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INDIANAPOLIS: The Society of Professional Journalists, along
with the Government Accountability
Project, The Project on Government Oversight, the Union
of Concerned Scientists, Public Citizen and 112 other
organizations, have signed onto a
letter
addressed to Sen.’s Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.); Susan Collins
(R-Maine) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii); and Rep.’s Henry Waxman
(D-Calif.); Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Todd Platts (R-Pa.) in support
of increased protections for whistleblowers.
The letter calls upon Congress to complete a landmark,
eight-year legislative effort to restore a credible
Whistleblower Protection Act, also known as H.R. 985 and S. 274.
In the letter, the groups offer personal assistance and ask that
the final bills:
• Grant employees the right to a jury trial in federal court;
• Specifically protect federal scientists who report efforts to
alter, misrepresent, or suppress federal research;
• Extend meaningful protections to FBI and intelligence agency
whistleblowers;
• Strengthen protections for federal contractors, similar to
those provided to Department of Defense contractors and grantees
in last year’s defense authorization legislation;
• Extend meaningful protections to TSA screeners;
• Neutralize the government’s use of the “state secrets”
privilege;
• Bar the Merit Systems Protection Board from ruling for an
agency before whistleblowers have the opportunity to present
evidence of retaliation;
• Allow a whistleblower the right to be made whole, including
compensatory damages;
• Grant comparable due process rights to employees who blow the
whistle in the course of a government investigation or who
refuse to violate the law; and
• Remove the Federal Circuit’s monopoly on precedent-setting
cases.
“To keep a balanced check on government power and spending, we
strongly urge members of Congress to extend protections to
whistleblowers,” SPJ President Clint Brewer said. “Everyday,
journalists rely upon these brave men and women to uncover
stories of corruption and wrongdoing and that the public has a
right to know about. Offering protections and a promise of less
retaliation will further enable the free flow of information
that our country relies upon.”
Under the Whistleblower Protection Act,
whistleblowing is defined as disclosing information that an
employee reasonably believe is evidence of illegality, gross
waste, or fraud, gross mismanagement, abuse of power, or
substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. To
learn more about the Government Accountability Project, visit
Whistleblower.org. To write a letter in
support of H.R. 985 and S. 274, find your Congressman at House.gov
or
Senate.gov.
A sample letter can be found on the
Whistleblower
Action Web site.
Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, The Society of Professional
Journalists is the nation’s largest and most broad-based
journalism advocacy organization. SPJ promotes the free flow of
information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire
and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects
First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. For
further information on SPJ, visit
www.spj.org. |
