You are an administrator in a state agency charged with environmental protection. The newly elected governor is a Republican who believes that "climate change" is a hoax and who ran on a platform that emphasized economic development. In her recent "State of the State" address she signaled that projections for state government revenues in the coming year do not look good.

As an administrator in the state agency you realize that the agency's employees have not received increased salaries in five years. You are aware of multiple serious hazardous waste sites that need to be addressed and that are not likely to be addressed by the national Environmental Protection Agency any time soon. You feel anxious both about declining morale among employees in the agency and about the possible consequences of failing to address the multiple serious hazardous waste sites in the state. You feel the governor's upcoming budget proposal really should include dramatic increases for your agency employees and for the costs of addressing the hazardous waste issues. The Republican party controls both chambers of the state legislature by narrow margins and some Republican representatives and senators are moderate in their perspectives.

You need to work with other administrators in your agency to plan a strategy for how to approach the governor. Joy, a fellow administrator, advises to play it safe politically and not ask for substantial budget increases this time around. She says the signals are to "stay under the radar" and hope for a better situation (practically and politically) in four years. Clarence (another fellow agency administrator) advises that agency representatives should ask for substantial additional budget funds in the coming state budget , both for salary increases, and to address the hazardous waste sites. His attitude is, "if we are going to lose, we might as well put forth a good fight."

You ponder the situation. What is your position? At foundation, what are your values and to what degree are you willing to take risks? Is this a no-win situation as Clarence suggests it is? Is this a situation in which a "fight" may be worthwhile? What is your "calculus of decision?" Is the governor likely to be "brought across" either in terms of salary increases or in terms of the need to address the hazardous waste sites? 

Write a personal diary in which you make at least five entries, reflecting your thoughts about this situation. The final entry must be a "I have decided . . ." entry in which to write how where you stand in terms of how to approach the governor. Make reasonable assumptions about the personality of the governor, the locations of the hazardous waste sites, and other considerations. Your assumptions must be evident in your diary entries. Each diary entry must be at least a paragraph In length.