CalAware Today

Appeal: Act Now for Better Whistleblower Shield

By Anne Lowe

As the lame duck session begins in Congress, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) is asking those concerned with  government integrity to sign an online petition urging lawmakers to pass a bill greatly improving federal employees' whistleblower protection.

Court: City Employee Blew the Whistle Too Soon

By Anne Lowe

WHISTLEBLOWERS – The California Court of Appeal affirmed Tuesday that a fired City of San Diego employee is not protected under a state law that shields whistleblowers from employer retaliation—because the conduct by a fellow employee that he reported had not violated any law.

Time to Speak Up for U.C. Whistleblowers Is Now

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- If you want University of California faculty and other employees to have the same protections from  retaliation as their counterparts at the California State University in reporting waste, fraud, abuse, gross negligence or dangerous practices, contact the Governor by close of business Wednesday and urge him to sign SB 650.

U.C. Employee Shield Bill Nears Governor's Desk

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- On a 49-26 vote, the State Assembly Thursday approved legislation authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) to protect University of California faculty and workers who report waste, fraud, and abuse from retaliation by their employer, reports the author's office.

OSHA Whistleblowers Least Protected in California

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- "It’s illegal to demote or fire an employee for reporting hazardous conditions at work," notes Myron Levin for Fairwarning.org.  "But in California, (OSHA) safeguards for whistleblowers are little more than words on paper, advocates for workers say. When workers file complaints about retaliation, the investigations drag on longer in California than in any other state, according to U.S. government data. In California, complainants also have less chance of getting a favorable ruling or a settlement than in most other states, the numbers show." The problem: severe staff overload.

Real National Security Requires Freedom to Warn

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?  (Who will watch the watchmen?)," probably the single most memorable line by the Second Century Roman satirist Juvenal, could not be more timely at a point where the federal whistleblower protection law is up for reform, but leaving the one category of United States employees most critical to combating terrorism—national security workers—utterly exposed to career cancer for calling attention to incompetence and worse in our homeland security and intelligence ranks.  Colleen Rowley and Tom Devine explain.

Prof Can Sue CSU for Whistleblower Retaliation

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- A California Supreme Court opinion issued Monday allows a CSU Long Beach professor to take the university to court for what he says was unlawful retaliation for whistleblowing, reports Erica Perez for California Watch. The court held that the professor's suit for damages was permitted since the university's internal grievance procedure, which exonerated it, had not yielded a result "satisfactory" to him.

Intelligence Sector Whistleblowers Less Secure

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- "In a bid to secure a much-needed bipartisan victory, the Obama administration is trying to secure passage of protections for government whistleblowers. But some advocacy groups are complaining that the legislation does not go far enough to protect government employees in the national security field and, in fact, would roll back protections that FBI whistleblowers now have," reports Kasie Hunt for Politico.com.

Court: Coach's Retaliation Case Can Go to Trial

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- San Diego State University strength coach David Ohton’s almost six-year-old whistleblower retaliation suit against the university has been reinstated by the Court of Appeal a second time and appears to be finally headed for trial, reports Brent Schrotenboer for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Vetoed Transparency, Whistleblower Bills Revived

OPEN GOVERNMENT/WHISTLEBLOWERS -- Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) has reintroduced two bills vetoed last year by Governor Schwarzenegger, designed to bring greater transparency and accountability to the State’s public higher education institutions, Yee's office has announced.

Governor's Game Could Kill Valuable Reforms

OPEN GOVERNMENT, WHISTLEBLOWERS -- "With the Sunday deadline fast approaching, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed only three of the over 700 bills on his desk," reports the California Newspaper Publishers Association's Legislative Bulletin. "While a bit coy regarding his intentions on the fate of the Legislature’s entire work product from the 2009 session, the threat of a blanket veto may prove an effective lever on the water deal that eluded Schwarzenegger and legislators in the waning days of the legislative session."  On the other hand, the report notes, such a hostage standoff could kill several valuable bills in the open government, free press and whistleblower protection zone that Californians Aware calls public forum law.

No Free Speech Shield for Cops Blowing Whistles

FREE SPEECH/WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION -- As professional crime-fighters, cops have no First Amendment protection when they inform their superiors of crime and corruption, notes a human resources specialist for BusinessManagementDaily.com. But they may still have some remedy for employer retaliation under California's Whistleblower Protection Act.

Whistleblower Shield Vital for National Security

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- "Today is the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  There are many ways that we can honor the lives lost and one of them is preventing it from happening again.  Strong whistleblower protections for national security whistleblowers are the key," pleads Colleen Rowley on behalf of a currently pending Congressional shield.

Tax Fraud Informant Gets Harsh Prison Term

WHISTEBLOWERS -- " If he had kept his mouth shut and his head low, Bradley Birkenfeld would be a free man today. He didn’t, so now the former UBS Swiss banker wears an electronic bracelet on his ankle and, beginning in January, will spend three years and four months in a federal penitentiary," notes columnist Ann Woolner for Bloomberg News.

Governor Gets Shield for UC Whistleblowers

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- On a 22-14 vote, the California State Senate today approved legislation to provide University of California employees who report waste, fraud and abuse with the same legal protections available to other state employees, reports the bill's author, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo).

Swiss Bank Informer Looking at Bars, Not Bounty

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- Bradley C. Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker who helped break the secrecy of the Swiss bank—a practice that not only sustained uncounted spy novels, but was widely considered inviolable—is facing years in prison after blowing the whistle on tax cheating via offshore accounts.

As reported by David S. Hilzenrath for the Washington Post,

FBI's Squelched Translator Starts Naming Names

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- Sibel Edmonds, the Turkish-American FBI translator who was fired and gagged in a cause celebre for what she attempted to say about a suspect co-worker, has begun to talk freely and name names far beyond her initial complaint—under oath—in a deposition to which she was subpoenaed by the Ohio Elections Commission, reports the Brad Blog.  Surprise: the Department of Justice did not step in to use state secrets authority to stop the deposition.

Assembly Passes Bill to Shield U.C. Employees

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- On a 50-24 vote, the California State Assembly today approved legislation to provide University of California employees who report waste, fraud and abuse with the same legal protections as other state employees, reports the office of its author, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo).

"Centrist" Guts Whistleblower Shield Measure

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- Zachary Roth, in a report posted on Talking Points Memo, said yesterday that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the "centrist" dealmaker who's been in the limelight this week for helping to pass a watered down stimulus package, worked "to strip from the final bill a measure that's crucial to exposing that waste"—improved protection for federal whistleblowers.

Currently, those protections are shockingly weak. According to the Project On Government Oversight, whistleblowers who are fired or demoted can file a complaint with a government board -- but over the last eight years, that board has ruled in favor of whistleblowers only twice in 55 cases.
    More to the point, the protections were designed to encourage federal workers to point out cases where taxpayer money is subject to waste, fraud, or abuse -- a legitimate concern when Congress spends $800 billion, and one that centrists and Republicans have been particularly exercised about.
    Yesterday, 20 members of the House, from both parties, sent a letter to House negotiators urging them to ensure that the protections remained.

The letter was signed by Californians Lynn Woolsey and Jackie Speier.

    But, according to a person following the bill closely, Collins used today's conference committee to drastically water down the measure, citing national security concerns as the reason for her opposition. In the end, the protections were so weakened that House negotiators balked, and the result was that the entire amendment was removed.
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    To make matter worse, Collins is the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs commitee, which, as an oversight committee, might be expected to see its role as protecting whistleblowers. She also sits on the Senate appropriations committee, giving her a strong position from which to wield influence during today's negotiations.

But, as one observer notes, Collins did no more than what the Washington Post demanded in this editorial, which drew this response from the National Whistleblower Center.

RIP: "The Guy They Used to Call Deep Throat"

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- The 2005 Vanity Fair article on the outing of Mark Felt, who died yestery in Santa Rosa at age 95.

On a sunny California morning in August 1999, Joan Felt, a busy college Spanish professor and single mother, was completing chores before leaving for class. She stopped when she heard an unexpected knock at the front door. Upon answering it, she was met by a courteous, 50-ish man, who introduced himself as a journalist from The Washington Post. He asked if he could see her father, W. Mark Felt, who lived with her in her suburban Santa Rosa home. The man said his name was Bob Woodward.
    Woodward's name did not register with Joan, and she assumed he was no different from a number of other reporters, who had called that week. This was, after all, the 25th anniversary of the resignation of President Richard Nixon, disgraced in the scandal known as Watergate, and hounded from office in 1974. The journalists had all been asking whether her father—the number-two man in the F.B.I. during the Watergate years—was "Deep Throat," the legendary inside informant who, on the condition of anonymity, had systematically passed along clues about White House misdeeds to two young reporters. Joan figured that similar phone calls were probably being placed to a handful of other Deep Throat candidates.

Bob Woodward, in today's London Times, tells why he kept Felt's identity secret for 30 years.

In the autumn of 1972, as we were writing critical Watergate stories, Carl and I had signed a book contract with Simon & Schuster. We decided we had no alternative but to write the story of covering Watergate as Washington Post reporters. It was what we knew best.
    I called Felt and asked, gingerly, that since he was now retired, and since he had let me quote him on the record defending the FBI, would he let me identify him for the book? He exploded. Absolutely not. Was I mad? It was about as emphatic a “no” as anyone could receive. Angry and unhappy, he told me: don’t call here again. Our agreement was that there would be no identification of him, his agency, or even a suggestion in print that such a source existed.
    Felt made me feel shame. I wondered how I could have made such a request. Certainly he had made representations to his colleagues at the FBI, the club, and to his friends and family that he had not been a Watergate source for us. Exposure would challenge his probity with everyone important in his life. He still had potential legal liability. But most important, Nixon was still President.

Lawyer Faces 'Justice' for Defending Bill of Rights

WHISTLEBLOWERS -- The National Whistleblowers Center is urging Americans to take action to protect a newly prominent figure in the resistance to illegal and wholesale domestic spying without judicial safeguards.

This week’s cover story in Newsweek focuses on Thomas M. Tamm, a former Justice Department lawyer in its Office of Intelligence Policy and Review.  Tamm blew the whistle on the National Security Agency's illegal wiretapping on U.S. citizens.  As his reward for heroically exposing this illegal program, Tamm could be charged with violating national security and intelligence laws and jailed for up to 10 years.
    Tamm is currently under investigation by the FBI for reporting NSA's illegal actions to the New York Times.  Unfortunately, Tamm had no other option.  He was repeatedly silenced by his supervisors.  There was no place for him to report the criminal activities of the government's highest ranking employees, and there are no whistleblower protections for national security and intelligence employees who suffer retaliation. 
    Take Action: Tell Congress that Thomas Tamm is a Hero and to Stop the Criminal Prosecution!

Beyond the defense of this particular defender of the Bill of Rights, the center wants greater protection for whistleblowers of all kinds in all federal agencies.

President-Elect Obama and Attorney General nominee Eric Holder will be forced to decide whether to prosecute Tamm.  Although both have publicly condemned the warantless wiretapping program as outside the bounds of the law, there has been a rise in the criminal prosecution of whistleblowers in recent years.  This disturbing trend includes the Justice Department's prosecution of Richard Convertino, who blew the whistle to Congress on the failure of the Bush administration to prosecute terrorists after 9/11.  We must let Congress know this trend cannot continue!
    It is time to send a message to those who retaliate and threaten whistleblowers, and put an end to the government's use of "national security" as a justification to break the law. 
    Take Action:  Tell Congress to Enact Strong Laws to Protect and Encourage Whistleblowing on Illegal Activities by Our Government!

But no action anyone could take now will spare Tamm the almost typical sacrifice and suffering experienced by even the most "successful" whistleblower.  As Newsweek reports it,

The story of Tamm's phone call is an untold chapter in the history of the secret wars inside the Bush administration. The New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize for its story. The two reporters who worked on it each published books. Congress, after extensive debate, last summer passed a major new law to govern the way such surveillance is conducted. But Tamm—who was not the Times's only source, but played the key role in tipping off the paper—has not fared so well. The FBI has pursued him relentlessly for the past two and a half years. Agents have raided his house, hauled away personal possessions and grilled his wife, a teenage daughter and a grown son. More recently, they've been questioning Tamm's friends and associates about nearly every aspect of his life. Tamm has resisted pressure to plead to a felony for divulging classified information. But he is living under a pall, never sure if or when federal agents might arrest him.
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Still, Tamm is haunted by the consequences of what he did—and what could yet happen to him. He is no longer employed at Justice and has been struggling to make a living practicing law. He does occasional work for a local public defender's office, handles a few wills and estates—and is more than $30,000 in debt. (To cover legal costs, he recently set up a defense fund.) He says he has suffered from depression.
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At times during his interviews with NEWSWEEK, Tamm would stare into space for minutes, silently wrestling with how to answer questions. One of the most difficult concerned the personal ramifications of his choice. "I didn't think through what this could do to my family," he says.