Monday, May 12, 2008

IRONIES ABOUND

By William Fisher

In one of the more ironic episodes of the Bush Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation last week raided the office and home of the senior official in charge of protecting Federal whistleblowers on suspicion of whistleblower retaliation within his own agency – while he was investigating possible criminal acts within the White House.

Since 2005, Scott Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), has been under investigation by the Inspector General of the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM), at the behest of the President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

OPM’s investigation centers on charges that Bloch retaliated against whistleblowers who complained they were transferred out of Washington for political reasons because they disagreed with Bloch’s policies. In the raid, FBI agents sized computers and records.

--MORE--