Executive Ethics

“I just think it again affirms what we filed in our complaint; that it sounds like Donald Trump knew about the hush money payment to McDougal before the election,” said Common Cause Chief of Strategy and External Affairs Stephen Spaulding. “I just think this is more of another log on the fire that these are campaign finance violations and that the thread continues to unravel.”

Whether Scott Pruitt resigned or was forced out, he had repeatedly shown himself unworthy of the office and he had to go. Pruitt's tenure has been a long, unbroken string of ethical lapses, maladministration, and relentless attacks on the environment he was charged with protecting. A cascade of investigations into his abuse of taxpayer funds, hiding his schedule, sweetheart apartment lease deals, and first-class flights made a mockery of public service. This partial litany of his scandals -- unearthed by environmental groups, watchdogs, and journalists -- speak for themselves, but he is hardly alone among President Trump’s appointees.

Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, said the ethics commission had ceded its authority to Mr. Lhota in the email. She called on the transportation authority to hire an independent auditor to investigate Mr. Lhota’s web of conflicts. “The situation has evolved so that Joe Lhota himself decides if Joe Lhota has a conflict of interest,” Ms. Lerner said.

“There remains no record of the operations and fundraising of your legal defense fund,” the letter said. “If a legal defense fund is not carefully set up and administered, there are many ways the Fund may run afoul of executive branch ethics rules. Given the large number of ethics scandals now under investigation at the EPA, further scandals should be avoided by you and the agency.”

The embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator is the subject of at least 10 ethics investigations by an assortment of federal agencies.

Sara Henderson, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, a government watchdog group, said that such cozy relationships raised suspicions of pay-to-play. “Lobbyists and elected officials should never be involved in business deals together,” she said. “It gives the impression that the lobbyist and their interests will find favor with that official when it comes to awarding contracts and determining public policy that might financially benefit them.”