Pruitt allies sought EPA jobs for friends, family; companies suggested hires: emails

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's allies from Oklahoma contact Pruitt and his chief of staff and a chemical industry lobbyist – and Pruitt himself tried to recruit from the oil and gas industry, according to internal EPA emails.

One of the allies was Oklahoma lawyer Gentner Drummond, who is vying to take Pruitt's position as attorney general in the GOP primary runoff in August. The emails were obtained by the Sierra Club through a public records request and provided to ABC News.

"I am aware that you have visited with [redacted] regarding a position within the EPA." [redacted] for most of [redacted] life, and would love to see another Oklahoma at the Agency, "Drummond wrote in a June 29, 2017 email to EPA Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson, who is also from Pruitt's home state of Oklahoma. "I am pleased to call or email Scott What is your recommendation?" The last cell number that I have for Scott is [redacted]. "

Kristoffer Tripplaar / Sipa via AP

Although the name of the person is recomended in the body of the email, the subject of the email reads "RE: Katherine English . "
Drummond told ABC News that it is a niece of one of its own law partners, and that it has asked for the EPA job.

English's name was hardly unfamiliar at the EPA. For nearly a decade, she had lobbied the EPA and Congress on behalf of chemical corporations. Most recently, she was the director of corporate affairs at Dow Chemical, and one of the company's leading lobbyists.

In less than an hour, Jackson replied in an email, "Thank you, I know [redacted] really well and that would be fine."

Jackson and English go back more than 10 years, when Jackson was chief of staff at the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works in Washington and English was a counsel at the committee. They are both alums of the University of Oklahoma as well.

Drummond told ABC News that he did not know which position in the United States, but said that he only knew that he had worked in Washington for a long time dealing with environmental matters. Drummond said it was not personally interacted with by the state.

A couple of weeks later, Drummond emailed Jackson again: "I have left Scott a voice message and a text but not heard back, which is understandable given his ever-expanding role. [redacted] within the Agency? "

Drummond said he never heard back from Jackson after that last email.

English was not reachable for an instant comment.

The emails show that Drummond was just one of many Pruitt's allies asking about positions at the EPA.

For example, the emails reveal details about Jackson's contacts and lobbyist J. Steven Hart, a longtime Pruitt supporter. Pruitt rented at Capitol Hill condo from Hart's wife Vicki Hart – also a Washington lobbyist – for a below market rate. In the emails, Hart invited him to the EPA for Hart's friends. Both Hart and Pruitt have denied Hart tried to guide and influence EPA decisions.

Hart feels an email to Jackson in April 2017 about a family friend who has been applying for a job at the EPA. Jimmy Guiliano was seeking a policy position at the Hart when he wrote that his wife, Pruitt's landlord, spoke to Pruitt directly and he was following up on the matter.

"He [Pruitt] told Vicki to talk to you about how to handle this," Hart wrote Jackson.

Jackson responded "on it" after Hart wrote that Guliano was "important to us." In a statement to ABC News, EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said, "The Agency is accepting recommendations from a number of acquaints." Ultimately, Mr. Guiliano was not hired. "

Dennis Treacy, currently a board member of the Smithfield Foundation – the charitable arm of Smithfield Foods. The EPA also seeks recommendations for the advisory board from Trump donor Doug Deason and a board member Bryan Shaw.

The emails also appear to indicate that the industry has been recruited from the oil and gas industry, which has had a negative impact on its success as an attorney general in Oklahoma.

According to an email from ConocoPhillips Kevin Avery lobbyist, Pruitt "made a plea for candidates to fill some of the regional director positions within the agency" when he met with the American Petroleum Institute executives in March last year. ConocoPhillips was one of the oil companies that put on Pruitt at the meeting.

On March 27, just a week after the meeting, Avery reaches out to Pruitt's closest aides, Samantha Dravis, with recommendations from the company.

"As the Communique said API member companies were asked to consider providing names of candidates who may be interested in government service," ConocoPhillips spokesperson Daren Beaudo said in a statement to ABC News. "We have not been involved in any other aspect of the process, and neither has been appointed."

Meanwhile, Henry Darwin, a state of Arizona Chief of Operations who joined the EPA as assistant deputy secretary in July last year, also got his wife at the agency.

While negotiating his potential job offer at the EPA in May 2017, he said, "who is a" legitimate environmental professional "can also have a job at the EPA.

"It would help our financial decision immensely," Darwin wrote to Jackson. "If not out of the question, I would be happy to forward her resume and references (which I would suggest you check – everyone loves her almost as much as I do)."

Henry Darwin's wife, Veronica Darwin, finally got a job at the EPA as a senior advisor to the administrator for Land and Emergency Management.

"Veronica Darwin has spent more than 18 years working extensively on environmental waste issues, which has been included as a compliance officer with EPA's Region 9 office and deputy division director for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality's Waste Divisions Program," EPA spokesperson Kelsi Daniell said in a statement to ABC News, "The EPA was looking for its superfund program and OLEM team, Ms. Darwin was an ideal fit for her current role."

An anti-nepotism statute to a presidential appointment in the executive branch, a public official may not advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in a civil position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official. "

It is unclear if there is a statute that prohibits a candidate for a politically appointed position of a member of a member for a job at the same agency.