ELIZABETH "TATE" BENNETT
Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations
2017-2018
TRUMP EPA APPOINTEE WAS A COAL UTILITY LOBBYIST THIS YEAR, SENATORS SAY
May 17, 2018
Bennett worked for two years as a lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, which represents more than 900 customer-owned rural utilities. The association, whose members have been historically reliant on coal, has pushed heavily against emissions-cutting regulations, including the Clean Power Plan.
The senators say that Bennett’s appointment violates Trump’s executive order on ethics, which says appointees can’t “participate in the specific issue area” for which they lobbied in the two years prior to their appointment. Trump issued the order during his second week in office, following up on his oft-repeated campaign pledge to “drain the swamp.” Previous presidents had similar ethics orders.
The EPA and Bennett’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter points out that the association spent $5.3 million on lobbying during Bennett’s tenure, and that she “specifically lobbied on a broad set of EPA matters, including EPA’s Clean Power Plan and New Source Performance Standard, Clean Water Rule, ozone standard, EPA enforcement, pesticides bills, budget resolutions, and appropriations bills.”
AIDE SOUGHT A NEW APARTMENT FOR SCOTT PRUITT, AND AN ‘OLD MATTRESS’ FROM TRUMP HOTEL
June 4, 2018
Mr. Pruitt, during a Senate hearing in May, acknowledged that Ms. Hupp did unpaid work for him by searching for new housing on her personal time. Ms. Hupp told investigators that she performed the errands for Mr. Pruitt on lunch hours, evenings and vacations.
She also said she did not use her official E.P.A. email to conduct Mr. Pruitt’s personal business. However, documents released to the Sierra Club under the Freedom of Information Act suggest otherwise.
In one exchange, in July, Elizabeth Tate Bennett, an E.P.A. senior deputy associate administrator, introduced Ms. Hupp to a Capitol Hill real estate agent, John Walker, describing Mr. Walker as someone who “places members of Congress in homes on the hill regularly.”
Related: Scott Pruitt
INSIDE TOP EPA OFFICIALS' SECRET POLLUTER MEETINGS
April 15, 2019
"I think she violated probably both the Office of Government Ethics impartiality rule ... and probably also the ethics pledge that Donald Trump has put through by executive order," he said. The OGE rule bans all executive branch officials in their first year on the job from participating in "a particular matter involving specific parties" in which "a reasonable person" could question their impartiality. Trump's order basically expanded that ban to two years.
"If they're getting involved in these particular enforcement actions and telling the EPA to back off on these enforcement actions — and that's part of what they do — I think they represent a party, meaning this utility company," Painter explained.
PRESS RELEASE FROM TOM CARPER, US SENATOR: CARPER, WHITEHOUSE AND MERKLEY REQUEST INVESTIGATION OF EPA OFFICIAL’S POTENTIALLY UNETHICAL ACTIONS RELATED TO PREVIOUS EMPLOYER
Today, U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), top Democrat on the EPW Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) sent a letter along with a detailed timeline to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) requesting an investigation into the potential ethical violations of EPA Associate Administrator Elizabeth “Tate” Bennett. According to public information, within mere weeks of her start at EPA, Ms. Bennett met with her previous employer - the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) - about media strategy surrounding an event with then-Administrator Scott Pruitt and facilitated a meeting about an ongoing EPA enforcement matter affecting a NRECA-represented electric utility. The EPA also appeared to conceal details of the meeting from public view.
May 16, 2019
TOP D.C. LOBBYING FIRM QUIETLY HIRES CONTROVERSIAL TRUMP ADVISOR
January 21, 2021
Bennett came to Forbes Tate from the White House, where she had served as a Special Assistant to former President Trump since April. While at the White House, she was in charge of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which was plagued by inefficiency and mismanagement. Before that, Bennett had a controversial tenure at the EPA which resulted in three United States Senators accusing her of unethical conduct and demanding an Inspector General Investigation.
Bennett's biggest value to the firm may be her status as a former top aide to Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY). At the time Bennett signed with Forbes Tate, most people believed that McConnell would still be the Majority Leader of the Senate.
Bennett's hiring is a case study of how veterans of the Trump White House are still able to find lucrative positions in the influence industry.