Latest News and Efforts from the Government Accountability ProjectTIME magazine's "Year of the Whistleblower"
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25 Dec 2002 02:15:01 -0000
TIME magazine's "Year of the Whistleblower"
Martin Edwin Andersen
Even as TIME magazine heralds whistleblowers as "Persons of the Year," Congress has failed to enact credible laws enforcing existing Whistleblower Protection Act statute.
December 23, 2002<br>
<br>
For More Information: <br>
Tom Devine, Ext. 124<br>
Martin Edwin Andersen, Ext. 143<br>
<br>
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) today applauded Time magazine's selection of whistleblowers Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley, and Sherron Watkins as "Persons of the Year." But the whistleblower support organization challenged politicians to match their rhetorical support for whistleblowers with genuine, enforceable rights. <br>
<br>
"Appreciation is long overdue for those who are treated like they 'committed the truth' by challenging abuses of power that betray the public trust," said GAP legal director Tom Devine, author of The Whistleblower's Survival Guide: Courage Without Martyrdom. But, he added, "Ironically, in the Year of the Whistleblower, federal workers who stick their necks out defending the public do not have a fighting chance to defend themselves. That's a strong incentive to go along with bureaucratic breakdowns. Profiles in Courage are the exception, not the rule. Congress should act promptly to pass stalled legislation reviving a credible Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA)." <br>
<br>
GAP has led good government coalitions in campaigns for nearly all of the government and corporate whistleblower laws on the books. This year Congress responded to Ms. Cooper's and Watkins' courage by passing landmark protections for employees of publicly-traded corporations, giving them the right to jury trials to challenge harassment for disclosing concealed evidence of any misconduct that threatens stock values. <br>
<br>
Similar legislation for federal workers had bipartisan majorities, but was blocked by a hostile House subcommittee chair and partisan deadlock in the Homeland Security bill. Just after Congress adjourned, GAP and two other good government organizations published a new guide, The Art of Anonymous Activism. It is a sharp shift for organizations that traditionally have coached whistleblowers to give the system a chance. "We no longer can advise whistleblowers to work openly within the system, because in the absence of credible rights that's an act of professional suicide," commented Devine. <br>
<br>
So is relying on protection from current federal law. After being unanimously passed in 1989 and unanimously strengthened in 1994, the WPA was the strongest employee free speech law in history. But since then whistleblowers have a 1-74 record for decisions on the merits at a federal court with a monopoly on judicial review, and they have not won an administrative ruling for over three years. <br>
<br>
What happened? The major culprit has been obsessive, hostile judicial activism. The court created loopholes gutting the law until it is irrelevant at best. Even worse, it has become a vehicle to rubber stamp reprisals. The court decreed the law only shields those charging government misconduct with "irrefragable proof" (defined by the dictionary as "undeniable, uncontestable, incontrovertible or incapable of being overthrown") FBI employees like Ms. Rowley do not even receive an independent due process hearing. For a full analysis of the desolate state of government whistleblower rights and legislation blocked at the end of last session, see GAP's website at www.whistleblower.org. <br>
<br>
Devine commented, "On President Bush's first day in office he ordered all federal workers to report fraud, waste and abuse whenever they see it. But those who follow his orders cannot defend themselves. Last week the Department of Agriculture blamed a meat inspector who didn't pull punches on the job for this fall's listeria food poisoning tragedy, because he didn't blow the whistle on his boss sooner. Something's wrong with this picture. Would-be whistleblowers look the other way or stay silent observers, because they don't have the freedom to warn. They must proceed at their own risk." <br>
<br>
The risk extends to the public. "Whistleblowers are the early warning signal to prevent avoidable tragedies," noted Louis Clark, GAP executive director. "On the other hand, silence and secrecy enforced by repression threatens the public by sustaining unnecessary vulnerability to terrorism, contaminated food and other public health and safety threats."<br>
<br>
Professionals throughout the government echoed Ms. Rowley's unheeded warnings of security breakdowns prior to 9/11. But most were smashed by defensive bureaucrats who didn't want to hear it. When it failed to act, Congress ignored Ms. Rowley's message delivered to all 535 members: "We need laws that … are able to protect effective government operation without sacrificing accountability to the public. I was lucky enough to garner a good deal of support from my colleagues in the Minneapolis office and Members of Congress. But for everyone like me, there are many more who do not benefit from the relative safety of public notoriety. They need credible, functioning rights and remedies to retain the freedom to warn."<br>
<br>
Congress also ignored the pleas of 9/11 victim families, such as the following: "The whistleblowers are the public's major source of protection from bureaucratic indifference. We call on every Member to sponsor and visibly support legislation so Federal whistleblowers state having the same rights as all other Americans victimized by illegal abuses of power."<br>
<br>
Devine put the contrast in perspective. "The last election was supposed to be a referendum on homeland security. Those elected on that platform should make the first order of business to secure the cornerstone of homeland security: whistleblowers' freedom to warn." <br>
<br>
<br>
Read the article at <a href="http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2002/"target="new">http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2002/</a>
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TIME magazine's "Year of the Whistleblower"
Martin Edwin Andersen
Even as TIME magazine heralds whistleblowers as "Persons of the Year," Congress has failed to enact credible laws enforcing existing Whistleblower Protection Act statute.
December 23, 2002<br>
<br>
For More Information: <br>
Tom Devine, Ext. 124<br>
Martin Edwin Andersen, Ext. 143<br>
<br>
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) today applauded Time magazine's selection of whistleblowers Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley, and Sherron Watkins as "Persons of the Year." But the whistleblower support organization challenged politicians to match their rhetorical support for whistleblowers with genuine, enforceable rights. <br>
<br>
"Appreciation is long overdue for those who are treated like they 'committed the truth' by challenging abuses of power that betray the public trust," said GAP legal director Tom Devine, author of The Whistleblower's Survival Guide: Courage Without Martyrdom. But, he added, "Ironically, in the Year of the Whistleblower, federal workers who stick their necks out defending the public do not have a fighting chance to defend themselves. That's a strong incentive to go along with bureaucratic breakdowns. Profiles in Courage are the exception, not the rule. Congress should act promptly to pass stalled legislation reviving a credible Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA)." <br>
<br>
GAP has led good government coalitions in campaigns for nearly all of the government and corporate whistleblower laws on the books. This year Congress responded to Ms. Cooper's and Watkins' courage by passing landmark protections for employees of publicly-traded corporations, giving them the right to jury trials to challenge harassment for disclosing concealed evidence of any misconduct that threatens stock values. <br>
<br>
Similar legislation for federal workers had bipartisan majorities, but was blocked by a hostile House subcommittee chair and partisan deadlock in the Homeland Security bill. Just after Congress adjourned, GAP and two other good government organizations published a new guide, The Art of Anonymous Activism. It is a sharp shift for organizations that traditionally have coached whistleblowers to give the system a chance. "We no longer can advise whistleblowers to work openly within the system, because in the absence of credible rights that's an act of professional suicide," commented Devine. <br>
<br>
So is relying on protection from current federal law. After being unanimously passed in 1989 and unanimously strengthened in 1994, the WPA was the strongest employee free speech law in history. But since then whistleblowers have a 1-74 record for decisions on the merits at a federal court with a monopoly on judicial review, and they have not won an administrative ruling for over three years. <br>
<br>
What happened? The major culprit has been obsessive, hostile judicial activism. The court created loopholes gutting the law until it is irrelevant at best. Even worse, it has become a vehicle to rubber stamp reprisals. The court decreed the law only shields those charging government misconduct with "irrefragable proof" (defined by the dictionary as "undeniable, uncontestable, incontrovertible or incapable of being overthrown") FBI employees like Ms. Rowley do not even receive an independent due process hearing. For a full analysis of the desolate state of government whistleblower rights and legislation blocked at the end of last session, see GAP's website at www.whistleblower.org. <br>
<br>
Devine commented, "On President Bush's first day in office he ordered all federal workers to report fraud, waste and abuse whenever they see it. But those who follow his orders cannot defend themselves. Last week the Department of Agriculture blamed a meat inspector who didn't pull punches on the job for this fall's listeria food poisoning tragedy, because he didn't blow the whistle on his boss sooner. Something's wrong with this picture. Would-be whistleblowers look the other way or stay silent observers, because they don't have the freedom to warn. They must proceed at their own risk." <br>
<br>
The risk extends to the public. "Whistleblowers are the early warning signal to prevent avoidable tragedies," noted Louis Clark, GAP executive director. "On the other hand, silence and secrecy enforced by repression threatens the public by sustaining unnecessary vulnerability to terrorism, contaminated food and other public health and safety threats."<br>
<br>
Professionals throughout the government echoed Ms. Rowley's unheeded warnings of security breakdowns prior to 9/11. But most were smashed by defensive bureaucrats who didn't want to hear it. When it failed to act, Congress ignored Ms. Rowley's message delivered to all 535 members: "We need laws that … are able to protect effective government operation without sacrificing accountability to the public. I was lucky enough to garner a good deal of support from my colleagues in the Minneapolis office and Members of Congress. But for everyone like me, there are many more who do not benefit from the relative safety of public notoriety. They need credible, functioning rights and remedies to retain the freedom to warn."<br>
<br>
Congress also ignored the pleas of 9/11 victim families, such as the following: "The whistleblowers are the public's major source of protection from bureaucratic indifference. We call on every Member to sponsor and visibly support legislation so Federal whistleblowers state having the same rights as all other Americans victimized by illegal abuses of power."<br>
<br>
Devine put the contrast in perspective. "The last election was supposed to be a referendum on homeland security. Those elected on that platform should make the first order of business to secure the cornerstone of homeland security: whistleblowers' freedom to warn." <br>
<br>
<br>
Read the article at <a href="http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2002/"target="new">http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2002/</a>
If you no longer wish to receive these e-mails, please send an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line. To one of the addresses below.
If you are recieving these emails from <a href=mailto:gap-general-list-request@whistleblower.org>gap-general-list@whistleblower.org</a>
If you are recieving these emails from <a href=mailto:gap-media-request@whistleblower.org>gap-media-list@whistleblower.org</a>