For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337

CRONY HIRING BY SPECIAL COUNSEL TARGET OF LAWSUIT
Former Boarding School Headmaster Retained as Consultant
LINK

Washington, DC - The agency that is supposed to police compliance with federal civil service rules is itself circumventing civil service rules by using no-bid consultants and hiring on a non-competitive basis, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is withholding records about its own personnel practices, including a contract with a former Catholic boarding school headmaster to serve as a special consultant, according to a lawsuit filed today by PEER under the Freedom of Information Act.

The current Special Counsel, Scott Bloch, is a religious conservative who had served as deputy director in the Justice Department's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. Since becoming Special Counsel in January, Bloch has brought in a series of special consultants and non-competitive hires, including recent graduates of the ultra-conservative Ave Maria law school. A number of these new non-competitive hires have been assigned to career positions, working for career managers who had no input into their selection; in fact, the managers did not meet the new hires until the day they started work

"Scott Bloch's personnel practices are taken straight from The DaVinci Code rather than the civil service manual," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, pointing to what OSC staff members call Bloch's own "palace guard." "The mission of the Special Counsel is to protect the merit system, not subvert it."

PEER is seeking copies of contracts and work products for –

Alan Hicks, a former headmaster of St. Gregory's Academy, a Catholic boarding school, who left in the wake of allegations concerning priests sexually preying on young students. Bloch has retained Hicks as a special consultant; and
No-bid management consultant contracts let by Bloch.
Although OSC is struggling under large and growing backlogs of whistleblower disclosures and complaints, Bloch has increased the number of confidential assistants that report directly to him. By PEER's estimates, approximately 10 percent of the OSC staff positions are now personal picks by Bloch. Recently, the long-time Director of OSC's own Department of Human Resources, and her primary assistant, recently resigned their positions, and left the agency, giving only a few days notice.

Ironically, one of OSC's duties is to oversee administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Yet, when PEER requested its contract files, OSC sent a form letter stating that "due to the departure" of its FOIA officer "and a queue of pending requests" that there would be some delay in response. Three months later in September, PEER appealed OSC's continued non-response and received another, virtually identical form letter. PEER's suit under FOIA seeks the contract records it originally sought in June.

"The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act is to increase the transparency of government but Mr. Bloch appears dedicated to keep his agency's operations opaque," Ruch added, noting that Bloch has yet to release any documents about what he has done since he took office in January. "How can OSC monitor the Freedom of Information Act when it does not even answer its own mail?"

See PEER's lawsuit against the Office of Special Counsel

Read about the backlogs plaguing the OSC whistleblower program:

15-YEAR OLD WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT IS A "FAILURE"
Anniversary Sees Few Protected, Paralyzing Backlogs & Fear of Retaliation

Washington, DC - On the eve of its 15th anniversary, the federal Whistleblower Protection Act is in shambles, cut apart by limiting court decisions, plagued by long delays with fewer civil servants winning cases than ever before, according to figures released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

On October 10, 1989, President George H.W. Bush signed the Whistleblower Protection Act into law after unanimously passage by both houses of Congress. Congress had passed the same bill in 1988 but President Reagan pocket vetoed the legislation at the end of his last term.

Today, despite a spate of high profile exposés by federal civil servants, the Whistleblower Protection Act has become largely irrelevant:

Whistleblowers Rarely Win: In the last decade, whistleblowers' have won only one of 85 decisions on the merits before the Federal Circuit. Since 1999, the Merit Systems Protection Board has ruled against whistleblowers in 25 out of 27 decisions on the merits;
The Office of Special Counsel Does Not Fight For Whistleblowers: OSC, the agency that is supposed to act as the civil service "cop on the beat" has not sued on behalf of a single whistleblower in recent years. Typically, OSC will dismiss a complaint even when it finds for the whistleblower but the agency does not agree voluntarily to take corrective action; and
Long Delays for No Results: Nearly a third of OSC's retaliation cases have been pending for more than 2 years without a result (167 of 598 cases pending in October 2002). This week the General Accounting Office issued a report faulting persistent backlogs at OSC and the absence of a strategy for reducing them.
"By just about every measure, the Whistleblower Protection Act has been a failure," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch whose organization represents federal employees who raise public health and environmental and concerns. "The few whistleblowers who 'win' their cases do so in spite of and not because of the law."

The Bush Administration has appointed a new Special Counsel, Scott Bloch, who had been at the Justice Department's Office of Faith Based Initiatives. Bloch has vowed to end the backlogs but early indications are that OSC is reducing the backlog by simply dismissing complaints and whistleblower disclosures.

"The performance of the Office of Special Counsel has been far less than special," commented Ruch, noting that Bloch has yet to take a position on pending legislation [S 1358 (Akaka) and HR. 3281 (Platts)] to strengthen the Whistleblower Protection Act. "The last survey of federal employees showed that less than 8% of employees seeking help from OSC were even partially satisfied with the results -a customer satisfaction rate that would put any business into bankruptcy.

Read the GAO Report: "U.S. Office of Special Counsel-Strategy for Reducing Persistent Backlog of Cases Should Be provided to Congress" (Issued April 7, 2004)

See how whistleblower disclosures of waste, fraud and abuse are piling up at OSC

View the latest OSC Report to Congress


Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local, state and federal resource professionals, working to protect the environment.




For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337

WHISTLEBLOWER CASES RISE IN BUSH YEARS
More Problems Reported Yet Fewer Investigated; Backlogs Mount

Washington, DC - More federal employees are reporting waste fraud and abuse under President Bush's tenure but fewer of these reports are being investigated, according to figures compiled by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is charged with reviewing reports by federal employees of official misconduct and then overseeing investigation of credible charges. According to its latest figures –

· The number of whistleblower reports has nearly doubled since the 2001 fiscal year, going from 380 cases to a reported 535 cases in FY 2003;

· Barely one percent of these cases (11 of 1091) was referred to agency heads for investigation; and

· The backlog of pending whistleblower reports has more than doubled, to 690 from the backlog of 287 cases in FY 2001. By law, OSC is supposed to make a determination as to whether a report merits investigation within 15 days but this deadline is almost never met, with many matters left hanging for months or years.

"Time and again, whistleblowers have proven critical to protecting the public but their courage is wasted if their warnings just gather dust in a file drawer," PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "The only thing special about the Office of Special Counsel is its lack of speed."

For the first time, OSC stopped reporting statistics specifically relating to reported reprisals against whistleblowers but from the information OSC recently made public, it appears that –

· Despite more than 2,300 pending complaints, OSC has not represented a single whistleblower in an enforcement action to remedy retaliation;

· More than 83 percent of surveyed federal workers with personnel complaints said they were dissatisfied with results obtained by OSC while Less than 7 percent expressed satisfaction; and

· After a decline, backlogs of pending personnel complaints are beginning to rise, even though OSC is investigating fewer cases than ever before: only 6 percent (162 of 2,385 pending matters) were accepted for investigation in FY 2003.

"This year, Congress failed to pass even modest reforms to the Whistleblower Protection Act due in large part to the opposition of the Bush Administration," Ruch commented. "As it stands now, the protections for federal whistleblowers are a beacon of false hope for thousands."

Look at the FY 2003 Report to Congress by OSC
See how the agency charged with whistleblower protection is paralyzed

Read about stalled legislation to strengthen the Whistleblower Protection Act:

September 29, 2004 Contact: Robert Reilly
Deputy Chief of Staff
Office: (717) 600-1919
For Immediate Release

Platts Legislation to Strengthen Whistleblower Protection for Federal Employees Passes House Government Reform Committee
Bill would help eliminate waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government.

Washington, D.C. – "The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (H.R. 3281)," a bipartisan bill which seeks to restore protections for federal employees who report illegalities, gross mismanagement and waste, and dangers to the public health and safety, unanimously passed the House Government Reform Committee today. H.R. 3281 was introduced last year by Congressman Todd Platts (PA-19). This legislation is the House companion to a bill already introduced in the United States Senate (S. 2628) by Senators Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Charles Grassley (R-IA), which was approved unanimously by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs on July 21, 2004.

"Being a whistleblower takes courage," Congressman Platts says. "Reporting waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government should not result in harassment, a damaged career, or the loss of income or employment altogether. It is important for potential whistleblowers to feel that, if they come forward, they are truly protected by federal law."

The bill would amend the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) in response to a series of decisions by the Federal Circuit Court, which have weakened the WPA. The Federal Circuit Court has sole authority to review cases under the WPA. The Federal Circuit has stated in various cases that:

1. An employee is not protected by the WPA if he or she directs criticism to the wrong-doer instead of to a higher authority.

2. An employee is not protected by the WPA if the information disclosed was done so in the course of his or her duties.

3. An employee is not protected by the WPA if the information disclosed is already known.

"The Whistleblower Enhancement Act" would make it clear that any disclosure of information is protected "without restriction to time, place, form, motive, context, or prior disclosure made to any person by an employee or applicant, including a disclosure made in the ordinary course of an employee's duties."

"I look forward to working with Senators Akaka and Grassley, and my colleagues in the House on this important issue," says Congressman Platts. "I would also like to thank those courageous citizens who have exposed waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government by becoming whistleblowers."

Congressman Platts is hopeful that passage out of Committee today will foster an agreement with the Senate and enhance protections for federal whistleblowers before the end of the 108th Congress.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local, state and federal resource professionals, working to protect the environment.