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Scott Pruitt

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Not to be confused with Scott Pruett.

Scott Pruitt
File:Scott Pruitt transition portrait.jpg
17th Attorney General of Oklahoma
Assumed office
January 10, 2011
GovernorMary Fallin
Preceded byDrew Edmondson
Personal details
Born
Edward Scott Pruitt[1]

(1968-05-09) May 9, 1968 (age 56)
Danville, Kentucky, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMarlyn Pruitt
Alma materGeorgetown College (BA)
University of Tulsa (JD)

Edward Scott Pruitt (born May 9, 1968) is an American lawyer and Republican politician from the state of Oklahoma.

Pruitt represented Tulsa and Wagoner Counties in the Oklahoma Senate from 1998 until 2006. In 2001, when U.S. Congressman Steve Largent decided not to seek reelection in Oklahoma's 1st congressional district, Pruitt ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination to succeed Largent against the First Lady of Oklahoma, Cathy Keating, and the eventual nominee and winner, John A. Sullivan. In the 2002 election cycle, Pruitt was re-elected to the state Senate without opposition by his home district. Rather than seek re-election in 2006, Pruitt launched an unsuccessful campaign to receive the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. He was elected to serve as Oklahoma's Attorney General in 2010.

On December 7, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump selected Pruitt to be his nominee as the next Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.[2] If Pruitt is confirmed by the United States Senate as EPA Administrator, he will need to resign as Attorney General at which time Governor Mary Fallin would appoint his successor as Attorney General.

Background

Pruitt was born in 1968 in Danville, Kentucky, but moved to Lexington as a boy. He was a standout football and baseball player at Lafayette, earning a baseball scholarship to the University of Kentucky, where he played second base. After a year, he attended Georgetown College in Kentucky and graduated in 1990 with bachelor's degrees in political science and communications. He then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma when he attended the University of Tulsa to earn a Juris Doctor in 1993. He passed the bar examination that same year.[citation needed]

He entered into private practice in Tulsa where he specialized in constitutional law, contracts, insurance law, labor law, and litigation & appeals. After five years as an attorney, Pruitt ran for, and was elected to, the Oklahoma Senate in 1998, representing Tulsa and Wagoner counties. After two years in the Senate, Pruitt was selected to serve as the Republican whip from 2001 to 2003. He was then selected to serve as the Republican Assistant Floor Leader, a position he held until he left the Senate in 2006.[3]

In 2004, Pruitt became the General Managing Partner of the Oklahoma RedHawks, Oklahoma City's triple-A baseball club. Under his first season of leadership, the RedHawks saw a 25% increase in attendance. After two years, the team broke the all-time attendance record for minor league baseball in Oklahoma and saw a 45% increase in revenue.[citation needed]

2001 Congressional campaign

Pruitt, while a freshman legislator, sought his party's nomination to succeed Steve Largent as the Member of Congress for the First Congressional District of Oklahoma in 2001. Largent, who had resigned to spend his focus running for Governor of Oklahoma, would be replaced by special election rather than by gubernatorial appointment. Two other main candidates emerged for the job, including sitting State Representative John A. Sullivan, the eventual winner, and Cathy Keating, the wife of then Governor Frank Keating. Pruitt came in a distant third behind a surprisingly successful first-place finisher in Sullivan and Keating in second place. The Keating loss prompted then Governor Frank Keating to say the voters in his hometown of Tulsa were "dumb," a remark he later recanted as being emotionally supportive of his wife.[4]

2006 Lieutenant Governor campaign

Pruitt sought the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Republican Mary Fallin as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma in the 2006 Lt. Gubernatorial election. In the primary election, Pruitt faced Nancy Riley and Speaker of the House Todd Hiett. Following the primaries on July 25, 2006, Pruitt received 34% of the vote, Riley receive 23%, and Hiett received 43%. Pruitt, pursuant to Oklahoma state law, had to face Hiett in a runoff election in order to receive the party's nomination. Following the run-off election on August 22, 2006, Pruitt received 63,812 votes and 49.08% as opposed to Hiett's 66,217 votes and 50.92%. Pruitt failed to receive the nomination, with Hiett to face Democratic House Minority Leader Jari Askins in the November general election.

Career as Attorney General

Pruitt speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C.

After his election, Pruitt established a "Federalism Unit" in the Attorney General's office dedicated to fighting President Barack Obama's regulatory agenda, suing the administration over its immigration policy, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.[5]

Pruitt's office has sued the EPA to block its Clean Power Plan and Waters of the United States rule.[5] Pruitt has also sued the EPA on behalf of Oklahoma utilities unwilling to take on the burdens of additional regulation of their coal-fired plants, and criticized the agency in a congressional hearing.[6][7] All of Pruitt's anti-EPA suits to date have failed.[8]

In 2012, Attorney General Pruitt kept Oklahoma out of the mortgage settlement reached by 49 other states with five national lenders, with Pruitt citing differing philosophies of government.[9]

In 2013, Pruitt brought a lawsuit targeting the Affordable Care Act.[10]

In 2013, Pruitt supported the Oklahoma legislature's bid to join four other states trying to restrict medical abortions by limiting or banning off-label uses of drugs, via House Bill 1970. After the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that the abortion law was unconstitutional, Pruitt requested that the United States Supreme Court review the case. Pruitt was unhappy with the United States Supreme Court's rejection of the Oklahoma case.[11][12]

Pruitt was pleased with the decision of the United States Supreme Court's ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby in June 2014. Pruitt, an acquaintance of the Green family, the founders of Hobby Lobby, filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of their position, that the owners of privately held companies need not provide their employees with birth control, if that goes against their beliefs. In a statement, Pruitt noted, "The founders established a Constitution to protect Americans' religious freedom from an intrusive federal government. Today's ruling solidifies the principle that our religion is not a silent practice confined to the four walls of a church, but it is an opportunity to live out our faith in the public square."[13]

In June 2013, Pruitt maintained that the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a provision of DOMA, a federal law that denied federal benefits to homosexual married couples did not affect Oklahoma's laws on the subject.[14]

Pruitt expressed his dissatisfaction when a federal court ruled that Oklahoma's voter-approved amendment in 2004 to the Oklahoma State Constitution that defined marriage as only the union of one man and one woman was a violation of the U.S. Constitution in 2014.[15] In October 2014, Pruitt criticized the Supreme Court's refusal to hear Oklahoma's appeal in the definition of marriage case.[16]

On March 6, 2014, Pruitt joined a lawsuit targeting California's prohibition on the sale of eggs laid by caged hens kept in conditions more restrictive than those approved by California voters. Less than a week later, Pruitt announced that he would investigate the Humane Society of the United States, one of the principal proponents of the California law.[17][18]

On September 9, 2014, in Pruitt v. Burwell, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma ruled against the IRS.[19]

In October 2014, a California judge dismissed the lawsuit, rejecting the arguments of Pruitt and the other attorneys-general concerning California's Proposition 2, a 2008 ballot initiative. Judge Kimberly Mueller ruled that Oklahoma and the other states lacked legal standing to sue on behalf of their residents and that Pruitt and other plaintiffs were representing the interests of egg farmers, rather than "a substantial statement of their populations."[20][21][22]

In November 2014, after the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked the enforcement of two abortion-related laws until after their constitutionality was litigated (which could take up to a year or more), Pruitt's office communicated the Attorney General's intention to support their implementation and enforcement.[23] [24]

In 2013, Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources, co-chaired Pruitt's reelection campaign.[25] Pruitt ran unopposed in the 2014 primary election and won the November 2014 election for a new term as Attorney General.[26] Pruitt then jointly filed a lawsuit against a federal regulation alongside the Oklahoma Gas & Electric and an energy industry group funded by Hamm.[25]

Pruitt has been successful in raising campaign contributions from the energy industry, helping him to become chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association.[25]

On Sunday, December 7, 2014, The New York Times published a front-page story highlighting that Pruitt had used his office's stationary to send form letters written by energy industry lobbyists to federal agencies during public comment.[27]

In April 2015, news reports indicated Pruitt believed distribution of religious material to public school students was constitutional.[28]

After the botched execution of Clayton Lockett and the subsequent U.S. Supreme Court approval of Oklahoma's method in Glossip v. Gross, Pruitt asked to delay all scheduled executions in Oklahoma due to a mix-up involving a drug the state intended to use in the lethal injections, on October 2, 2015.[29]

In May 2016, Attorneys General Pruitt and Luther Strange authored an op-ed in the National Review criticizing other state attorneys general for "acting like George III" regarding the ExxonMobil climate change controversy, writing "global warming has inspired one of the major policy debates of our time. That debate is far from settled. Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind."[30]

After the organization "Oklahomans for Health" collected the legally required number of signatures for a referendum ballot on the legalization of medical marijuana, in August 2016, Scott Pruitt's office moved to rewrite the ballot title, but not in time for the November 2016 election. The measure will appear on the 2018 ballot.[31][32]

Nomination as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

On December 7, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.[2] The nomination is reviewed during hearings held by the members of the Environment and Public Works Committee,[33] then referred to the full Senate for a vote.

Pruitt calls himself "a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda."[5] The New York Times and The Independent, have described him as a climate change denier.[34][35][36] He said of global warming that "that debate is far from settled."[25][37] With other state attorneys general, he has sued to fight the EPA's Clean Power Plan and regulations on methane emissions.[5] Gene Karpinski, the president of the League of Conservation Voters, described the nomination as being "like the fox guarding the henhouse."[38] In response to the nomination, Pruitt said, "I intend to run this agency in a way that fosters both responsible protection of the environment and freedom for American businesses."[39]

Election results

November 4, 2014, General Election results for Attorney General

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party n/a 100.00%

November 2, 2010, General Election results for Attorney General

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 666,407 65.11%
Jim Priest Democratic Party 357,162 34.89%

July 27, 2010, Republican Primary Election results for Attorney General

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 134,335 56.05%
Ryan Leonard Republican Party 105,343 43.95%
#E81B23 #E81B23
July 25, 2006 Republican Primary Election results for Lt. Governor
Candidates Party Votes %
Todd Hiett Republican Party 66,220 50.92%
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 63,817 49.08%
Source:[40]
#E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23
July 25, 2006 Republican Primary Election results for Lt. Governor
Candidates Party Votes %
Todd Hiett Republican Party 76,634 42.82%
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 60,367 33.73%
Nancy Riley Republican Party 41,984 23.46%
Source:[41]

November 5, 2002, General Election results for Oklahoma Senate, District 54

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party n/a 100.00%
#E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23
December 11, 2001, Special Election results for United States House of Representatives, District 1
Candidates Party Votes %
John Sullivan Republican Party 19,018 45.53%
Cathy Keating Republican Party 12,736 30.49%
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 9,513 22.77%
George E. Banasky Republican Party 296 0.71%
Evelyn R. Rogers Republican Party 210 0.50%
Source:[42]

November 3, 1998, General Election results for Oklahoma Senate, District 54

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 9,971 63.51%
Shannon Clark Democratic Party 5,728 36.49%
#E81B23 #E81B23
September 5, 1998, Republican Runoff Election results for Oklahoma Senate, District 54
Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 2,326 56.33%
Gerald Wright Republican Party 1,803 43.67%
Source:[43]
#E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23
August 25, 1998, Republican Primary Election results for Oklahoma Senate, District 54
Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 1,959 48.94%
Gerald Wright Republican Party 1,820 45.47%
Douglas E. Meehan Republican Party 224 0.06%
Source:[44]

References

  1. ^ http://www.sbts.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2010/11/Catalog_directory_Aug2013.pdf
  2. ^ a b "Trump to tap Oklahoma attorney general to lead EPA: transition team". Reuters. December 7, 2016.
  3. ^ "Scott Pruitt - Ballotpedia".
  4. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20011218/ai_n10148878/[dead link]
  5. ^ a b c d Mooney, Chris; Dennis, Brady; Mufson, Steven (December 8, 2016). "Trump names Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma attorney general suing EPA on climate change, to head the EPA". The Washington Post. p. A1. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  6. ^ "Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt criticizes EPA at congressional hearing". The Oklahoman. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  7. ^ "An Insider's Guide to Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt's War With the EPA". StateImpact Oklahoma. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  8. ^ "Court Losses Won't Deter Attorney General Scott Pruitt In His Fight With The EPA". StateImpact Oklahoma. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  9. ^ "Oklahoma is lone maverick in national mortgage settlement signed by 49 states". The Oklahoman. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  10. ^ "Lawsuits by Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, others challenge Obamacare subsidies". The Oklahoman. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  11. ^ "Attorney General Supports Supreme Court Review of Oklahoma Abortion Law". Newson6.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  12. ^ "Okla. AG Pruitt reacts to abortion ruling". Krmg.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  13. ^ "Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt Pleased With Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby Opinion". News9.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  14. ^ "Attorney General says Supreme Court ruling doesn't affect Okla". Krmg.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  15. ^ Michael Winter (January 14, 2014). "Federal judge strikes down Okla. same-sex marriage ban". Usatoday.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  16. ^ "Attorney General Scott Pruitt Statement on Same-Sex Marriage Decision". Ktul.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  17. ^ "Oklahoma Farm Report - Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt Joins Other States in Egg Lawsuit Against California". Oklahomafarmreport.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  18. ^ "State AG's office issues alert against Humane Society of the United States". Tulsa World. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  19. ^ McIntyre, Adrianna (October 1, 2014). "High court declines to review Oklahoma case against Affordable Care Act". Vox. Vox Media.
  20. ^ "Judge tosses suit by 6 states over California law on eggs". SFGate. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  21. ^ "Lawsuit against California egg law dismissed - FDA report stokes debate over antibiotics - U.S. revokes special treatment for Canadian produce". POLITICO.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  22. ^ "Judge tosses lawsuit challenging California egg laws". sacbee. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  23. ^ "Oklahoma Supreme Court puts on hold two abortion laws pending constitutional challenges". The Oklahoman. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  24. ^ "Oklahoma Supreme Court blocks enforcement of abortion laws". Archived from the original on November 6, 2014. Retrieved August 19, 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ a b c d Coral Davenport; Eric Lipton (December 8, 2016). "CHOICE FOR E.P.A. HAS LED BATTLES TO CONSTRAIN IT - CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL - Oklahoman Scott Pruitt Has Deep Ties to Oil and Gas Industry". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  26. ^ "Oklahoma Attorney General election, 2014". Ballotpedia.org. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  27. ^ Eric Lipton (December 7, 2014). "Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  28. ^ Eger, Andrea (April 15, 2015). "Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt defends Bible distribution in schools, says 'religious freedoms are under attack'". Tulsa World. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  29. ^ "Oklahoma attorney general seeks to delay all executions after drug mix-up". USA Today.
  30. ^ "The Climate-Change Gang". National Review. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  31. ^ ""This is a huge hurdle," state officials will decide whether 67,000 signatures on medical marijuana petition make ballot". KFOR.com.
  32. ^ "Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative, State Question 788 (2018)", Ballotpedia, retrieved December 7, 2016
  33. ^ Bernstein, Lenny (May 16, 2013). "Senate committee approves Obama's nomination of Gina McCarthy to head EPA". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  34. ^ "Outsiders Selected by Trump Aim to Unnerve Washington". The New York Times. December 17, 2016.
  35. ^ "Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A." The New York Times. December 7, 2016.
  36. ^ "Donald Trump just made a terrifyingly dangerous appointment". December 7, 2016.
  37. ^ Milman, Oliver (December 8, 2016). "Donald Trump picks climate change sceptic Scott Pruitt to lead EPA". The Guardian.
  38. ^ USA Today - The Arizona Republic, Thursday December 8, 2016, p. 3B
  39. ^ Jackson, David. "Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick to head the EPA, has sued the EPA".
  40. ^ http://www.elections.state.ok.us/06run.html Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  41. ^ http://www.elections.state.ok.us/06pri.html Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  42. ^ "Oklahoma 2002 Midterm Election".
  43. ^ http://www.elections.state.ok.us/98reprun.html Archived November 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  44. ^ http://www.elections.state.ok.us/98reppri.html Archived November 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

External links

Legal offices
Preceded by Attorney General of Oklahoma
2011–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scott_Pruitt&oldid=756643776"