And while much of the rest of Oklahoma's state government was growing smaller, Pruitt, an advocate of small government, added 58 staff members to his own agency, according to the
Associated Press.
By December 2016, the state attorney general's office had 207 employees, up from 149 in 2011, when he assumed the position. Spending on personnel shot up from about $14 million to $19 million between 2008 and 2015, according to the audits.
Pruitt also upgraded the office's vehicles. In 2017, when he left to join the Environmental Protection Agency, his state agency had 303 cars and trucks, up from 277 when Edmondson left office in 2011, according to numbers provided by Oklahoma's Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
Pruitt also rode in a fancier car than his predecessor, according to Gary Jones, the state auditor. "He went and got himself a big, black SUV just like the governor's," said Jones, who noted that Edmondson had made do with a Ford Crown Victoria.
