Pruitt’s low-cost housing comes under scrutiny
WASHINGTON» Scott Pruitt’s unusual housing arrangement during much of last year — when he paid a lobbyist a modest sum each night to stay in a Capitol Hill condo she co-owned — has generated a new round of scrutiny about the financial decisions of the Environmental Protection Agency administrator.
Pruitt paid $50 for each night that he stayed in the condo, which sits a stone’s throw from the Capitol and is co-owned by health-care lobbyist Vicki Hart. According to individuals familiar with the arrangement, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly, Pruitt initially approached her husband, lawyer J. Steven Hart, about staying there during his confirmation process in 2017 and then extended the terms of the arrangement through last July.
Collectively, according to EPA officials, Pruitt paid $6,100 to stay in the condo for roughly six months. Details of the arrangement initially were reported by ABC News and Bloomberg.
Hart is chairman and chief executive of the law firm Williams & Jensen and lobbies on energy, transportation, trade, tax and entertainment industry issues. In an interview Friday, Hart said that he “had no lobbying contact with EPA in 2017 or 2018 and that his firm was correcting a federal lobbying report that identified him as working for an entity with an interest in EPA regulation.
In a separate, emailed statement, Hart described the rental as “a market-based, short-term lease for a condo owned partially by my wife ... I am an Oklahoman. Pruitt is a casual friend but I have had no contact with him for many months except for a brief pass-by at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2018.”
Vicki Hart declined to comment Friday. Her husband said she “does not, and has not ever, lobbied the EPA on any matters.”
While the condo lacked some of the amenities of traditional rentals, such as a full kitchen or phone line, $50 per night is an exceedingly good deal for a prime location near the Capitol. According to the web site Inside Airbnb, which compiles data from rentals on the lodging site, the average price of a private room in a D.C. home is $113 per night. In the Capitol Hill neighborhood where Pruitt was staying, the average is $142 per night.
During this period, Pruitt repeatedly commuted home to Tulsa at taxpayer expense. Between March and May 2017, an analysis of federal records by the Environmental Integrity Project showed, Pruitt traveled for a total of 48 out of 92 days, and 43 of those travel days were spent in Oklahoma or heading to or from his home state.
J. Steven Hart represents multiple firms and organizations, including the Houston-based Cheniere Energy Inc. and the American Automotive Policy Council. Cheniere also is one of the few exporters of liquefied natural gas in the U.S. Last December, Pruitt spent part of a visit to Morocco promoting natural gas exports.
Hart’s law firm also represents Oklahoma Gas & Electric and received $400,000 for its work last year, according to EIP. The company is lobbying to scale back Obama-era EPA rules limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from existing power plants. Hart said he did not work on the account.
Environmentalist activists are urging EPA’s inspector general to investigate Pruitt’s early living arrangement in Washington.
“Scott Pruitt sees no ethical problem getting favors from or doing favors for the industry interests who have helped bankroll his political career and are now lobbying him to roll back public health safeguards,” Environmental Defense Fund vice president Jeremy Symons said Friday. “We call on the EPA’s Inspector General, who is already investigating Mr. Pruitt in three other cases, to immediately launch an investigation into gifts from lobbyists to Administrator Scott Pruitt in the form of deeply discounted living quarters.”
Details about Pruitt’s unusual living arrangements are the latest in a series of disclosures about his spending habits, which have drawn widespread criticism.
The Washington Post has documented Pruitt’s extensive firstclass travels on foreign and domestic trips during his first year.
Records show his dozens of firstclass flights and upscale hotel stays have meant big bills for taxpayers. The Post also has detailed how Pruitt’s office spent $43,000 on a private, soundproof phone booth for the administrator’s office.