EPA's Pruitt spent $1,560 on 12 customized fountain pens from Washington jewelry store

[salin]

Source: Washington Post

The account manager at the Tiny Jewel Box, which calls itself Washington’s “premier destination for fine jewelry and watches,” had promised to expedite the order of a dozen customized silver fountain pens — each emblazoned with the seal of the Environmental Protection Agency and the signature of its leader, Scott Pruitt.

Now all that the EPA staff member working with the store needed was for a top Pruitt aide to sign off on the $3,230 order, which also included personalized journals.

“The cost of the Qty. 12 Fountain Pens will be around $1,560.00,” the staffer emailed Aug. 14 to Millan Hupp, Pruitt’s head of scheduling and advance and a trusted confidante dating to his Oklahoma days. “All the other items total cost is around $1,670.00 which these items are in process. Please advise.”

“Yes, please order,” Hupp responded later that day. “Thank you.”



Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/06/01/epas-pruitt-spent-1560-on-12-customized-fountain-pens-from-washington-jewelry-store/?utm_term=.70a01d64af32

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With this administration it is hard to keep up with and separate all of the grift from all of the graft.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. NO administration in history is more corrupt and deplorables will

break land speed records getting to the polls to reelect them.

Because of one simple reason ... racism

[malthaussen]

2. That's actually pretty cheap.

And so, I venture, is Mr Pruitt.

-- Mal

[catsudon]

19. that is true

i have a Montblanc

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. You can tell he's not a local. He didn't go to Fahrney's

Fahrney's Pens

If it were his money he was spending, I wouldn't have any problem at all with this.

But the exchange last summer regarding the order of fountain pens — each of which cost taxpayers $130 — shows that while Pruitt himself might not have been privy to the minutiae of such decisions, top aides rather than career staffers often were the ones signing off on them.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox defended the purchases, saying in a statement Friday morning that they “were made for the purpose of serving as gifts to the Administrator’s foreign counterparts and dignitaries upon his meeting with them. This adheres to the same protocol of former EPA Administrators and were purchased using funds budgeted for such a purpose.”

Oh, I see. It wasn't his money. That's different.

[sandensea]

4. Freudian issues, Scotty boy?

[The Wielding Truth]

5. Oh My GOD!!!! What else can I say! This tops the cake!!!PENS!!!

[C Moon]

6. a la the Ronald Reagan years.

[dalton99a]

7. Corrupt motherfucker is using the Treasury as his personal ATM

[AllaN01Bear]

8. and the rs claim we are broke ? hem.

[CelticCrow]

9. I'm confused...

Surely there must be a mistake in the reporting...

I was under the impression that blood sucking vampires burned when they touched silver...

[salin]

10. lol

and welcome to the DU.

[dae]

20. You're good.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

24. I like how you think

[Totally Tunsie]

11. I used to think just the president gave away pens,

but apparently all or most of the cabinet members have their individualized pens to gift. The presidentials are a long-standing tradition (that always annoyed me b/c our taxes pay for them), but one has to wonder when this tradition filtered downward to the cabinet. Hey, a hundred here, a hundred there...it all adds up.

The presidential pens, at least, are U.S. manufacture by A. T. Cross. Wonder about all the others.

[link:https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/27/politics/donald-trump-cross-pen-white-house/index.html|

[riversedge]

12. ENOUGH #FIREPRUITT

[Gothmog]

13. Pruitt spent more

Link to tweet

[bucolic_frolic]

14. All day All week long jaw-dropping irrational detrimental news

is a strategy to fracture the public's and media's focus and avoid consequences.

No one knows what to focus on. No one can get something loud enough going to be heard. No one knows where to complain.

[Bengus81]

15. Keep GUTTING the ACA and you can buy lots of worthless CRAP like that.....

How did that asshat get a blank check to spend on just about ANYTHING he wants?? Gawd............

[appalachiablue]

31. +1 The Tiny Jewel Box, est. 1930 is an exculsive, prestigious

independent shop in downtown DC, a well known place where those unique items can be purchased for professional or personal gifts. The store specializes in high end jewelry, corporate watches, custom designs and other impressive merchandise, for people in the know. Make a note for the next time you're in the capital shopping..Lol.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2015/11/13/exclusive-a-sneak-peek-at-the-new-not-so-tiny-jewel-box/?utm_term=.c54eddd635f1

[El Shaman]

16. When you

put an Okie in charge. My, my.

[DFW]

17. Well, what do you think EPA stands for anyhow?

Enhanced Pruitt Amenities

(Did you think it meant something else? It used to, but that was before 2017)

[HenryWallace]

18. Its funny because its true.

[link:

Link to tweet

|]

[Owl]

21. Self-important repugnant clown.

[Initech]

22. Wasteful government spending!!!!!!!1!!!1!

[JohnnyRingo]

23. Is there a secret contest to see who can spend the most?

If so, Pruitt is Ninja level at blowing taxpayer money.

He can dream up wasteful spending that would make the Pentagon choke, and all of it designed to stroke his ego.

[DeminPennswoods]

25. Pruitt's picture is going to be beside the word "grifter"

in the dictionary.

Dems should make him the poster boy for the non-stop grifting of the Trump administration. He should appear in every visual ad Dem candidates make against their opponents just like Rs do with Pelosi. Dems need to make sure the GOP "brand" is synonomous with waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.

[Achilleaze]

26. It's OK. He's a republican. They are not like ordinary Americans.

They are 'special.' Just ask them.

[Soxfan58]

27. Bic Clic

10.50 for 24 on Amazon.
Just saying

[no_hypocrisy]

28. I believe you can buy a 12-pack of blue-inked pens (Papermate!)

at Staples for $3.99, less if you have a Rewards card.

[Sunlei]

29. yes & trumps spent 86 million on his own private golf course vacations.

trump only golfs at his courses, where President Obama golfed much less over 8 years AND 86% of Obamas golfing was on military base owned courses (less then 20% on public/private courses)


86 million in OUR Federal Funds- that is 10 TIMES the "America can't afford support for transgender gays in military" Republican claim.

[miyazaki]

30. Ya but they were on sale right?

...