All Things Whistleblower: A GAP Blog

The FISA bill & Telecom Immunity – Contact Your Senator

GAP is opposed to the new FISA bill, which would provide retroactive immunity to telecoms that allowed the Bush administration to illegally spy on their customer’s calls and e-mail. GAP client Babak Pasdar was instrumental to defeating such a provision that last time it was up for debate. Unfortunately, amnesty for phone companies has gained new traction in the FISA bill, which is scheduled to be voted on Tuesday. A nifty new tool enables you to directly contact Senators to tell them to vote for the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy amendment (S.A. 5064 to H.R. 6304).

Click on the following link or paste it into your browser: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/02/blue-america-launches-whip-count-call-tool-on-fisa/

The nifty aspect of this tool is that it will help you phone your Senators AND also provides the ability to track positions on FISA given your input.

-- Jesselyn Radack

The CPSC Bill(s)

Yesterday, the Senate passed high-profile legislation to reform and strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Included in this legislation, which GAP strongly advocates, are whistleblower protections for workers who report safety concerns regarding products in commerce.

The bill now heads to a joint House-Senate committee for reconciliation – last year the House passed a version without these strong whistleblower protections, which are also opposed by the White House. From the Chicago Tribune:

As the lawmakers negotiate a compromise, the areas where lobbying will be most intense include proposals to protect whistle-blowers who expose dangerous products at their companies and a provision to give state attorneys general greater power to enforce safety laws.

GAP and coalition partners will be involved in spreading the word about how necessary these worker protections are for ensuring family and child safety. Americans deserve to know that toys they buy for their children are safe. Without these protections, whistleblowers who wish to report serious safety concerns about products will be heavily deterred from doing so.   

Almost lost in the coverage of this bill, however, was another passing of Senate legislation from Wednesday night. That’s when the Senate approved a measure to ban industry-paid vacations and travel for all employees of the CPSC.

Seems like that should have already been a law, right? Well, it actually took a scandal to serve as an impetus for the bill. This law is a direct result of investigatory articles from late last year detailing that Nancy A. Nord, CPSC Chairwoman, took “dozens of trips” on the dime of several industry lobbyists that she is in charge of regulating, including those from “toy, appliance and children’s furniture.”

Days before that story broke, Nord came out publicly opposing the CSPS strengthening legislation, including the whistleblower provisions, and people were a little confused as to why. But then the story hit, and things were made a little clearer.

Altogether, it appears that Nord received almost $60,000 worth of travel and expenses for her trips, which included “China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.”

Overall, a couple of very good bills. Now on to the next steps.

-- Dylan Blaylock

CPSC Showdown Next Week

In a masthead editorial today, the Washington Post comes down on the correct side of an important and pressing issue GAP has been involved with – legislation to strengthen the role and power of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The bill allows that department, which is charged with regulating the safety of consumer products, to increase funding, introduce new and better safeguards, and make it easier and quicker for consumers to find out about potentially unsafe products.

But one crucial part of the bill is the enhanced anti-retaliation protections it would provide to workers who expose product safety concerns. The bill protects whistleblowers who work for retailers, manufacturers or distributors of a product in commerce. From the editorial:

The commission and manufacturers have also complained about new authority the legislation would give to state attorneys general to monitor and address safety hazards, as well as new protections that would be afforded whistleblowers in manufacturing. Like the consumer complaints database, however, these changes would promote transparency, oversight and general good behavior.

Two days ago, GAP signed onto a letter with 45 other good government and consumer protection organizations in support of the bill. And yesterday, GAP and Public Citizen disclosed Senate Republican Caucus “talking points” attacking the bill, with objections to whistleblower protections being the first item in the Republican Caucus broadside. The talking points were compiled by the office of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and constitute a wholesale attack on this legislation that protects America’s families from unsafe products. The talking points appeared to mirror objections from the National Association of Manufacturers.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Bad Decision for Government Accountability

Yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case brought forth by the ACLU against the Bush administration for its controversial warrantless wiretapping program, a scandal partially exposed by an AT&T whistleblower.

This big blow to government accountability, and the checks-and-balances system as a whole, is made worse by the rational SCOTUS used to make its decision. From the Los Angeles Times:

…Bush's lawyers successfully invoked two legal doctrines making it difficult to challenge the government's anti-terrorism policies.

First, they said, challengers must show that they had their phone calls or e-mails intercepted. Otherwise, they have no "standing" to sue because they have no injury to complain of. Second, the government said, the entire program was secret, and under the "state secrets privilege," plaintiffs cannot obtain information on whether they were targeted for surveillance. When combined, the two doctrines make it almost impossible for most challengers to win a hearing in court.

So, if American citizens want to challenge secret (and illegal) actions, SCOTUS believes we can’t, unless we know enough about who the actions specifically affected. Which remains a government secret, despite obvious illegality. And citizens already have evidence the wrongdoing happened on a grand scale.

Bad decision for government accountability.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Questionable FOIA Oversight Move

This GovExec article explains how the White House is being attacked for shifting a Freedom of Information Act oversight office from the National Archives to the Department of Justice. The creation of this office was signed into law by President Bush in December in order to increase and improve government transparency, but critics of the shifting of a key ombudsman position say this is a shady maneuver designed to undermine the intent of the law.

-- Dylan Blaylock

GAP Op-ed: Real Federal Whistleblower Protections

An op-ed in the Roanoke Times by GAP’s legislative team (Tom Devine & Adam Miles) focuses on how close Congress is to strengthening the Whistleblower Protection Act – which would provide long-needed and necessary anti-retaliation protection to federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse.

Versions of this piece have appeared in several media outlets throughout the country, including the Amarillo Globe-News, Philly Burbs, Northwest Arkansas Times, and Scranton Times-Tribune.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Worse Than Nord?

The Bush administration is looking into replacing Nancy Nord, Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) who was found in November to have received numerous free trips paid by industry officials she was in charge of regulating (these include the appliance, furniture and toy industries, among others). You may recall that Nord also, days before the news about her free trips broke, surprisingly came out against a bill that would have provided whistleblower protections to consumer product workers who are positions to alert the public about violations of safety standards. Additionally, that bill would have extended the CPSC’s authority, budget and staff.

While you would think that a replacement would automatically be good news, the leading candidate (as chosen by the White House) is a scientist who, according to the Washington Post,

“…has frequently testified and written on behalf of the energy, pesticide and tobacco industries.”

This possible selection is already raising criticisms and alarm. According to the same article, a former Clinton EPA official has stated

“She’s not thought of as a consumer advocate per se but as someone hired by industry to represent their point of view.”

We’ll keep watching.

-- Dylan Blaylock

A Solid Bill

Yesterday, Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD) introduced a solid whistleblower protection bill. The Congressional Disclosures Act of 2007 would give federal workers and contractors access to court when they are prosecuted or otherwise harassed for blowing the whistle to Congress.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Federal Whistleblower Email Tracked by Managers

A new government report shows that managers at the Small Business Administration tracked the emails of an employee whistleblower who reported wrongdoing within the department to Congress.

Sadly, the story of unfair retaliation toward federal employee whistleblowers is far too common. That is precisely why GAP has been working with Congress to pass new, thorough federal employee whistleblower protection rights, as the current protections have been gutted by judicial activism. This effort by GAP, which has been an eight-year struggle to enhance the flawed Whistleblower Protection Act, may reach fruition in the coming weeks.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Nord's Claim

Nancy A. Nord, Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), made news earlier this week at a press conference, criticizing the media for its coverage of her little brouhaha last year. According to the Washington Post, Nord stated, “Last year was marked by intense media scrutiny of the agency and of toy recalls in particular…the coverage reached near-hysteria level.” She continued, saying that the CPSC “found itself at the center of partisan politics this last year.”

I guess that clears that up. All of this was just a partisan battle.

Just for fun, let’s recap: Last year Nord, whose agency is charged with protecting consumers from dangerous products, surprisingly came out against a bill that would have provided whistleblower protections to consumer product workers who are positions to alert the public about violations of safety standards. Not to mention the same bill extends CPSC’s authority, budget and staff.

Days later, the Washington Post broke a story about how Nord took “dozens of trips” on the dime of several industry lobbyists that she is in charge of regulating, including those from “toy, appliance and children’s furniture.”

All in all, Nord received almost $60,000 worth of travel and expenses for her trips, which included “China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.”

Amid numerous calls for Nord’ resignation, several Democratic senators then introduced a bill to put an end to any industry-paid travel for federal regulators.

Yep, this one can simply be chalked up to partisan politics, all right.

-- Dylan Blaylock