AP has the story about the whistleblowing complaint against Scott Bloch, the head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the office that's supposed to protect whistleblowers and investigate their complaints. He's accused of instructing staff to deep-six complaints without even interviewing the complainant. And of refusing to enforce laws protecting gay workers from discrimination.
“While publicly congratulating himself for reducing the caseload … Mr. Bloch has failed to explain just what happened to all of the cases he closed,” said the complaint filed in Washington.
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Bloch came under fire last year when he moved to deny gay federal workers protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and removed references to sexual orientation from the agency's Web site and complaint forms.
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In a letter to Bush, the employees' lawyer, Debra S. Katz, wrote: “Mr. Bloch ignored your express direction that federal agencies enforce” anti-discrimination laws against gays.
What you have to understandis that all these whistleblowers are bad people. Not with the program or they would air dirty linen in public. They're probably Democrats. Which makes them near terrorists. And you expect Mr. Bloch to protect them?
It reminds me of the classic Simpsons exchange:
Lisa: Dad, don’t you see you’re abusing your power like all vigilantes? I mean, if you’re the police, who will police the police?
Homer: I dunno. Coast Guard?
Bloch’s behavior makes sense to me. If the president (or his inner circle, so long as they are loyal) never makes a mistake, then his critics must therefore be deluded or liars. Why should we use tax dollars to protect the rights of liars & crazies? We should send them to Gitmo.
(/sarcasm)
Seriously, the behavior of this administration reminds me so much of what Ben Franklin wrote about in his treatise to the British on how to make a great empire small. One of his bits of ‘advice’: “To confirm these impressions, and strike them deeper, whenever the injured come to the capital with complaints of maladministration, oppression, or injustice, punish such suitors with long delay, enormous expense, and a probably final judgment in favor ofthe oppressor. This will have an admirable effect every way. The trouble of future complaints will be prevented, and governors and judges will be encouraged to farther acts of oppression and injustice; and thence the people may become more disaffected, and at length desperate.”