NAACP calls for Pruitt to be fired

The NAACP is joining the chorus of organizations calling for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to resign amid ethics controversies. 

The civil rights group, along with more than 30 other organizations focused on the environment and labor, signed off on a full-page newspaper ad that ran Wednesday morning in The New York Times, the New York Post and Pruitt’s home-state paper, The Oklahoman.

Scott Pruitt, maybe this is finally enough publicity for you?
We’re calling for your resignation in the @nytimes, the @nypost, and @TheOklahoman pic.twitter.com/OPSmvPvCGj

— Sierra Club (@SierraClub) April 18, 2018

The Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, the Service Employees International Union and the Latino Victory Project also sponsored the ad, which blasted Pruitt for his spending habits and his policy views, and called for him to resign or be removed.

{mosads}“We’re probably better known for traditional civil rights issues,” Hilary Shelton, the NAACP’s Washington bureau director, told The Washington Post. 

“But in many ways we see environmental protection as an issue that falls under equal protection under the law,” he said, adding that poor communities are often hit hardest by pollution and lax environmental standards.

Pruitt has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks amid mounting ethics scandals.

Pressure on the EPA head began to grow after it was reported he rented a room in a condo owned by the wife of a prominent energy lobbyist for $50 a night during his first several months in D.C.

In addition, it was reported that Pruitt authorized raises for two of his top staffers despite the White House rejecting the pay increases, and that he cost taxpayers millions of dollars with his security and travel costs.

A federal watchdog also announced Monday that the EPA had violated the law by approving a $43,000 secure soundproof booth for Pruitt’s personal office.

President Trump has defended Pruitt despite the blowback, saying the EPA head is “doing a great job.”

Dozens of House Democrats and a handful of Democratic senators have called on Pruitt to resign in the wake of the controversies.

Republicans lawmakers have refrained from calling for Pruitt to step down, but some have called for further inquiries into Pruitt’s spending.