Whistleblower Complaint alleges more bullying, ethical violations under Lander’s leadership- report
This article features Government Accountability Project’s whistleblower client, Rachel Wallace, and was originally published here.
Just over a month after the famed yet controversial geneticist and Broad Institute founding director Eric Lander resigned from his role at the White House over harassing staff, a whistleblower report has emerged — and while Lander and the White House dispute its findings, it claims that Lander had gone further than what was initially alleged against him.
According to the Washington Post, the Government Accountability Project filed a whistleblower complaint to the US Office of Special Council and House/Senate committees Thursday on behalf of anonymous Office of Science and Technology Policy staffers, headed by Rachel Wallace, once the science office’s general counsel before being demoted to deputy counsel — and currently COO.
Wallace had previously gone on the record, telling Politico in its original report on a White House investigation into Lander that he “retaliated against staff for speaking out and asking questions by calling them names, disparaging them, embarrassing them in front of their peers, laughing at them, shunning them, taking away their duties, and replacing them or driving them out of the agency. Numerous women have been left in tears, traumatized, and feeling vulnerable and isolated.”
GAO said in its report that the former White House OSTP director violated ethics rules, created a toxic workplace and went after staff who raised concerns about his behavior.
“This case is very disturbing,” the filing says. “Ethics violations were rampant; retaliation was ever-present. It proves toxic workplaces are nonpartisan. We urge you to promptly investigate.”
The complaint, which claims to know of at least 15 people who reported abuse while working at the office under Lander, seeks reinstatement and damages for Wallace and others.
Among other things, the complaint alleges:
- Lander’s behavior was both enabled and assisted by “other senior managers at OSTP” — some of whom still work in the White House;
- Lander allowed staffers to receive funding from outside entities while working at the White House — which violates ethics rules, according to Wallace.
White House officials and one of Lander’s attorneys pushed back on the GAO’s characterization of Lander.
“The White House thoroughly investigated Ms. Wallace’s reassignment and concluded that Dr. Lander acted completely lawfully, as he did throughout his government service,” Michael Levy, an attorney for Lander, said in a statement. “Any suggestion that Dr. Lander treated anyone differently on the basis of gender or race is simply not true.”
A White House official who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity said Thursday that “appropriate action” was taken in Lander’s case. Any complaint made against any other OSTP employee “will be thoroughly investigated.”
That same White House official denied that Lander violated any ethical guidelines, saying that Congress “has provided multiple pathways for federal agencies to engage with nonfederal sources for staffing needs.” The official said those arrangements were approved by ethics counsel.