Re: the room rental. I have heard scattered news reports on this in addition to this thread. It amazes me that no one seems to be doing the obvious reality check. Go to Airbnb. Search on Capitol Hill in DC. See what you find. Look at some data before forming an opinion.
The $50 a night that Pruitt was paying for a room is easily in the range of Airbnb rentals on the Hill. (As a longtime Hill resident who has never participated in Airbnb, I was amazed at how cheap they are.) The amenities in rentals offered vary widely. Some homeowners offer a full suite (on the Hill, typically an English basement apartment). Others offer single rooms. You can find everything imaginable across the spectrum. Pruitt apparently had a very traditional B&B arrangement: a bedroom for the night with guest privileges in common areas of the house. I suppose he had some limited kitchen privileges and a shared bathroom. This is NOT the same thing as the rental of a conventional apartment. In this kind of traditional B&B arrangement, one is essentially a guest in someone else's house: a paying guest, yes, but in terms of everyday living, a guest nonetheless.
I have no problem with an incoming political appointee, or a congressman, utilizing this kind of arrangement in the living out of a suitcase phase of getting settled in DC and finding permanent lodgings. The news reports and critics who compare Pruitt's cost to the cost of a conventional arrangement are comparing apples and oranges.
In an apartment, you have a key to the door. You can fill the place with your own stuff. You have your own kitchen and bath. Etc., etc., etc. Pruitt didn't have any of this. He was renting a spare room for the night and had guest privileges in common areas.
Course the same media has no problem with the Clintons making millions in exchange for favors.