E.P.A. Employees Spoke Out. Then Came Scrutiny of Their Email.
- 6 years ago
E.P.A. Employees Spoke Out. Then Came Scrutiny of Their Email.
Mr. Cox wrote to Mr. Pruitt in March — on the day of Mr. Cox’s retirement from the agency — to tell him
that he was “increasingly alarmed about the direction of E. P.A.
Several of the Freedom of Information requests submitted by Mr. Blutstein ask for correspondence between agency employees
and members of Congress — such as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts — who have been critical of Mr. Pruitt.
The requests came from a Virginia-based lawyer working with America Rising, a Republican campaign research group
that specializes in helping party candidates and conservative groups find damaging information on political rivals, and which, in this case, was looking for information that could undermine employees who had criticized the E. P.A.
Mr. Blutstein said in an interview on Friday that his requests to the agency tracked employees who had made public statements critical of Mr. Pruitt.
“It was more of a fishing expedition on my part,” he said of the at least 20 Freedom of Information requests he submitted, most for E. P.A.
employees who are only trying to protect human health and the environment,” said Gary Morton, an E. P.A.
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 submitted for copies of emails written by them that mentioned either Mr. Pruitt or President Trump, or any communication with Democrats in Congress that might have been critical of the agency.
Now a company affiliated with America Rising, named Definers Public Affairs, has been hired by the E. P.A.
under your leadership,” and to urge Mr. Pruitt to “step back and listen to career E. P.A.
Mr. Cox wrote to Mr. Pruitt in March — on the day of Mr. Cox’s retirement from the agency — to tell him
that he was “increasingly alarmed about the direction of E. P.A.
Several of the Freedom of Information requests submitted by Mr. Blutstein ask for correspondence between agency employees
and members of Congress — such as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts — who have been critical of Mr. Pruitt.
The requests came from a Virginia-based lawyer working with America Rising, a Republican campaign research group
that specializes in helping party candidates and conservative groups find damaging information on political rivals, and which, in this case, was looking for information that could undermine employees who had criticized the E. P.A.
Mr. Blutstein said in an interview on Friday that his requests to the agency tracked employees who had made public statements critical of Mr. Pruitt.
“It was more of a fishing expedition on my part,” he said of the at least 20 Freedom of Information requests he submitted, most for E. P.A.
employees who are only trying to protect human health and the environment,” said Gary Morton, an E. P.A.
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 submitted for copies of emails written by them that mentioned either Mr. Pruitt or President Trump, or any communication with Democrats in Congress that might have been critical of the agency.
Now a company affiliated with America Rising, named Definers Public Affairs, has been hired by the E. P.A.
under your leadership,” and to urge Mr. Pruitt to “step back and listen to career E. P.A.