To:
Jackson, Ryan[jackson.ryan@epa.gov]
From: The Washington Post
Sent: Mon 9/11/2017 4:00:44 PM
Subject: Federal Insider: Feds' charitable giving reflects worry; reciting oath on video reflects pride and
Trump counterpoint
Feds' charitable giving reflects worry; reciting oath on video
reflects pride and Trump counterpoint
By Joe Davidson
Greg Guthrie and other federal employees are uploading videos of themselves reciting their oath of office to the Uphold the Oath project, which is described as a "digital grassroots project that celebrates America's federal civil servants and encourages them to publicly reaffirm their commitment to the ideals listed in the oath of office." (Courtesy of Greg Guthrie)
7, [name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. "
Oath for Federal Employees
Federal workers have ways of makir privately, sometimes for all to see.
ir feelings known, sometimes
Their charitable contributions provide insight into their anxieties. The oath of office some are now choosing to publid/ r peat on videos demonstrates their fealty to the Constitution, not politicians, including the top one who considers them swamp dwellers. Repeating the oath is a simple act and a powerful counterpoint to PresidRomp narcissistic notion of loyalty.
Let's start with a new report that shows some notable changes
deral
employee giving, revealing their worries mrng a politically divisive 2016.
While their allegiance to the Constitution means federal employees serve taxpayers without partisan bias, what they do with their own money points to their apprehensions about the direction of the country that became more evident as Trump's candidacy grew.
Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906
ED_001523_00000877-00001
An analysis of contributions to the Combined Federal Campaign (CFG), an umbrella charitable effort for federal employees, demonstrates "federal donors clearly reacted to the election of Trump in 2016, providing several charities with a sizable Anti-Trump bounce in their pledge results," Marshall Strauss, chief executive of the Workplace Giving Alliance, said in an email Friday to his board of directors rW /Glance ic oalition oz ,, , organizations and reports on federal employee giving.
"For example," Strauss continued, "the American Civil Liberties Umon [Foundation] was up almost 400 percent in comparison with its 2015 CFC results, the Southerri Poverty Law Center (SPLC) saw its pledge- r < m 4 >er jump by 345 percent, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) saw its pledge total jump 180 percent."
ts to " Bnshrine,,a Business Right to Discriminate Into s u p poTtwraueftmruiliirpTesTOE-ni^^ rbed Trump and his minions.
d,.Cohen
wrote
about "the Comey
maliqnantbiqotry at.the,. saicrwas Trump s directive
NRDC tracks "Trumps attacks on the environment." CumeyTTrarn give ittona was later he k
Sierra Club, and the National Park Foundation, also
WT7le<f
nef strategistStepnen Kz Bannon,published a
in pledges in 2016," it said, "presumably
Scting a perception that these topics would lack supportfrom the new environment, mpiy affirming frie oath could be preteef as an act of defiance against a Trump presidency that has
-- even
ProJect Participants don't see it that way.
that he is the target of this effort.
n. A video employees
Swearing to "well and faithfully discharge the duties", is a weighty moment of
federal employees in a deep state conspiracy against the president, Fan
Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906
ED_001523_00000877-00002
'devotion to mission, sense of service to Trie American people and the Constitution is fused with passion.
Confirming that is a new effort to "Uphold the Oath," described as a "digital grassroots project that celebrates America's federal civil servants and encourages them to publicly reaffirm their commitment to the ideals listed in the oath of office."
Bassin, executiv * actor of Project Democracy, the effort's organizer, said "this felt like a time when it was important for public workers to know they are not alone."
He quickly added, however, that this is not the only time, recalling President Ronald Reagan's comment during a 1986 news conference: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and Tm here to help."
That's insulting to people like Greg Guthrie, a Commerce Department staffer who has been a federal employee for 25 years.
Tl - 1 ^strict resident dvff' an his video as a message to Trump, bw r Ns fellow employees, whom he encouraged "to stand up and be proud of who you are." Recording the video, he said, "made me feel sort of empowered, really, as a federal employee .... especially nowadays you kind of feel almost beaten down, with a lot of the negative rhetoric."
Former fed Terry Babcock-Lumish, who committed to a career of public service as a junior at Carnegie Mellon University and has worked for local,
Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906
ED_001523_00000877-00003
state and federal governm-nm, cad ohF wrz video because she wanted "to convey pride in being a federal civil servant." She is "very troubled by the idea that civil servants are being questioned or doubted when they are working across administrations."
Her message: "I'm really proud of having served in the federal government as a federal civil servant."
Read more:
[Chocolate chips for charity chucked from federal workplace]
fComey: White House lied about me, FBI]
Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906
ED_001523_00000877-00004
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Sierra Club v. EPA, 1:17-cv-01906
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