All Things Whistleblower: A GAP Blog

Whistleblower Treatment Point of Contention in Georgia Senate Race

In the Senate race in Georgia, which is headed for a run-off early next month, one key issue that has emerged in the past week is that the incumbent, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, is fighting a subpoena that would make him answer questions related to his relationships with corporate executives from a company that owns a Sugar plant that exploded earlier this year. Chambliss scolded a whistleblower testifying before the Senate in July about a lack of safety precautions at the plant. From the AP:

Savannah attorney Mark Tate - who calls himself a "partisan Democrat" - has subpoenaed Chambliss to submit to questions Thursday about whether Imperial Sugar executives enlisted him to help the company avoid blame in the Feb. 7 explosion that killed 14 workers and injured dozens more.

Tate says he wants to know if Imperial Sugar executives persuaded Chambliss to sharply criticize a company whistleblower during a July Senate hearing on the explosion. He says he also wants the senator to respond to plaintiffs' claims that the company arranged a meeting between Chambliss and victims' families to dissuade them from suing.

-- Dylan Blaylock

In the News Today...

This Buffalo News op-ed written by GAP Homeland Security Director Jesselyn Radack criticizes FEMA’s handling of emergency responses to Hurricane Ike, and details how the federal government has taken questionable actions in limiting media coverage of the areas hit hardest by the storm. This includes the FAA’s issuing of an unprecedented "No Fly Zone" that kept all news helicopters from flying within one mile of some devastated areas.

GovExec details how a government agency within the defense department has rescinded a “controversial, and possibly illegal” gag order against a whistleblowing employee who exposed questionable fees from contractors.

From HealthDay, the GAO released a report on Friday which concludes that the FDA is not properly funded or staffed to protect Americans, especially regarding produce safety. The Las Vegas Sun wrote a masthead editorial about it.

-- Dylan Blaylock

DOJ Ignores Big Oil Wrongdoing

A new article analyzes how the Department of Justice has failed to assist various states in whistleblower cases specifically brought up against large oil corporations, risking millions of dollars in settlement dollars that could go to the American taxpayer.

Big kudos to McClatchy Newspapers for their investigative piece. As readers of this blog know, whistleblower suits filed with the federal government against companies that bilk taxpayers allow for a great percentage of funds to be recovered in settlement. But the oil company is apparently off limits to the DOJ…

McClatchy Newspapers found that the Justice Department has participated in only a handful of the 80 whistleblower cases brought against the oil industry since 1995.

Whistleblower suits are generally less successful without the Justice Department's intervention, and if a whistleblower prevails on his or her own, taxpayers get a smaller share of the damages.

The disclosures come in the wake of scathing reports from internal watchdogs this week over the Interior Department's mismanagement of oil leases and are likely to fan criticism that the Bush administration has ignored allegations that oil companies have cheated taxpayers out of tens of billions of dollars in fees for the rights to drill on federal lands.

Who would figure that this Justice Department would do what it could to protect Big Oil?

-- Dylan Blaylock

Fired for Allowing Greater Media Access

Former Arlington National Cemetery Public Affairs Director Gina Gray was recently fired after disclosing that cemetery officials were not allowing for greater media access at the funerals of soldiers, even after families had given their permission. She was fired six weeks after her revelations were made public.  From the Washington Post:

"Had I not put my foot down, had I just gone along with it and not said regulations were being violated, I'm sure I'd still be there," said the jobless Gray, who, over lunch yesterday in Crystal City, recounted what she is certain is her retaliatory dismissal. "It's about doing the right thing."

With the images of funerals being so powerful, and thought of to raise the conscious level of the casualties of war, it will be very interesting to see how this issue is handled by the next presidential  administration.

If Only All Local TV News Reports Were Like This...

Last month, GAP’s Whistleblower News service reported on the story of a whistleblower who exposed insufficient concrete used at tarmacs at the Las Vegas airport. The whistleblower, John Zedler, was fired for raising his concerns to his company, Western Technologies, which is owned by Bechtel, a major federal contractor that GAP has been very critical of in the past.

Well, thanks to YouTube, here is a really solid local television news report from last month about Zedler and his concerns.

 -- Dylan Blaylock

Whistleblower Week Events Kick Off Today

This week marks the second year of annual events and conferences aimed at raising awareness of whistleblower issues in Washington, D.C. GAP is sponsoring six forums and/or panels during this time period. These include the topics of:

-- Secret Domestic Surveillance
-- Are We Safe When We Fly?: Addressing Issues of Aviation Safety & Security
-- Scientific Freedom & the Public Good
-- Joint Congressional Forum: Congress at the Crossroads for Your Rights
-- Forum on the Office of Special Counsel
-- From Immunity to Impunity: Whistleblowers at International Organizations

For a complete agenda of panelists, time and location, check out this GAP press release.

-- Dylan Blaylock
 

One Whistleblower's Long Journey

This excellent Associated Press article details one whistleblower’s long legal battle with the bank he was fired from for refusing to approve financial statements. His firing, in 2002, continues its legal battle today.

The piece does an excellent job in illustrating: how long and tedious whistleblower legal battles can be; how loopholes in the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate whistleblower law were immediately sought-after by corporations and the Bush administration in 2002; and overall, why stronger protections, such as the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, are needed today.

-- Dylan Blaylock   

The Star-Tribune's New 'Whistleblower Blog'

Perhaps in name only, GAP’s blog will be getting a little competition, starting this week. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, one of the highest circulated newspapers in the country, is debuting a new blog titled “The Whistleblower.”

It’s quite different from GAP’s however. Our blog focuses on news related to our projects and general whistleblower news. The ‘Strib’ blog will highlight that newspaper’s public service work, which they deem as their ‘watchdog journalism’ stories.

Good for them. It would be wonderful if more and more large newspapers made watchdog journalism a priority.

This is also a good sign for whistleblowers in general. It wasn’t long ago that the overall connotation of the word whistleblower was negative, and stigma was attached to those who donned the label. With whistleblowers making more and more positive differences for society every year, and the public realizing the value of individuals who risk their professional livelihoods to fight societal injustice, these truth-tellers have become gradually accepted and lauded for their efforts. This new blog is simply another sign of that.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Getting Into Telecom Wiretapping Specifics

The television program Democracy Now! recently interviewed GAP client Babak Pasdar and GAP Legal Director Tom Devine. You can either listen or watch the interviews by clicking here. It’s a solid piece.

Pasdar’s disclosures are credited with persuading the House of Representatives to not grant immunity to telecommunications companies involved with the warrantless wiretapping and illegal domestic spying scandal.

-- Dylan Blaylock

Bush's Justice

A New York Times masthead editorial from today analyzes how and why the Justice Department (under the Bush administration) has decided not to prosecute over 50 large corporations on serious charges over the last three years, instead opting to enter into “deferred prosecution agreements.” This is where “companies are allowed to pay fines and hire monitors to watch over them.”

Part of this story was revealed back in January to be a shocking abuse of government power. According to the Washington Post back then, “federal prosecutors are steering no-bid contract to former government officials who earn millions of dollars by monitoring companies accused of cheating investors and other schemes.” In short, former Bush administration officials (John Ashcroft) are receiving million-dollar contracts, noncompetitively, to watch over these corporations.

The NY Times editorial sums it up best (with emphasis added):

Defenders say these deals save the government time and the expense of going to trial and avoid doing unnecessary harm to corporations and their employees. The cost to the public and the rule of law is too high.

If corporations believe that they can negotiate their way out of a prosecution, the deterrent effect of the criminal law will inevitably be weakened.

Yep, that’s exactly right.

-- Dylan Blaylock