Bush Would Veto Aid for Whistle-Blowers

Salon continues investigation into oft-faulty system
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 1, 2007 6:41 PM CDT
Bush Would Veto Aid for Whistle-Blowers
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks in this 2006 file photo in Des Moines, Iowa. "Whistle-blowers are treated like a skunk at a picnic, and there's no excuse for it," said Grassley, who has long sought stronger whistle-blower protections. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney, File)   (Associated Press)

President Bush has said he’d veto legislation to fortify legal protection for whistle-blowers, leaving in place a dysfunctional system that enables punishment for government employees who speak out—rather than those they indict. The finger-pointers lose their cases before special courts 97% of the time, reports a new study; Salon profiles the numerous disincentives to speaking up.

One whistle-blower was likened to terrorists by government lawyers and victimized by violent retaliation. Her case is indicative, Salon asserts, of a system “vulnerable to partisan politics” and bent on silencing accusers—who lose 97% of their cases. The current legislation would broaden whistle-blowers’ recourses—if it makes it past the presidential pen. (More Merit Systems Protection Board stories.)

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