GAP's in your defense - Government Accountability Project

Washington Monthly, Feb, 1990 by Alexander Kippen

Negative public reaction in the weeks following the Today spot led USDA to postpone indefinitely its plans for implementing the SIS in more than 50 of the nation's largest slaughterhouses, while the National Academy of Sciences announced that it would conduct a study. Cockerham believes his high profile has protected him from retaliation at Monfort. "I think they think I'm too big to mess with now," he chortles.

A point that became very clear to Louis Clark soon after arriving at GAP in 1978 was that the "public is motivated by stories of people getting screwed. If we could show examples of how whistleblowers are often crushed by dishonest bosses, we thought it would affect the public's attitude."

In the same way that Ronald Reagan often used to (and George Bush still does) go over the heads of Congress and appeal straight to Americans in their livingrooms, GAP counts on public opinion as the quickest path to justice. It's reassuring to know that Lee Atwater isn't the only one using the Great American Publicity Machine.

As GAP'S Tom Devine often says, "In a free society, truth is the most

powerful political weapon." In a country where communication is instant, while litigation is endless, public opinion has become the most effective courtroom.