(Washington, D.C.) – Tomorrow, September 26, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) will celebrate its 30th anniversary and recognize the vital importance of whistleblowing in society. The celebration will honor notable whistleblowers and congressional champions of courageous truth-tellers. The gala, guest-hosted by Erin Brockovich, will take place from 7 – 9 p.m. at the Mott House in Washington, D.C., located at 122 Maryland Ave N.E.
At the event, GAP will honor several whistleblowers and congressional champions of government accountability, public safety and whistleblower protections. The honorees, all of who will be in attendance, are:
- Rep. Henry Waxman: Chairman, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
- Rep. Todd Platts: Ranking Member, House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities.
- Dr. David Graham: Associate Director, FDA Office of Drug Safety, and Vioxx whistleblower.
- Bogdan Dzakovic: 9/11 Airport Security Whistleblower.
Background information on the four honorees and Brockovich can be found below. Both Representatives Waxman and Platts will be receiving the GAP Legislative Defender Award, while Graham and Dzakovic will each receive the GAP Award for Integrity and Valor.
Accredited members of the press are welcome to cover the event at no cost. Please email GAP Communications Director Dylan Blaylock at [email protected] to RSVP.
Background Information:
Rep. Henry Waxman – Rep. Waxman revitalized the notion of oversight when becoming Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee earlier this year Rep. He has worked to oppose efforts by the Bush administration to block congressional oversight and roll back health and environmental laws. He has launched investigations of White House ties to Enron, contract abuses in Iraq, and the politicization of science. In addition, Rep. Waxman has repeatedly fought efforts by the EPA to relax important air pollution and drinking water protections, and by the FDA to weaken enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
His legislation, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007, will bring real protection back for federal employees. Chairman Waxman led this year’s historic effort in the House of Representatives to pass the most significant whistleblower protection legislation ever approved by a chamber of the U.S. Congress. The legislation extends meaningful protections to all employees paid with U.S. tax dollars, including government contractors, employees in the national security and intelligence agencies, and TSA baggage screeners. It clarifies protections for government scientists, making it an abuse of authority for the government to restrict disclosure of scientific research on issues like climate change.
GAP applauds Congressman Waxman’s integrity and commitment to protecting those in government who help his committee fulfill its constitutional duty to conduct meaningful oversight. We thank him wholeheartedly for his efforts to defend whistleblowers.
Rep. Todd Platts – In his seven years in Congress, Rep. Platts has a proven track record of bipartisan leadership on a range of good government issues. While serving on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last Congress, with then-Chairman Tom Davis, Rep. Platts acted as lead sponsor of H.R. 1317, legislation to overhaul the federal employee Whistleblower Protection Act. His commitment revived long-dormant efforts in the House to pass this badly-needed reform. Under his leadership, it was significantly improved – H.R. 1317 is the first major legislative initiative to provide federal employees access to jury trials in district court to enforce their rights.
This Congress, Rep. Platts is again an original co-sponsor of landmark whistleblower protection legislation, H.R. 985 (the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act), which passed the House in March. His leadership will help guarantee that whistleblowers have meaningful rights when they are retaliated against for speaking the truth. GAP commends Congressman Platts’ humble, idealistic, and dedicated approach to public service, and we honor him for his longstanding efforts to protect whistleblowers.
Dr. David Graham – On November 18, 2004, Dr. David Graham, a 20-year veteran of the FDA, testified in the Senate that the agency’s handling of Vioxx, a popular arthritis drug, was the worst public health disaster in the agency’s history. Research by Dr. Graham and his colleagues showed that the painkiller had caused 88,000 to 139,000 heart attacks (30 – 40% fatal) over the previous five years. In a preemptive move by drug-maker Merck, Vioxx was pulled off the shelves one day prior to Dr. Graham’s testimony.
A week after the hearing, sympathetic insider colleagues and press contacts warned Dr. Graham that the FDA was finalizing plans to exile him from drug safety work within days. Congressional whistleblowing champions and the media rallied to his defense, and the FDA retreated. Then-FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford issued a memo to all staff that they no longer needed prior approval to communicate with Congress. Dr. Graham’s supervisors later approved publication of his study.
Dr. Graham again made news just weeks ago when he testified before an FDA Advisory Committee meeting regarding the dangerous side effects of the diabetes drug Avandia and its link to increased heart attack risk.
Bogdan Dzakovic – Dzakovic has been a national security professional for nearly three decades. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, he served as a leader for the FAA’s Red Team, which conducts mock raids on airports in order to determine if airlines are equipped to thwart highjackers. Breaching security with ease (a 90% rate), Dzakovic and other Red Team members repeatedly warned that America’s airports were vulnerable for terrorists – including the same gate at Boston’s Logan Airport that was actually used by the highjackers a few months later on 9/11. The FAA ordered the Red Team not to write up its reports, not to retest to check if security breaches had been fixed, and proceeded to warn airlines when the Red Team would arrive to test security systems.
After 9/11, Dzakovic blew the whistle on this abuse of secrecy. He was grounded from the Red Team and repeatedly reassigned to various duties. He has been vindicated again and again in years since.
Erin Brockovich – Brockovich is best know for her work as a legal clerk who, despite the lack of a formal law school education, was instrumental in constructing a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993.
Her investigation eventually established that the health of countless people who lived in and around Hinkley, California, in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s had been severely compromised by exposure to toxic Chromium 6. The Chromium 6 had leaked into the groundwater from the company’s nearby compressor station. In 1996, as a result of the largest direct action lawsuit of its kind, spearheaded by herself and others, the utility giant paid the largest toxic tort injury settlement in U.S. history: $333 million in damages to more than 600 Hinkley residents. Brockovich’s story became a award-winning film released in 2000.