Earlier this afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Robinson sentenced disgraced former U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch to one month’s imprisonment for lying to federal investigators. Bloch’s lawyers, however, pled for house arrest or halfway-house “community confinement” as an alternative to imprisonment, and the judge is accepting another round of briefs.
Quote me on this: "Bloch’s desperate attempts to avoid accountability are becoming pathetic. He continues to disgrace the Office of Special Counsel, even after resigning in disgrace."
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), established to defend whistleblowers and political threats to the civil service merit system, has been leaderless for nearly 18 months, since Bloch resigned after being indicted for making false statements to FBI investigators probing corruption at his office. During his four years at the OSC, Bloch turned the agency into a caricature of its mission. He issued gag orders and engaged in harsh retaliation against whistleblowers on his own staff, abandoned the agency’s mission to protect whistleblowers, and challenged former House Government Reform Committee Chair Tom Davis (R.-Va.) to settle matters with a physical fight outside when challenged at congressional oversight hearings.
Taxpayers and whistleblowers should be grateful to a judge who is defending the rule of law.
Tom Devine is Legal Director of the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection organization.
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
http://www.osc.gov/pppPolicies1.htm
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Thank you for the follow up.on Mr. Bloch. I, too, have been the recipient of his "good works". My case was dumped as well as many others. I find it somewhat amazing that comments made by Joe as well as the positive letters filed with the court never address those that Mr. Bloch has worked so very diligently to destroy. I read with great interest the letters showering Mr. Bloch with accolades about his wonderous and awsesome career. I would like to ask his wife if she would like to discuss his impact on our family with my wife or children. What about the others left by the wayside by a man that was supposed to help them get through difficult times. A man they trusted. So the letters from his law partner, his priest, his friends need to be considered very carefully. They may have been accurate but they left the picture of damage and dishonesty that he brought to his office as a lawyer and officer of the court. Mr. Bloch, as a result of his actions, should be held responsible to those that he has helped destroy while masquerading as their protector. At the very least he should not be able to practice law again. As he shredded their documents he also shredded their lives. They can't work in a profession that they had been trained and many had excelled in. They were punished for telling the truth. He isn't being adequately punished for lying.
I am saddened that he has a family that he has disgraced. His wife and children are suffering some small bit of pain. His accountability is minimal as the charges have been watered down to a level that he will do some sort of payment but itwill still allow him to practice law. That, in itself, casts the profession poorly. I was accused of something far less important and can no longer practice what I did for more than 38 years. Raises some serious questions about what justice remains within the justice system.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Thank you for your comment. You are suggesting that there is no evidence that Mr. Bloch challenged a Congressman to a fight, and that since we state he did, GAP is manipulating facts. This is incorrect.
I point you to both a Washington Times and Washington Post article from July 2007, each of which reported on an exchange between Bloch and then-ranking member Tom Davis (R-Va) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. To give some background context, Rep. Davis was asking Bloch for records of emails from his AOL account, as it had been revealed previously that Bloch had sent at least one email regarding official OSC business from such personal account. Bloch claimed this was an invasion of privacy, and according to both newspapers, stated to Rep. Davis:
“If you want to exchange personal attacks, perhaps we should go outside.”
Here are the links to each article:
Washington Times: http://bit.ly/fyQcBe
Washington Post: http://wapo.st/hw9yue
Thank you again for your comment.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
I filed a victim impact statement with the Federal Court . I turned to the OSC in 2005 for help when I was removed from federal service for whistleblowing.
My appeal to OSC was literally "dumped" and no record exists today because Mr Bloch destroyed the file.
Judge Robinson has made my plight bearable by sentencing Mr Bloch to prison time.
The last thing to do now, is have Mr Bloch's law license removed.
Richard Wyeroski
Former FAA Safety Inspector