ADLF Asks For Investigation Into Pruitt Exploiting the EPA for Personal Financial Gain
The American Democracy Legal Fund (ADLF), a government watchdog organization, is asking the Office of Government Ethics to investigate Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s misuse of his public office for personal financial gain. The complaint filed today follows reports that Pruitt directed his scheduler reach out to the CEO of Chick-fil-A to discuss “a potential business opportunity,” and appeared to have helped secure a $2,000 contract for his wife with a New York based non-profit.
“A powerful government official wasting our tax dollars on illegal schemes to pay his wife and open a fast-food franchise would be a pathetic story-line for a television sitcom — watching it happen in real life is even more depressing,” said Brad Woodhouse of ADLF. “Scott Pruitt’s misuse of the EPA for projects that line his own pockets is the very definition of corruption and it’s our hope the OGE will begin a thorough investigation swiftly, so the American people get the justice we deserve.”
The complaint alleges Pruitt violated federal ethics laws, (5 C.F.R. § 2635.702) prohibiting a government employee from using “his public office for his own private gain . . . or for the private gain of friends [or] relatives.” Additionally, the law states federal employees “shall not use or permit the use of his Government position or title or any authority associated with his public office in a manner that is intended to coerce or induce another person, including a subordinate, to provide any benefit, financial or otherwise, to himself or to friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity.”
Read the full complaint here.
Founded in 2014, the American Democracy Legal Fund (ADLF) is a nonprofit organization committed to promoting accountability and ethics in government and campaigns by shining a light on public officials and candidates who put their own interests ahead of public service.