GOP political group targets EPA workers

Political hit group conducting ‘witch hunt,’ critics say.

After speaking out about policy concerns, agency employees learned their emails were being gathered by Republican group.

One Envi- ronmental Protection Agency employee spoke up at a private lunch held near the agency headquarters, saying she feared the nation might be headed toward an “environmental catastro- phe.” Another staff mem- ber, from Seattle, sent a let- ter to Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, raising simi- lar concerns about the direc- tion of the agency. A third, from Philadelphia, went to a rally where he protested against agency budget cuts.

Three different agency employees, in different jobs, from three different cities, but each encountered a similar outcome: Federal records show that within a matter of days, requests were submit- ted for copies of emails writ- ten by them that mentioned either Pruitt or President Donald Trump, or any communication with Democrats in Congress that might have been critical of the agency.

The requests came from a Virginia-based lawyer working with America Rising, a Republican campaign research group that special- izes in helping party candidates and conservative groups find damaging infor- mation on political rivals, and which, in this case, was looking for information that could embarrass the employees who had criticized the EPA.

Now a company affiliated with America Rising, named Definers Public Affairs, has been hired by the EPA to provide “media monitor- ing,” in a move the agency said was intended to keep better track of newspaper and video stories about EPA operations nationwide.

But the sequence of events has created a wave of fear among employees, particularly those already under surveillance, who said offi- cial assurances hardly put them at ease.

“This is a witch hunt against EPA employees who are only trying to protect human health and the envi- ronment,” said Gary Morton, the EPA employee in Phila- delphia, who works on preventing spills from underground storage tanks. His emails were targeted seven days after he participated in a union rally in March chal- lenging proposed budget cuts. “What they are doing is trying to intimidate and bully us into silence,” he said.

The contract with Definers comes at a time of height- ened tension between the news media and the Trump administration. Within the EPA, the move is also part of a bellicose media strategy that has been helped at key moments by America Rising — even before its affiliate was hired by the agency.

An EPA official vehemently defended the $120,000 con- tract to Definers, saying it filled a need in the media office for an improved clip- ping service.

“Definers was awarded the contract to do our press clips at a rate that is $87,000 cheaper than our previous vendor, and they are providing no other services,” a spokesman for the EPA, Jahan Wilcox, wrote in an email.

Joe Pounder, a founder of Definers Public Affairs, said several government agencies had contacted his firm about its news-tracking tool, called Definers Console, because they were seeking a service that does a better job of keeping up with the fast-paced news cycle, including tracking of live- streamed videos. He said that agency staff members familiar with the compa- ny’s work approached the firm about putting forward a bid and that Pruitt himself was not, to his knowledge, involved in the decision to select Definers.

“I hope employees realize after a few months that we are providing a really great and invaluable service that advances their mission,” Pounder said.

He and Matt Rhoades, his partner at Definers Public Affairs, also started Amer- ica Rising. The two entities share several top executives, including Allan Blutstein, the lawyer who prepared the Freedom of Informa- tion Act requests aimed at the EPA employees.

Some Republicans who previously worked for the agency said the hiring of Definers Public Affairs sent a worrisome message to employees already on edge and fearful of retaliation.

“Pruitt appears not to understand that the two most valuable assets EPA has is the country’s trust and a very committed professional workforce,” said William Reilly, the EPA administra- tor under President George H.W. Bush. “This shows complete insensitivity, complete tone-deafness, or something worse.”

Blutstein said in an inter- view Friday that his requests to the ag e ncy tr a cked employees who had made public statements critical of Pruitt. He said he wanted to know if any of them had used agency email inappropriately, or had violated agency rules in some other way — findings that he could use to compromise efforts to undermine Pruitt’s work.

“It was more of a fishing expedition on my part,” he said.

Michael Cox, who worked at the EPA’s Seattle regional office for 25 years, learned this weekend from an arti- cle in The New York Times that he had been among the employees under scrutiny.

Cox wrote to Pruitt in March — on the day of Cox’s retirement from the agency — to tell him that he was “increasingly alarmed about the direction of EPA under your leadership,” and to urge Pruitt to “step back and listen to career EPA staff,” the letter said.

Just 10 days later, a Freedom of Information request came in seeking Cox’s correspondence on the day of his resignation. The request led to the production of 62 documents, detailing the names of dozens of agency officials, as well as a note he sent to his work colleagues specifically noting that he knew they shared his concerns with how the agency is being managed — names that would now be listed for anyone reviewing the response.

“That does not make me feel very good,” he said, knowing that his emails could potentially be used against other employees.

Nicole Cantello, a lawyer in Chicago who has helped lead a series of enforcement actions against major air polluters in the Midwest, and whose emails also were requested, said the agency’s decision to hire Definers caused great concern.

“Now that they are working for the agency, will they have access to agency computers and perhaps try to come after me in a whole bunch of different ways?” she said. “And will they turn over their opposition research materials on us to agency officials? I just don’t know. It is very scary. Very, very scary.”

Several of the Freedom of Information requests submitted by Blutstein ask for correspondence between agency employees and members of Congress — such as Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. — who have been critical of Pruitt.

“We have seen a lot of nefarious activities from Trump,” Whitehouse said. “But hiring a fossil fuel front group that specializes in political hits and is doing FOIA investigations of your agency’s own employees is a new low.”

Blutstein also has sought emails and other information from at least two climate scientists, Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University and Robert Kopp of Rutgers University.