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Congress and
the Federal Judiciary
The Focus of Campaign 1:
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The Judicial Transparency and
Ethics Enhancement Act of 2006
in almost identical Senate and
House versions S. 2678 and H.R.
5219, sponsored by Senator
Charles Grassley (R-IA) and
House Judiciary Committee
Chairman, F. James
Sensenbrenner (R-WI). Both
bills would set up an office of
inspector general over the federal
courts;
"We the People Act", H.R. 4379,
by which Representative Ron
Paul (R-TX) proposes the
withdrawal of jurisdiction from
the Supreme Court and lower
federal courts to hear certain
kinds of cases; and
Apparently still unnumbered
House Resolution amending Title
28 of the United States Code "to
establish standards of
impeachment of justices and
judges of the United States"
sponsored by Representative
Todd Akin (R-MO).
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Federal, on-the-job
"Duty Speech"
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An overview of the ongoing
battle to protect federal
whistleblower rights by:
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Tom Devine,
Legal Director
and
Adam Miles,
Legislative Rep
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GAP
Government Accountability Project
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The week of June 19, 2006
brought a wonderful development in
the U. S. Senate which agreed to
add whistleblower protection
legislation as an amendment to the
2007 defense authorization bill. The
Senate's action came in response to
the disastrous Garcetti decision
which canceled constitutional free
speech protection for government
employees. If enacted, S. 494 will
be the strongest free speech law in
history to protect federal employees
who defend the public. Closing the
accountability gap created by the
Supreme Court's Garcetti ruling,
S. 494 would apply whether a
federal employee "commits the
truth" on or off the job, inside or
outside the chain of command -- in
other words, whenever it matters.
Although this is the first time the
full Senate has approved
comprehensive whistleblower rights
reform since 1994, it will not
become law unless the corruption
saturated House of Representatives
acts as well. House action on two
bills, H. R. 1317 and H. R. 5112,
would guarantee that federal
whistleblower law will be
strengthened in 2006, reversing an
11-year erosion of whistleblower
rights in the courts. But, the
leadership in the House has refused
two opportunities to allow votes on
whistleblower legislation, and there
is no reason to think they will
change their course unless they hear
from the public and the rank-and-
file members of Congress who are
politically vulnerabe and need this
vote for accountability before the
elections.
www.whistleblower.org
www.whistleblowers-usa.org
www.nswbc.org
www.government-insiders-forum.org
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Strengthening the
No FEAR Act
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An overview of the ongoing
efforts to strengthen the
No Fear Act by:
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Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo,
president (above) and
Matthew F. Fogg,
Co-chairman (below)
The No Fear Coalition
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photo by
Henry
Leutwyler for
Vanity Fair.com
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The No Fear Coalition is a
national group of individuals and
organizations, committed to a federal
workforce liberated from racism,
sexism, all forms of harassment, and
retaliation. The coalition achieved its
first major victory in 2001 by
working for the introduction and
passage of the NO FEAR bill (H.R.
169) in the U.S. House of
Representatives. U.S. House
Judiciary Committee Chairman F.
James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee
(D-TX) cosponsored the legislation.
The bill passed by a vote of 420 to
0. Senator John Warner (R-VA)
sponsored the bill (S. 201) in the
Senate.
The No Fear Act of 2002 is the
first civil rights law of the 21st
Century. It requires federal
government agencies found liable for
discrimination [race, sex, disability]
and/or whistleblower retaliation to be
held directly responsible for breaking
the law. No longer can those
agencies abdicate culpability by
sending their "judgment tab" to the
Department of Justice. Also, all
federal agencies must regularly
report to Congress on
discrimination/retaliation judgments
and the status of managers found
liable for the underlying conduct. Yet
the No Fear Act has not impacted
the entrenched culture of federal
sector discrimination and retaliation.
Federal agencies have ignored or
violated the No Fear Act in terms of
its statutory requirements for notice,
posting disciplinary actions against
offending managers, reporting to
Congress, and training. There has
been no significant reimbursement of
General Treasury funds by liable
agencies. Management training in
dispute resolution and
communicating with a diverse
workforce has become more a ruse
for instruction on how to hide
unlawful discrimination and
retaliation. Victims of alleged
discrimination and retaliation among
the federal workforce are forced to
suffer years, sometimes decades of
unproductive administrative and legal
proceedings at their own expense
while federal agencies shield
managers, often in multiple
discrimination and/or retaliation
cases, all at the expense of American
taxpayers.
The No Fear Coalition will
resume aggressive lobbying this Fall
2006 for a No Fear II that
strengthens the enforcement
provisions of No Fear I and provides
clearer as well as stronger terms for
the effective management of human
resources. Presently we support and
join the ongoing efforts of activists
to strengthen and expand federal
employee whistleblower protection.
We also extend our efforts through
Blacks In Government (BIG),
particularly through the work of our
own Matthew F. Fogg, the National
1st Vice President for BIG and EEO
director for Federally Employed
Women Legal & Education Fund.
Fogg consistently honors BIG's
legacy of resisting racial and gender
discrimination in the Federal, State,
and Municipal government
workplace while fighting for human
rights as a Board member for
Amnesty International, the world's
largest human rights organization.
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Members of the
National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition
(NSWBC)
take a unique stand,
led by their founder and
celebrated whistleblower:
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Sibel Edmonds
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Focusing on National
Security
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Whistleblowers' Dirty Dozen
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The Whistleblowers' Dirty
Dozen is a list of U. S. Senators
and Representatives who resisted
NSWBC appeals for meaningful
investigations, hearings, and
legislation in response to reports by
our members of fraud, waste,
abuse, and criminal activities within
government agencies.
National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition, together
with whistleblower members of
our partner coalitions, consider it
our duty to advise Americans of
these representatives’ collusion
with government and private
interests to the detriment of the
People. Our position is based on
our concern for our nation’s
security, for accountable
government, and the People’s Right
to Know what their representatives
and government are doing in their
name, all of which depend on
vigorous congressional oversight.
Our stand is not based on any
political ideology or party – our
coalition members include
Republicans, Democrats,
Libertarians and Independents. We
do not ask you to vote for or
against these individuals; nor do we
ask you to choose a particular
candidate over another. All we ask
is that before you decide, you
consider the true positions of these
representatives with regard to their
lack of candor or courage on core
issues that matter to our country’s
well-being.
Over the years, time and again
we have informed these
representatives about illegal
government actions, agency fraud,
and lying to Congress by
administrators and bureaucrats.
Yet these representatives have
consistently refused to take any
action and have instead betrayed
the People they have taken an oath
to serve. We hope that by
appealing directly to the American
people, we can help bring about
needed reforms, since we have
proven unsuccessful in our appeals
to the following representatives:
Click image to enlarge:
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Link to our site:
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To download a half
page promotional
flyer for this "Speak
Up" campaign,
Click Here
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