Deutsch, Tina M
Walden University
The ethical issues that were identified in the case study of Guerrilla Government in EPA’s Seattle Regional Office were cumbersome. The first of many to create unethical situations was the administrator of EPA’s Seattle regional office in 1981, John Spencer. His staff remembers his tenure for all the unethical actions he took such as using tax payer’s money to buy a membership for the EPA in the Chamber of Commerce (O’Leary, 2014 p. 48). His actions continued even after numerous attempts to advise him that his actions were against federal guidelines and caused serious conflict of interest questions. He also allegedly took several personal trips to Alaska to handle affairs related to his previous job on public expense. In addition, he requested as personal driver to take him to and from and requested modifications to the EPA office building without getting prior approval from the General Services Administration thus violating federal law (O’Leary, 2014 p. 48-54).
There was also unethical conduct displayed by Ernesta Barnes ‘successor, Robie Russell. In March of 1987, Russell made his unethical behavior known when the local media announced that a veteran engineer had quit his job due to being angry that he was being transferred involuntarily to another job. At that point, Russell began making decisions that had once been a group effort behind closed doors. Workers who were once performing analysis, were cut out of the decision making process. He was even believed to have removed important comments in reports before they were released to the public. He was also known to back out of his support for the development of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and then recall that support later in a testimony to the U.S House of Representatives who were considering the proposal. He stated that “The EPA does not oppose the environmentally acceptable development of the Arctic National Wildlife
References: O’Leary, R. (2014).The ethics of dissent: Managing guerrilla government (2nd Ed.). Washington, DC: CQ Press Cooper, T. L. (2012). The responsible administrator: An approach to ethics for the administrative role (6th ed.). New York, NY: Jossey-Bass. United States. Office of Government Ethics. n.d Preventing Conflicts of Interest in the Executive Branch, Retrieved from the U.S Office Government website: http://www.oge.gov/Topics/Selected-Employee-Categories/Political-Appointees/