Don Benton, a former state lawmaker from Vancouver who reportedly frustrated officials in his current role as the Environmental Protection Agency’s senior White House adviser, is being tapped to oversee the U.S. Selective Service System, according to a press release from the White House.
The selective service has about 125 full-time equivalent employees, according to the agency’s website. If confirmed, Benton would be responsible for mobilizing and expanding the agency to ensure the military meets manpower requirements by conducting a draft, should Congress and the president authorize one.
Benton apparently clashed with officials at the EPA.
Last month, the Washington Post reported Benton “piped up so frequently during policy discussions that he had been disinvited from many of them.” More recently, Politico reported, “Benton has repeatedly butted heads with Ryan Jackson, (EPA Director Scott) Pruitt’s chief of staff. Multiple sources speculated that Benton might soon leave the agency.”
History of conflicts
Benton, who ran Trump’s state campaign, has a long history of local conflicts. As the chairman of the state party more than a decade ago, he lasted less than a year before being voted out by the party. While serving in the state Senate, he told a colleague she was acting as a “trashy trampy-mouthed little girl.”
