EPA's Scott Pruitt Faces Hard Ethics Questions

(Bloomberg View) -- Members of the Trump administration continue to have difficulty following basic ethical standards. The latest lapse, by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, is more troubling than the recent purchase of a $31,000 dining set by HUD Secretary Ben Carson, which he blamed on his wife. (Who said chivalry is dead?)

When Pruitt first moved to Washington last year, for roughly six months he rented a condominium from a woman whose husband lobbies the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of energy-industry clients. As if that weren't bad enough, Pruitt managed to get a sweetheart deal.

Pruitt claims he rented only one room in the couple's two-bedroom condo. But reports indicate that he used the condo's communal areas for business meetings and socializing, that his daughter used the other bedroom while in D.C. on a summer internship, and that the condo did not have any other tenants. If true, a note to the EPA: This is what's called renting a two-bedroom condo.

The EPA's ethics counsel released a brief memo last week declaring that there's no problem, because Pruitt paid fair market value. Under his lease, however, he paid $50 only for each night he stayed there (a night in a Washington hotel would cost him, on average, $269). He paid nothing when he was out of town, even though he presumably left some belongings behind.

The EPA's claim that Pruitt's lease was fair market value is preposterous. Moreover, federal law prohibits employees from receiving gifts of value greater than $20. The fact that EPA lawyers are defending the lease is evidence only of the need for outside oversight.

If a member of Barack Obama's cabinet had entered into such a lease, Republicans on Capitol Hill would have wasted no time in convening hearings and demanding accountability. They would have been right to do so -- and they should treat Pruitt no differently.

For someone who promised to "drain the swamp," President Donald Trump has thus far been noticeably quiet about Pruitt's lack of judgment, which goes beyond pushing the boundaries of the usual tenant-landlord relationship. Pruitt also has a habit of taking first-class and charter flights, even though cabinet officials are typically required to fly coach.

One of Pruitt's recent trips, to Morocco, was to promote the "potential benefit of liquefied natural gas imports," according to the EPA. As it happens, the husband of Pruitt's former landlord lobbies on behalf of a liquefied natural gas exporter. The connection raises ethical questions that, for Pruitt and the administration he serves, are too close to home.

--Editors: Francis Barry, Michael Newman.

To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg View's editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net.

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