John Konkus, the second-in-command on the Environmental Protection Agency’s communications staff, is the latest official to resign in a string of departures as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt continues to fend of several scandals.
A Trump administration official told the Washington Examiner that Konkus, the deputy associate administrator in the EPA’s office of public affairs, will take a communications job at the Small Business Administration.
Konkus’ boss at EPA is Liz Bowman, the top communications staffer at the agency who also resigned this week.
“John’s work ethic and positive attitude is unmatched,” a Trump administration official told the Washington Examiner. “He will be a great addition to Administrator [Linda] McMahon’s team.”
Konkus is a political appointee considered loyal to President Trump. He served on Trump’s transition team, and was one of the few to take a full-time job at the EPA. Before that, he was a longtime GOP operative in Florida, and served as the Trump’s campaign chairman in Leon County.
The Washington Post reported that Konkus was responsible for vetting hundreds of millions of dollars in grants that the EPA distributes each year to see whether they conflicted with the administration’s degregulatory priorities.
The EPA press shop has been increasingly on the defensive in recent weeks responding to a series of ethics and spending allegations facing Pruitt.
Konkus’ departure comes amid other high-level departures of aides close to Pruitt. But, Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, says scandals aren’t causing departures of top aides.
Jackson is downplaying perceptions of turmoil among EPA rank-and-file and political staff, and insisted agency employees are still motivated to work for Pruitt.
“People are principally focused on doing their jobs whether in the press office or program offices,” Jackson told the Washington Examiner in an interview Wednesday night. “We respond to a lot, but at the same time we have policies that we are working on and finalizing and that gives career and political staff a lot of gratification.”
The EPA this week announced the departures of Albert “Kell” Kelly, who led the agency’s Superfund program that helps clean up hazardous sites, and Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, the head of Pruitt’s security detail, a major figure and witness in federal probes of Pruitt’s spending and ethics.
Pruitt, in testimony before two House committees last week, downplayed his role in various spending, hiring, and security decisions at the agency, mostly blaming career and political staff who work under him. Pruitt’s deflecting of responsibility has damaged morale among staff at EPA, sources say, and more departures of political staff are expected.
