For this case memo assignment, you may write in response to either of the two hypotheticals below.
“Interview with Al Zuck”
Having known and worked with Al Zuck for most of your career, you are deeply concerned about the pressure Ray Donovan, the newly-appointed Secretary of Labor, is putting on Al to ram through a sole source contract as patronage. Even more shocking was Donovan’s staff requesting a memo outlining your team’s objections to the contract! Al is scheduled to be on the Hill today, so he has asked you to take a crack at a first draft. In the memo, you should detail any and all points that can be used to dissuade Donovan from pursuing the contract. Such points might include elements of accountability, attributes of an “effective” public sector organization, and balancing political and administrative concerns. Think carefully about how you will convince Donovan that the costs of short-term political expediency will outweigh the benefits.
“The USAID Rwanda Mission”
In approximately three months, Director Lewis has a meeting scheduled with the Effective Foreign Assistance Caucus, a bipartisan caucus of legislators with considerable leverage over United States foreign assistance. He has asked you and your team to help him develop a “story” that will convince the Caucus to push for more development assistance for the mission. In your memo, think carefully about the following:
- What are the key points you will push in this story?
- What stakeholders will you have to secure buy-in from to back up your story?
- How will you demonstrate the political benefits/costs, as well as the administrative benefits/costs, of more development assistance, to the Caucus?
Memos should be in MS-Word format, no longer an two type-written pages, single-spaced, Times New Roman (12 point) font. Memo grades will be based on how effectively students integrate course concepts into their memos, and on the quality of their analysis/writing. Please consult the rubric attached to this assignment for an overview of grading criteria. Before starting your memo, I strongly encourage you to review the reading and mini-lecture on writing policy memos in Module 2. Here are links to some examples you can reference to structure your memo:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/memo-to-the-president-reform-health-care/
https://stanleycenter.org/publications/policy_memo/CNAS-TSFJointBudgetMemo.pdf