hunters pt

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-06/dismissed-epa-official-suggests-bipartisanship-killed-his-job

 Michael Stoker, appointed as the EPA's Region 9 administrator in May 2018

no lnx

Ousted EPA official in California says he was pushed out for being too bipartisan

Mike Stoker, regional administrator of the US EPA , was pushed out of his job Wednesday. He speculates it was because he worked across the aisle with Democrats.

BY SUSANNE RUSTSTAFF WRITER

FEB. 6, 2020

Abruptly dismissed from office Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency’s top official for California and the Pacific Southwest speculated he was terminated because of his congenial relationship with Democratic politicians.

In a statement released Thursday, and provided to The Times, former Trump administration appointee Mike Stoker said, “last time I checked, the EPA’s mission to protect the public health and environment is not a partisan issue … at least it never has been for me.”

Stoker was appointed head of Region 9, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, the Pacific Island Territories and 148 American Indian tribes, in May 2018.

On Wednesday at 8 a.m., he received a phone call at home from EPA Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson and Associate Deputy Administrator Doug Benevento informing him of his immediate termination.

When he asked for a justification, “there was a long pause” and he was told it wasn’t personal, Stoker said. Within minutes, his phone and laptop were disabled.

A spokesman for the EPA would not comment on the reasons for Stoker’s dismissal.

Stoker said three weeks ago he was warned by a senior EPA official that “it wasn’t going unnoticed how many Democrat members in Congress were commending me for the job I was doing.”

Stoker noted that several Democratic politicians had praised his work, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). He pointed to his work on the cleanup of Hunters Point in San Francisco, addressing transboundary sewage in the San Diego-Tijuana corridor, and his focus on transuranium waste in Arizona and coral reefs in Hawaii....