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Groups push for whistleblower protections |
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By Kevin Bogardus
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Posted: 05/14/07 07:43 PM [ET] |
Public interest groups and watchdog advocates, joined by well-known whistleblowers, gathered yesterday to pressure Congress to revamp federal whistleblower protections.
“2002 was widely credited as the year of the whistleblower,” the legal director for the Government Accountability Project (GAP), Tom Devine, said. “Unfortunately, it was not the year of whistleblower rights.”
Devine said raising qualms in the public interest is an act of “professional suicide” for many civil servants, and it is time to protect them, citing an abuse of current law by the Bush administration.
“Whistleblowers are the essence of democracy,” the president of Public Citizen, Joan Claybrook, said. “Improvements to the Whistleblower Protection Act are critical.”
Yesterday’s event kicked off the first national whistleblower press conference held since 1978. About 45 groups in addition to GAP will participate.
A Minnesota FBI agent who raised concerns about suspected Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, Coleen Rowley, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) discussed national-security issues following the press conference. The inspiration for the 1999 movie “The Insider,” Jeffrey Wigand, was scheduled to speak on a panel as well.
Hill staffers for congressmen who have pushed for whistleblower reforms expressed confidence that Senate legislation will pass.
“The challenge is to get this bill the attention it deserves,” said Scott Miller, chief of staff to Rep. Todd Platts (R-Pa.), who floor-managed and cosponsored the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). The bill passed in the House with more than 330 votes in its favor.
“I believe this year, this Congress is the time to pass these bills,” said Jennifer Tyree, counsel for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The White House, however, has promised to veto the House version. Members of the administration have said an expansion of whistleblower rights may pose a threat to national security.
Whistleblowers remain adamant that new protections must be added.
“We need your help in getting this bill passed,” said Darlene Fitzgerald, a U.S. Customs officer whose investigation of drug
trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border was shut down by her superiors.
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