Raymond Donavan

In 1980, Raymond Donavan was confirmed as the secretary of labor. Al Zuck, a career civil servant of 23 years, was acting secretary prior to Donovan’s confirmation, after which he returned to his post of assistant secretary for administration and management. As one of his first acts in office, Secretary Donavan requested that Zuck award a sole-source contract for $500,000 to the person who successfully ran the media campaign for the 1980 Reagan/Bush election campaign. That person was starting his own consulting firm and had asked Donavan if he could do a study of the Labor Department’s public relations and information activities. Donavan said yes and ordered Zuck to award the sole source contract.

Zuck refused to issue the contract for several reasons. First, it would be politically embarrassing to the secretary when it became public knowledge that one of his first acts was to award a large contract to a former political colleague. Second, none of the reasons justifying a sole-source contract, such as urgency or national security existed. Third, it didn’t pass what Zuck called "the smell test." Even though there most likely would be some lawyer somewhere who would sign off on such a contract, there was, a minimum, the appearance of impropriety. It was an issue of ethics, public policy, and public perception, in Zuck’s eyes.

For several weeks Zuck was pressured directly and indirectly to issue the contract. At one point Donavan said to Zuck, "You know you are the stereotype of a career bureaucrat." Despite the fact that Donavan never understood the ethical principle that Zuck was articulating, Zuck stood firm.

Questions:

1. How could have Zuck acted differently in this case as either a guerilla of the government or whistleblower?

2. What steps would he have taken to do so?

3. Instead of acting as a guerilla or whistleblower why, in your opinion, do you believe that Zuck chose to "speak truth to power?

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