Though the Office of Special Counsel may have cleared Sec. Zinke of any technical violation, The Office of Special Counsel's still rather obvious why he gave the speech to the hockey team, the truth is, Sec. Zinke charged taxpayers more than $ 12,000 for a charter flight so that he could give a speech to the employees of one of his top campaign donors. Sec. Zinke clearly gave the speech with his political future in mind despite his excuses.