Pruitt assigns political appointee to vet grant requests

Source: E&E News

Pruitt assigns political appointee to vet grant requests

Sean Reilly, E&E News reporter
Greenwire: Thursday, August 17, 2017

In a sharp break with tradition, U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has inserted a senior political appointee into the role of vetting competitive grant solicitations collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year, according to a memo obtained by E&E News.

The unsigned directive, released last week, orders agency employees to route the final drafts of all grant solicitations for review by John Konkus, the deputy associate administrator in EPA's Office of Public Affairs. ... If Konkus "has any concerns, comments, or questions on the solicitation, he will contact the POC [point of contact] listed in the email," the memo continues.

If the Office of Public Affairs approves the solicitation, the relevant program office must attach a copy of any comments or revisions from Konkus to the "work flow" section of EPA's grants management system. Konkus is also responsible for flagging any legal or competition concerns, the document indicates. ... The memo, which attributes the new policy to Pruitt's office, doesn't explain the rationale for putting Konkus or the public affairs office in charge of reviewing solicitations.



John Konkus

In response to a half-dozen written questions from E&E News about Konkus' qualifications and other issues, EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman issued a statement today: "Grants are being reviewed to ensure they adhere to the Trump administration's goals and policies and the EPA's back-to-basics agenda."
....

Twitter: @SeanatGreenwire Email: sreilly@eenews.net

Read more: https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060058907

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Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/fahrenthold

Trump appointee and @EPAScottPruitt press aide now vets EPA's grant solicitations -- great get by @SeanatGreenwire

Link to tweet

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I missed it on Mar-a-Lago. Maybe this will make up for that.

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Save it before it's gone.

John Konkus at LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkonkus

Executive Vice President
Jamestown Associates
April 2013 December 2016 (3 years 9 months)
Jamestown Associates is one of the best political consulting firms in the country. We produce victories for our clients by creating TV, radio, mail and digital voter contact that has a message that connects and gets noticed. Persuasive ads. Personalized attention. Detailed review of demographics, past election results and history. Understanding the client. Understanding the district. Understanding Florida. Single-minded focus on winning. No cookie-cuter campaigns!

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Trumps political teams land at EPA, DOE
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/01/23/stories/1060048813

Robin Bravender, E&E News reporter
Published: Monday, January 23, 2017
President Trump's first wave of political staffers are heading into federal agencies today.

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Here are More than 400 Officials Trump has Quietly Deployed Across the Government
https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/beachhead

By Al Shaw, Justin Elliott and Derek Kravitz, ProPublica, March 8, 2017
Updated August 3, 2017

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JAMESTOWN’S SAYEGH, KONKUS, DORR, AND HENNING JOIN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
https://www.jamestownassociates.com/news/2017/3/9/jamestowns-sayegh-konkus-dorr-and-henning-join-trump-administration

March 9, 2017
by Jamestown

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https://twitter.com/john_konkus_epa