Whitehouse, Harris Press Pruitt for Answers on No-Bid Contract with GOP-Tied Opposition Research Firm

Washington, DC – Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) pressed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt for answers today about the EPA’s no-bid contract with an organization closely tied to the “unofficial research arm of the Republican party.”  In a letter to Pruitt, the Senators ask for justification in awarding a $120,000 no-bid contract for “news analysis” to Definers Public Affairs, a public relations firm founded by Republican operatives that shares staff and an address with America Rising—a partisan organization founded to “expos[e] the truth about Democrats through video tracking, research, and communications.”  Definers and America Rising have done work on behalf of and accepted money from fossil fuel companies and other interests that the EPA regulates.  On the heels of slowed enforcement against polluters and heightened politicization of the EPA, the Senators note, this contract is a troubling sign that demands explanation and termination of the contract.

“EPA’s contract with Definers risks further politicizing the agency and is another instance of EPA under your tenure becoming captured by the industry it regulates,” Whitehouse and Harris write to Pruitt.  “At a minimum, it presents an appearance of impropriety to which you as Administrator should never be a party.  For the reasons that follow, you should terminate this contract immediately.”

America Rising and its affiliates have a long record of providing political support to Pruitt and his work at the EPA.  Newly released documents show America Rising, led by the same opposition research experts at Definers, has been combing EPA records for communications between EPA staff and the news media and Democratic members of Congress.  The group coordinated a campaign to ease Scott Pruitt’s confirmation as Administrator that included ads urging Senators to vote for his confirmation and a website, www.ConfirmPruitt.com (accessible here).  America Rising also runs a website called the Need to Know Network that provides favorable coverage to Pruitt’s work at the EPA.

Full text of the Senators’ letter is below.  A PDF copy is available here.

December 19, 2017 

The Honorable Scott Pruitt

Administrator

Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20460

Dear Administrator Pruitt:

We are writing you to express our concerns about the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to award a $120,000 no-bid contract for “news analysis” to Definers Public Affairs, as reported this week by Mother Jones[1] and the New York Times.[2]  EPA’s contract with Definers risks further politicizing the agency and is another instance of EPA under your tenure becoming captured by the industry it regulates.[3]  At a minimum, it presents an appearance of impropriety to which you as Administrator should never be a party.  For the reasons that follow, you should terminate this contract immediately. 

Definers shares an address and staff with America Rising, a political action committee (PAC) that has been described as the “unofficial research arm of the Republican party.”[4]  America Rising has branded itself as an organization on the right founded “for the sole purpose of exposing the truth about Democrats through video tracking, research, and communications.”[5]  The group spends its time attacking Democrats, progressives, and environmentalists and lists Definers as one of its largest vendors.[6]  America Rising also operates the 501(c)(4) organization America Rising Squared, a dark money organization whose contributors are anonymous.  The leadership teams of America Rising and Definers share numerous individuals.  For example, Definers’ founder, Matt Rhoades, also founded America Rising.[7]  Definers’ president, Joe Pounder, is also the president of America Rising.[8]  Definers’ Senior Vice President, Brian Rogers, is also the executive director of America Rising Squared.[9]  These organizations may have different corporate forms, but we should all be clear that they are merely different parts of the same multi-faceted partisan operation.  Any claim they are distinct is a sham. 

What’s more, America Rising and Definers receive significant funds from interests in the energy sector as well as other industries you regulate as EPA Administrator.  While this cabal of Republican opposition research and electioneering organizations can raise much of its money anonymously so that the identities of many of its donors are unknown to the public, press reports about Definers’ work and Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosures from the America Rising PAC make it abundantly clear that companies you regulate are driving much of its work.  Definers was hired by fossil fuel interests to work on opposing a local ballot initiative in Colorado that would have placed conditions on oil and gas drilling.[10]  America Rising has received sizeable donations from several companies and individuals affiliated with the energy industry, including Hilcorp Energy, L.E. Simmons of SCF Partners, and Jonathon Barrett of Luminus Management LLC.  It has also received donations from companies and individuals in other industries regulated by EPA, including Susan Groff of Northwest Excavating, William Kunkler of CC Industries (manufacturing), George Daniels of Daniels Manufacturing, and Jerry Langer of Langer Transport.[11] 

Many of these same corporate interests vocally supported your nomination and confirmation as EPA Administrator.  America Rising even ran a campaign in support of your confirmation as EPA Administrator which included ads urging senators to vote for your confirmation and the website, www.ConfirmPruitt.com.^[12]  At your confirmation hearing, Senator Whitehouse asked you the following question for the record, which has renewed relevance in light of recent events:

Q 138. Please provide any correspondence or details about other communication between you or anyone working on your behalf concerning the establishment or activities of America Rising, America Rising Squared, and Protecting America Now, and any other organizations that are funding efforts to get you confirmed as EPA Administrator.

A. I am not aware of any such correspondence.

Your response was dubious then, and is even more dubious now. 

The America Rising-Definers network has been no less active on your behalf following your confirmation than it was before, even putting aside this recent contract.  The aforementioned Joe Pounder, president of Definers and America Rising, wears yet another hat in this constellation of interconnected partisan groups: he runs a website called the Need to Know Network (NTK) that has provided favorable coverage of your tenure at EPA.[13]  EPA’s official Twitter account has even on several occasions tweeted NTK’s coverage of your work at EPA. 

As if all this weren’t enough, Definers has filed several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with EPA relating to work EPA was doing under the previous administration with respect to the treatment of wood.[14]  It would appear that Definers is working for a corporate client that has business before EPA relating to this matter.  America Rising has also filed several FOIA requests with EPA.[15]  These requests were filed by the same person who filed the FOIA requests for Definers; this person works at both Definers and America Rising.[16]  America Rising’s FOIA requests seek to obtain emails from specific EPA employees and/or correspondence between specific EPA employees and various media outlets as well as the staffs of Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Tom Carper, Elizabeth Warren, and Robert Casey in an apparent effort to uncover “moles” within EPA.

The New York Times has recently documented how EPA enforcement has fallen off significantly during your tenure.[17]  Senators Carper and Whitehouse last week raised concerns that you have changed agency policy to give regulated industries an unprecedented seat at the table in negotiations to settle lawsuits where EPA is charged with failing to follow through on its statutory commitments to enforce the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws.  Hiring a public relations firm with abundant ties to industries you regulate, which is itself part of a broader network of groups active on behalf of you and fossil fuel interests, suggests that you have handed industry the keys to EPA. 

None of this can come as a surprise to you.  In 2015, America Rising paid to attend the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) annual summit at which you spoke.[18]  You led RAGA for two years, where you worked through RAGA to attack EPA during the Obama administration.

Your representatives have claimed that EPA’s contract with Definers is for “media monitoring/newsclip compilation”[19] and that it was retained “at a rate that is $87,000 cheaper than our previous vendor and they are providing no other services.”[20]  All of the above information about Definers, its activities, clients, and role within a much larger ecosystem of partisan, industry-funded operations research and electioneering groups casts significant doubt on these statements.

In light of the above and in order to shed light on EPA’s decision to award this contract, we are asking that you provide the following documents and responses by Thursday, December 21.

1. Provide copies of all documents related to the procurement of services with Definers as well as the contract EPA concluded with Definers for these services. 
2. What provision of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) authorized a no-bid contract for the type of services EPA procured from Definers?  According to the contract transaction details posted on the usaspending.gov website, the reason not to put this contract out to bid was that there was “only one source – other.”[21]  Please explain what this means when in fact there are many firms that offer the services for which EPA contracted with Definers, including the firm that previously did that work. 
3. Provide copies of all communications between EPA and Definers, America Rising, America Rising Squared, NTK, and any employees and representatives of these entities since February 17, 2017.
4. Confirm that all communications you or any EPA employee have had with any person in question 3, regardless of the form of communication used, have been retained by EPA and searched in response to this inquiry.
5. Provide communications or documentation to establish that no EPA funds paid to Definers or any affiliated group have been spent for “publicity or propaganda” or a “prepackaged news story” in violation of sections 715, 718 or 731 of division E of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017.
6. Provide communications or documentation to establish that no EPA funds paid to Definers or any affiliated group have been spent with the intent or the reasonable expectation that the funds would be used to make a contribution, expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication in violation of section 735 of division E of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017.
7. Provide all communications between EPA and the Definers – America Rising network as to and regulated entities that are also clients of or donors to Definers – America Rising.  Describe and provide all communications related to EPA’s due diligence efforts to determine if any conflicts of interest existed between the agency and regulated entities that are clients of or donors to Definers – America Rising.  Provide all communications to or from EPA related to Broomfield, CO, ballot initiative Question 301 this year.[22]  
8. Provide documentation or, if not available, a narrative description of the processes and procedures in place to ensure no client or funder of Definers-America Rising or any related entity can exert improper influence over EPA enforcement proceedings or litigation.
9. Provide all communications between EPA and the Definers – America Rising – NTK network of affiliated groups relating to EPA employee communications that were requested under FOIA by anyone from the Definers – America Rising – NTK network of affiliated groups.  These employees include but are not limited to Natasha Greaves, Michael Mikulka, Lucretia Meyers, Thelma Estrada, Gary Morton, Anthony Tseng, Christopher Grundler, Mike Shapiro, John Reeder, Enesta Jones, Christie St. Clair, Deborah Szaro, Michael Cox, Elizabeth Southerland, and Priscilla Oliver.  In an interview with the New York Times, Allan Blutstein, a senior vice president at Definers explained that he sought this information to take aim at “resistance” figures in the federal government and to see if they had done anything useful for Republicans.[23]  If any of these individuals have faced adverse personnel actions since February 17, 2017, please explain the nature of the action, the circumstances surrounding the action, and provide any correspondence concerning those individuals between EPA and any person affiliated with the Definers – America Rising – NTK network of affiliated groups. 
10. Explain how the facts described above – America Rising’s active financial support of your confirmation as well as your earlier political career, NTK’s favorable press coverage of your tenure at EPA, Definer’s working on behalf of regulated entities, regulated entities funding America Rising’s work – do not constitute a series of conflicts of interest.  We would be particularly interested to learn why you believe that scientists who are awarded EPA grant money are conflicted while the Definers – America Rising – NTK network is not.

Should you have any questions regarding any of the information we are requesting in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact our staffers, Dan Dudis and Monica Pham.  We look forward to your response.

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