Blocked Whistleblower Protections Put Obama Transparency Promises at Risk; Intvw with Whistleblower advocate Tom Devine

Rob: Well I've been very involved with health care reform. Last week I had on the show Wendell Potter, who was a former insurance company executive, who basically said that Obama, in attempting to be fair and balanced and cover both sides is exposing himself to people who act in bad faith.-

Tom: Well this is happening all throughout the government currently. Rather than saying, like Bush did, hey I won, we're doing things my way now, Obama is saying that since he won, we're going to seek a consensus to all society that gets as close as possible to the things he campaigned for. The White House has been our advocate for whistleblower rights, but they won't push it with agencies in the Executive Branch. At a certain point, the prez is going to have to lead re: whistleblower rights because the current law is a fraud that makes a trap out of all his promises to fight abuses of secrecy. If he waits for the dark side of the bureaucracy to agree that secrecy is a betrayal of the public trust, well we'll be waiting for Godot.-

Rob: So we've got Obama trying to make everyone happy and failing to keep his promises.-

Rob: Well believe me, we need whistleblower protection. I spoke at a whistleblower meeting a few months ago and got to meet some whistleblowers. These are people of conscience who go to their boss and say something, then get the response that it will be taken care of. Then it's not, so they go to the next level, and it keeps getting ignored. Finally, they reach a point where they have to tell the truth b/c it's being ignored. Am I saying that right, Tom?-

Tom: Absolutely. Most of them reach the point where they're scared to death b/c they know what's going to happen to them, but they have to say something b/c they can't live with themselves.-

Rob: And they have good reason to be scared, because when whistleblowers go up against big agencies, they become the enemy and the goal is to destroy their credibility, reputation and make their lives miserable. So it's really essential that there be a w.b. protection law, or else these organization will do whatever they can to crush these people.-

Tom: Well the sad thing is, the whistleblower law is a trap. Its main impact has been to identify the people who are threats to the bureaucratic powers-that-be. Up to a point, you can say Obama is trying to please everyone, but he needs to do something. Now, this is the first president in 30 years who has invited whistleblower advocates to the table and said to the bureaucracy, hey, you have to satisfy these guys, too. Presidents Carter and Clinton would invite us in after they'd made the decisions and they expected us to thank them because what they did was good for us""but we didn't have any voice in it. I think what Obama's trying to do is in good faith and is very ambitious. But at a certain point, he did win the election, and it's time for him to implement his policies.-

Rob: Now Tom, you're a lobbyist, right?-

Tom: Yes, but I also do whatever it takes for whistleblowers.-

Rob: I'm looking at the Obama governemtn and I'm not seeing transparency. I'm concerned that the people who's job it is to be the "bad cop" are working to protect Obama's executive privileges, and I'm worried that they might be happy about the way things are going.-

Tom: Well we don't have any hesitation on blowing the whistle on politicians who betray the public trust. I don't think it would be fair yet to say that the president is acting in bad faith.-

Rob: Well it's never going to be the president, it's going to be one of his junkyard dogs.-

Tom: That's the problem""the president inherits this government of nearly 2 million people. I don't know that I have a criticism of the approach that Obama is taking. It's almost like he's engaged in this draining process to honor his campaign commitments. When I complained about this, I complained pretty bitterly to the White House people. They believe that if they get a consensus, maybe these w.b. rights will finally take root. Maybe they're right, but either way we need to do something quickly. Whistleblowers won't defend the public if they can't defend themselves.-

Rob: So what you're saying is that for the last 30 years, whistleblower protection laws have been sort of a sham, and whistleblowers need the opportunity to appear before a jury.-

Tom: You nailed it, Rob. When whistleblowers get normal access to courts""which is what Obama campaigned on specifically""then the WPA won't be a trap. But until that happens, lawyers like us at GAP warn people against filing lawsuits to enforce their rights. The current reality is that you can spend thousands of dollars on a hearing, but the odds are 99% that you'll spend all this money just in order the final nail will be hammered in your professional coffin.-

Rob: It seems like you almost have to be a little crazy to be a whistleblower.-

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