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Agency mood
Q: When you came back to Washington, what was the mood at EPA, and did it surprise you?
MR. RUCKELSHAUS: I think it's fair to say the mood swung from despair to jubilation. The people felt their long nightmare was over, and it was a nightmare. What the Burford political appointees had done was terrible. I mean, it really was awful. If anything, the press underplayed its seriousness. The other scandals I've been associated with (not as a participant, I'm glad to say) tended to be overplayed by the journalists. In this case, if anything, I think it was underplayed. There were just awful goings-on.
Q: Could you give an example?
MR. RUCKELSHAUS: In one of the offices they had compiled a "hit list" of career appointees, drawn up in colored ink on charts. They were targeted for dismissal because of alleged disloyalty to the administration. And the whole staff was aware of such things! Of colored charts locked up every night so no one would find them! There were a lot of antics; it was almost juvenile. Very clear signals went out to the people of the agency which said, we don't trust you. We don't trust you to do what we want done. It generated enormous employee morale problems.
Such doings resulted in a justifiable lack of trust towards my political employees as well. It is not widely understood that while institutions like EPA exist to serve the public, they are also there to serve the political appointees. The agency staff is very adaptable, within limits. If you rely on them, tell them what you want, and send clear signals, they do everything they can to help you. But they sure won't do that if you tell them you don't trust them or you don't think they are capable. EPA is full of very capable people. They are not interested in walking away from their responsibilities and certainly are willing to take the leadership you offer and turn it into programs that work. To the extent they have any flexibility under the statutes--which they increasingly lack--they are very responsive to the political appointees.