As Okla. Attorney General, Scott Pruitt Was Big Spender in Small State

"Scott Pruitt, the embattled EPA chief whose lavish spending has come under intense scrutiny, had extravagant tastes well before he came to Washington. In 2014, while he was attorney general of Oklahoma, the expenses of his office were $27.7 million higher than those of his predecessor, Drew Edmondson, according to a state audit published in 2016. Almost $23 million of his total budget fell into a category called “administrative expenses.” While it’s unclear from the audit what costs are included under this heading, Pruitt’s administrative total is more than 93 times what Edmondson spent on “miscellaneous administrative” expenses in 2009, according to a separate audit.

With fewer than 4 million people living in Oklahoma, Pruitt’s 2014 expenditures amounted to more than $14 per state resident. The 2014 budget for the Oklahoma attorney general’s office, which totaled $55.7 million, was more than double the $23.6 million spent that year by the attorney general of Arkansas, a neighboring state with a similar population. (In 2015, Pruitt’s office spent a total of $48.6 million.)

Pruitt’s administrative costs for 2014 came in more than $10 million over the budgeted amount for administrative expenses that year and $16 million over what his office spent in the same category the following year. The Intercept contacted the attorney general’s office and the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, neither of which could clarify exactly what fell under the category of administrative expenses. “I do not know if we drill down to that level of detail in the budget system,” said Shelley Zumwalt, a public affairs director."

Sharon Lerner reports for the Intercept April 12 2018.

SEE ALSO:

"EPA: Pruitt Oversaw Expensive Office Move In Okla. — Documents" (ClimateWire)

Source: The Intercept, 04/17/2018