Posted on 01/29/2017 9:08:37 AM PST by markomalley
When likely EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt walks into his first day at the office, “He’ll have 16,000 employees working against him,” Sen. James Lankford told a large gathering of libertarian donors Saturday evening.
“And I expect a flood of lawsuits over everything he does.”
Pruitt, who has been nominated to lead the EPA by President Donald Trump, is the attorney general of Lankford’s state, Oklahoma. He has faced fierce opposition from the environmentalist left.
Lankford, who chairs the Senate Oversight Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements, was joined on stage by Sens. Mike Lee and Pat Toomey. Their panel, moderated by Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips, was during a dinner on day one of Charles and David Koch’s libertarian Seminar Network in Palm Springs, Calif.
Held twice a year, the seminars are a gathering place for the Seminar Network, a large group of wealthy donors interested in libertarian causes. This weekend’s seminar, held in the temperate desert outside of Los Angeles, will be the first since Trump’s election and inauguration. The network spent hundreds of millions on advertising and advocacy for limited-government politicians — namely, Republicans — running for the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, but notably stayed out of the presidential primaries and race. The network is co-chaired by Charles Koch Institute President Brian Hooks and Mark Holden, general counsel for Koch Industries.
Of the three senators, Lankford was the only tepid backer of Trump, saying he would support the nominee and frequently dodging press requests to weigh in on specific incidents. Toomey withheld endorsement of Trump, though didn’t rule it out, and was a frequent critic. On Election Day, he said he was voting for Trump. Lee, who is a close friend of Sen. Ted Cruz and represents Utah’s quieter, more conflict-adverse Mormon Republican electorate, urged Trump to quit in October and declined to endorse him throughout the election.
Called “A Time to Lead,” the meeting is hosted at the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort and Spa, and is focused on local, grassroots initiatives Americans can take in what Hooks called “the key institutions of society”– “education, community, business and government.”
There are around 550 individuals included in the “principals” network meeting, which requires at least $100,000 donation to the network. In addition to these invited people, there are approximately 150 staff and speakers, Seminar Network spokesman James David told reporters. There is also a larger press presence than any previous conference has allowed.
The EPA employees should be reassigned to some remote US location — incorporated or unincorporated, doesn’t matter.
Make the move a condition of continued employment. They can do their new functions on site — analyzing polar bear feces, the impact of penguin flatuence on global warming, etc.
We will see how many wish to remain.
Take out all the coffee and equipment. Provide one Keurig per floor, make them bring their own pods and put a camera on the Keurig and start writinv people up for excessive breaks.
Start with cutting their salaries.
Make them all GS1’s ...they will be headed for the exits of their own volition.
That’s a lot of contractors. My daughter worked as a contractor for the EPA reporting on ocean fishermen and construction in the desert. She saw the ridiculousness of the regulations and contracted out to a construction company to fight for the other side.
She is now working as a science teacher but is interested in working for the EPA again since common sense has taken over.
As a compromise I’d be willing to let the janitor stay...
When is Pruitt ever going to be confirmed?
16,000 EPA employee’s against him.
VS:
62,979,879 voters standing with Trump
No, these are not layoffs where the position remains open. The JOB is eliminated. The job is GONE. There is no position left for the boss to fill.
Attu at least has some usefulness. Please not there:-)
“16,000 VS 62,979,879”
What you said! i love math!
Sane people call that insubordination. You get fired for that.
Obama’s parting gift.
Pressure Ryan to defund the EPA. They love power over money but can’t funtion without money.
If I was put in charge of that dept this would my first address to all employees...
‘Today I’m firing 25% of you for lack of loyalty to goals of the dept.’
Next week we will start evaluating the loyalty of those that remain.
My guess is that you would turn half of those left into rock-ribbed conseratives overnight!
I agree totally. Trump ought to do away with the EPA for starters.
Send any recalcitrant ones who can’t actually be fired to clean up, with buckets and simple sand filters, the Animas River which the EPA intentionally fouled.
But don’t send them to the beautiful parts of the River in Colorado... Send them to clean it in the rather dreary areas between Aztec and Farmington, NM.
No per-diem for motels and restaurants. Set up a tent camp.
Grin! Yeah, it can be a little desolate in the 4 corners area. This time of year would be a good time to send them.
If you can’t fire them do the following. Disconnect their phones, put their computers in storage, freeze their email, take away issued cell phones.
They can come to work, do absolutely nothing, and collect a paycheck until layoffs begin. Those eligible for retirement will submit their papers ASAP.
I'll bet half are at the headquarters in D.C. Apart from a few people to answer the phones and get coffee for Pruitt, that seems the logical first place to start hacking away the dead wood.
Two words: Holman Rule. The House reinstated it for 2017.
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