have the happy ending that "Mr. Smith" had. If it plays out as I hope, the ending will be deeply satisfying, with Pruitt and his cohorts in jail and broke from legal bills.

DeminPennswoods

(15,273 posts)
9. Pruitt isn't just unethical or a grifter, but a crook
Sun Apr 22, 2018, 07:35 AM
Apr 2018

He is an out and out criminal. I think when Michael Avenatti completes his work for Stephanie Clifford, he should move on to finding a client harmed by one of Pruitt's actions as Okla AG and sue.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,295 posts)
10. Upon reflection, the hosts have decided this can be seen as news
Sun Apr 22, 2018, 08:29 AM
Apr 2018

Last edited Sun Apr 22, 2018, 11:16 AM - Edit history (1)

since the Oklahoma City purchase had apparently not been reported before. So we are unlocking this thread.

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