We know Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt is engage in all manner of secret dealings with the fossil fuel and chemical industries, but he's apparently taking secrecy (and paranoia) to a whole new level.
Agency employees who spoke to the New York Times say Pruitt holds up in his locked office like a mad king.
Doors to the floor are now frequently locked, and employees have to have an escort to gain entrance.
Some employees say they are also told to leave behind their cellphones when they meet with Mr. Pruitt, and are sometimes told not to take notes.
Mr. Pruitt, according to the employees, who requested anonymity out of fear of losing their jobs, often makes important phone calls from other offices rather than use the phone in his office, and he is accompanied, even at E.P.A. headquarters, by armed guards, the first head of the agency to ever request round-the-clock security.
No one who is this paranoid should be allowed lead a federal agency, or any other agency for that matter, but here we are.
I considered the number of lawsuits filed against the Obama-era EPA to be egregious, but they may pale in comparison to the flood of lawsuits that will come when the decisions of Scott Pruitt bear fruit. Dozens of states and municipalities are already challenging Pruitt's decisions in court, but the worst will come when his decisions begin harming average people.
Over 50 farm workers were sickened in Bakersfield, California earlier this year after crops were sprayed with a pesticide chemical that was approved for use by Scott Pruitt. Health and farmworker organizations banded together to file a lawsuit on behalf of farmworkers in June.
I don't think Pruitt's tenure can last.