[env-trinity] Press Release: Whistleblowers Get No Help from Bush Administration

[Daniel Bacher]

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=615

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

News Releases

For Immediate Release: December 5, 2005
Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337

WHISTLEBLOWERS GET NO HELP FROM BUSH ADMINISTRATION — Record Numbers Are 
Blowing the Whistle but Fewer Cases Investigated

Washington, DC — The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the agency that is 
supposed to protect federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud 
and abuse, is dismissing hundreds of cases while advancing almost none, 
according an analysis of the latest agency figures released today by Public 
Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Despite record numbers of 
federal employees filing whistleblower disclosures and complaints of 
retaliation, there are fewer investigations and a much greater likelihood 
that those who blow the whistle will be silenced.

Scott Bloch, the Bush appointed Special Counsel has been in office for 
nearly two years, during which time positive results for whistleblowers have 
plummeted. Even though the first quarter of FY 2006 is almost over, last 
week Bloch finally posted his annual report for FY 2004 on the OSC website, 
without any public announcement and nearly a year late. The overdue report’s 
contents explain its tardiness:

*	Less than 1.5% of whistleblower disclosures of problems were even referred 
for investigation while more than 1,000 employee reports of waste, fraud and 
abuse were closed by Bloch’s staff on the grounds that they were not worthy 
of further review; and

*	Only eight whistleblower disclosures were substantiated (none were found 
to be unsubstantiated) during Bloch’s first year but, according to the OSC 
report, the most significant cases involved theft of a desk and attendance 
violations.

“With Scott Bloch at the helm, the Office of Special Counsel is acting as a 
Plumber’s Unit for the Bush administration, plugging leaks, blocking 
investigations and discrediting sources,” stated PEER Executive Director 
Jeff Ruch. “Under Bloch, political appointees, not civil servants, decide 
which cases go forward and which cases are round filed.”

Those whistleblowers who claimed to suffer retaliation for making reports 
fared even worse:

*	Favorable outcomes declined sharply (24%) under Bloch even though there 
were more cases;

*	The only favorable outcomes were in cases where the offending agency 
agreed to make changes. In no case did Bloch litigate directly on behalf of 
a whistleblower; and

*	More than nine out of ten surveyed employees were dissatisfied with the 
effectiveness of OSC, with more than three in four classifying themselves as 
“very dissatisfied.”

“If the Special Counsel were a private business it would have to close its 
doors,” Ruch added, noting that pending reform legislation allows 
whistleblowers greater freedom to directly advocate their cases. “Bloch’s 
abysmal performance raises serious questions about whether the Office of 
Special Counsel should be abolished altogether.”