Bush's Sodomite Enablers Attack Special Counsel

Carrie Johnson and Christopher Lee / The Washington Post:
Nearly two dozen federal agents fanned out in the agency's building on M Street, where they sequestered Office of Special Counsel chief Scott J. Bloch for questioning, served grand-jury subpoenas on 17 employees and shut down access to computer networks in a search lasting more than five hours. Bloch, who was nominated to his post by President Bush in 2003, is the principal official responsible for protecting federal employees from reprisals for complaints about waste and fraud. He also polices violations of Hatch Act prohibitions on political activities in federal offices.

A Kansas lawyer who previously worked at the Justice Department's Task Force on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Bloch repeatedly clashed with his own workforce and with other Bush administration officials he targeted for improper behavior. By his own account, the White House twice asked him to resign.

Since Bloch's confirmation 4 1/2 years ago, he has been fighting calls for his ouster by independent watchdog groups. He drew fire quickly for removing from the OSC Web site references to the agency's authority to hear complaints by federal employees who alleged discrimination based on their sexual orientation, said Debra S. Katz, a lawyer representing OSC whistle-blowers.

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Bloch, the man responsible for protecting whistleblowers and investigating complaints of discrimination by federal workers, has for more than five years refused to take on complaints of discrimination based on sexuality. Bloch's stonewalling complaints of discrimination by LGBT federal workers dates to February 2004 when he ordered references to sexual orientation removed from the Office of the Special Counsel website. Since 1998, when President Bill Clinton issued an executive order prohibiting bias in the civil service, the OSC has taken that to include sexuality.

Posted by Editor at May 12, 2008 01:14 AM