Pruitt's gone. His stuff isn't

摘要

Nearly three months after Scott Pruitt's sudden departure from EPA, he still hasn't picked up his belongings. About a dozen boxes brimming with the ex-EPA administrator's personal items — including frames he had hanging on the wall and items adorning his desk — are being stashed in a storage room at EPA headquarters, according to an agency employee who has seen the boxes. Pruitt announced his resignation July 5 as he faced a barrage of allegations about excessive spending and mismanagement of the agency. He had tested the patience even of his fellow Republicans in Congress with his first-class travel, his expanded security entourage and the $43,000 "privacy booth" installed in his office. He left behind an agency dogged by low morale, a reduced workforce and a stack of investigations for EPA's inspector general. And a bunch of boxes of stuff. As the boxes gather dust, they've become a topic of conversation among EPA staffers. Some longtime employees say it's a situation EPA staff have never found themselves in before. Some staffers wonder why someone who was so diligent about privacy has been so cavalier about retrieving his personal possessions. Pruitt has kept a low profile since his abrupt exit. He was reportedly spotted at a Washington, D.C., restaurant and a hotel in Maui, Hawaii, since then.