It is at this point impossible for any normal human being to keep track of each and every scandal Trump EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is involved in. It is all a mess of office renovations, closet phone booths, security guards, lobbyist favors and so-and-so breaking down so-and-so's doors after agents feared Pruitt had been spirited away by the invisible elves Pruitt swears have been rummaging through his sock drawer.
So you probably don't even remember that late last year, Pruitt inked a no-bid contract with a Republican opposition research firm to monitor and compile news coverage about the EPA. The EPA cancelled the contract as soon as it came to light, but not before reporters learned that one of the vice presidents of the firm was also digging up information on EPA employees suspected of being insufficiently loyal to Pruitt—which is a curious side gig for an EPA contractor, to say the least.
It was all very embarrassing and dodgy, and now Mother Jones has been able to decipher a bit more of what Pruitt wanted. It's interesting in that it's another window into Pruitt's (ahem) curious media priorities.
According to the arrangement with Definers, the news clippings service would at a minimum have included real-time monitoring of a set list of publications that included the Tulsa and Oklahoma City papers, as well as conservative outlets like the Daily Caller, Breitbart Media, the conservative blog Hot Air, the Trump-friendly Independent Journal Review, and the website PJ Media. It also included the NTK Network, a conservative website that runs un-bylined content and shares overlapping staff and offices with Definers Corp. and America Rising.
This tracks with Pruitt's (and Trump's) obsession over getting flattering coverage in the far-right fringe, even if mainstream news outlets continue to rake them over the coals; since the major networks and, especially, major newspapers are forever reporting things that Team Trump has done that may be unethical, illegal or damaging, the White House and various cabinet members have sought to elevate far-right outlets like the white-nationalist-leaning Breitbart as would-be equals to those outlets, muddying just what press can and can't be believed.
But the focus on Oklahoma papers is especially intriguing, and Mother Jones has a theory on that one:
The recently released records also indicate the EPA’s special interest in how Pruitt is portrayed in Oklahoma. Pruitt has been seen as a possible contender to succeed Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe, who is up for re-election in 2020.
So Pruitt signed a $120,000 deal between the EPA and a partisan Republican opposition research firm to, among other things, specifically track how Pruitt was playing in the state in which he has immediate political ambitions. How very ... conspicuous.