Investigating Power
Pruitt’s testimony was proven false after a lawsuit filed in February by the watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy forced the release of thousands of pages of his emails, which showed that he had used his personal account to carry out official communications multiple times.
ALEC, Chambers of Commerce, Democracy
It’s the latest advance in an all-out battle many states are waging against local efforts to increase their residents’ wages and benefits. As more cities pass minimum wage increases and paid sick leave requirements, amid Congressional inaction on both issues, preemption bills stymieing their efforts have proliferated. According to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), every year has seen more states consider such legislation, with 36 states in 2016, up from 29 the year before and 23 the year before that.
The Center for Biological Diversity, along with noted conservation biologist Stuart Pimm and the Center for Media and Democracy, launched an effort today to prevent hundreds of environmental data sets on government websites from being removed by the Trump administration.
Several public health advocacy groups have filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit that aims to undo OSHA’s requirement for employers to electronically submit worker injury and illness data for public view.
On March 21, organizations including watchdog group Public Citizen, the American Public Health Association, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the Center for Media and Democracy filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The groups argue that they are entitled to act as defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed against OSHA by the National Association of Home Builders and other industry groups.
The Center for Media and Democracy filed a lawsuit against Pruitt Feb. 7 for not releasing 3,000 emails the organization sent open records requests for in 2015 and 2016. On Feb. 16, the day before Pruitt was confirmed as the EPA administrator, an Oklahoma judge ordered him to release the emails.
On Feb. 22, more than 7,500 of Pruitt’s emails were released, revealing that Pruitt did use a personal email account and that he had been communicating with organizations like American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, discussing changes he could make in the EPA that would benefit them, among other things.
Climate, Democracy, Environment, Trump
“Yes,” Pruitt replied. “As I indicated in my opening statement, I really believe that public participation, transparency in rule-making is very important.”
Pruitt’s answer was pretty nonsensical, since he’d been so withholding himself during the confirmation process: Democrats later boycotted the committee’s final vote to approve his nomination, citing his lack of response to their questions and failure to provide documents. (Pruitt told Democrats they could get the documents by contacting the office of the attorney general of Oklahoma — the office that he ran.) That same day, the Center for Media and Democracy sued Pruitt for failing to release emails they had requested over two years previously.
Last month, Pruitt was sued to release those emails under open records litigation from the liberal-leaning Center for Media and Democracy — some of which he has now released, providing more details on his state office’s close relationship with the oil and gas industry.
People for the American Way senior fellow Arn Pearson says he thinks Democrats are “entitled” to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination and should slow any attempt to confirm him. Pearson is primarily interested in how Gorsuch will answer questions about issues of corporate influence and campaign finance.
Research by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) on the political influence of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce provides some revealing insights into why the Arizona Chamber is engaging in such dishonorable political lobbying efforts: “On April 4, 2016, the Center for Media and Democracy … released documents that it obtained from a top GOP polling firm which show widespread support from the Chamber’s members for policies such as an increase in the minimum wage, paid sick leave, paid paternity and paid maternity leave.
One chain of emails show that American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), a lobby group for oil and gas, coordinated with Pruitt in 2013 to oppose the Renewable Fuel Standard Program and ozone limits. AFPM pursued its own case against the regulations, but later that year, Pruitt also filed a case suing the EPA over the same thing and used similar language to that in the emails.
This worries many Democrats and environmentalists because close ties with oil can often equal a disregard for the well-being of the environment. Republicans, on the other hand, believe that these ties with oil and gas will ensure that the government won’t overreach into those industries. You can find the emails on the Center for Media and Democracy’s website.