The Guardian: Edward Snowden’s NSA Leaks ‘An Important Service’, Says Al Gore
Former Vice President Al Gore has voiced his support for GAP client Edward Snowden’s revelations of the NSA’s unconstitutional widespread surveillance of Americans. Gore spoke yesterday at the Southland technology conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Key Quote: Asked if he regarded Snowden as a traitor or whistleblower, Gore veered away from the “traitor” label. He refused to go as far as labeling him a whistleblower but signaled he viewed him as being closer to that category than a traitor, saying: “What he revealed in the course of violating important laws included violations of the US constitution that were way more serious than the crimes he committed.”
Related Article: Politico
A coalition of labor and consumer groups has successfully petitioned the New Jersey Supreme Court to hear an argument in support of strengthening a 30-year-old whistleblower protection law. The groups claim the law is under attack from corporations and that an urgent fix is needed in the wake of a 2008 lower court decision finding that “workers whose jobs require they act as compliance officers or ‘watchdogs'” do not enjoy protection.
Puget Sound Business Journal: In Wake of Whistleblower Judge Case, Legislators Consider Reforms
In the wake of the case of a Washington state whistleblowing judge who accused a state agency official of attempting to influence her decisions, state lawmakers will explore whether administrative law judges “are given the independence they need to rule fairly.”
Dylan Blaylock is Communications Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.