Your donations, Bloch’s defense
October 30th, 2008 | Office of Special Counsel | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Can’t find a worthy charity in the Combined Federal Campaign?
Send a check to the Scott Bloch Legal Defense Trust! (Donations are not tax-deductible, sorry.)
The recently-retired special counsel is looking for help to defray his mounting legal costs. Bloch was forced out of office last week, an event that capped years of controversy surrounding his tenure, but still faces an ongoing grand jury investigation.
The Web site includes praise for Bloch from a number of conservative luminaries, including Weekly Standard executive editor Fred Barnes, Heritage Foundation co-founder Paul Weyrich, and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Noticeably absent is any praise from current or former employees of the Office of Special Counsel.
Tags: charity, Scott Bloch
Not waiting until Jan. 5, after all
October 23rd, 2008 | Agencies Office of Special Counsel | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
On Monday, Scott Bloch announced he planned to resign on Jan. 5, the scheduled end of his term.
Today, apparently, the White House decided that wasn’t soon enough.
Bloch was called to 1600 Pennsylvania for a meeting this morning and was dismissed from the agency, according to sources. OSC is holding an all-hands meeting right now so Bloch can break the news.
More details as they come…
Update: Sources say the Federal Protective Service prevented Bloch from re-entering the agency’s M Street offices after his meeting at the White House.
Update II: Background on the strange case of Scott Bloch.
Update III: According to OSC spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, William Reukauf, the senior associate special counsel, will take over Bloch’s post on an acting basis.
Update IV: According to the White House, Bloch will be placed on administrative leave for the duration of his term.
Tags: Scott Bloch
Scott Bloch’s resignation letter
October 20th, 2008 | Office of Special Counsel | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
As we’re reporting on the Federal Times Web site, Special Counsel Scott Bloch announced his resignation — he’s leaving office on Jan. 5, the scheduled end of his five-year term. He made the announcement in a letter to the president (pdf) earlier today.
Bloch had the option to stay for one more year (or until the Senate confirms the next special counsel, whichever comes first), but he declined to stick around.
Bloch’s announcement is true to his word from an interview two months ago, when I asked Bloch about the increasingly vocal calls for his resignation:
But when asked about the criticism, Bloch rejected the idea that his office has a morale problem; he said he has every intention of finishing his five-year term, which ends in January.
“I’ve had those calls since I came in,” Bloch said. “But I’ve done my job. I’ve almost filled out my term, and I’ll go when I want to go.”
A spokesman for Bloch’s office said there was no particular reason why he was leaving on Jan. 5. “It’s pretty self-explanatory,” he said.
Tags: Scott Bloch, whistleblowers
Advice for the next president, whoever he is
October 20th, 2008 | Transition | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Election Day is still two weeks away, but the next president already has good-government groups lining up to offer advice.
The latest is the Project on Government Oversight, which today issued a set of recommendations for the next president. Many of them are obvious good-government suggestions, but many also come at opportune times.
POGO points out, for example, that the government’s oversight and regulatory role has been “decimated” in recent years. Given the recent scandals at the Minerals Management Service, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Food and Drug Administration, that’s not an overstatement.
There’s also a call for inspectors general to have more independence from their agency heads. The IG bill passed by Congress (pdf) earlier this month is a promising start; it gives IGs a stronger voice in requesting their budget, and makes them harder to remove from office.
The group also called on the next president to “strengthen federal employee whistleblower protections.” Given POGO’s longstanding criticism of Special Counsel Scott Bloch, that’s probably a call for the next president to quickly appoint a replacement.
Tags: election, Project on Government Oversight, Regulation, Scott Bloch