Sound familiar? Another governement critic is being targeted for "discipline" by the political hacks running our government.
This time the target is Dr. Jonathan Fishbein, who was hired in 2003 to improve patient safety practices in the NIH related to AIDS research.
In fact, Fishbein was recommended for a cash award for his job performance, and all was well until he started talking to Congress about shoddy practices and poor patient practices. Then his bosses scrambled to undo their praise and try to "create" a poor job performance to justify firing him.
From memos obtained by Fishbein's attorneys"
"If you are thinking about moving on termination you may want to pull the award recommendation," NIH official Robert Hockensmith wrote Kagan on Feb. 13, 2004.
"Whatever it is, please HOLD!!!!," Kagan wrote back. "Thanks for the heads-up on that!!"
A single scientist at the NIH might not get much coverage in the news right now, but I hope we can spread this as an example of the venality of this administration.
More from the AP report:
"This is going to take some work," National Institutes of Health AIDS Division Director Dr. Edmund Tramont wrote Feb. 23, 2004, in an e-mail that laid out plans to fire whistleblower Dr. Jonathan Fishbein. "In Clauswitzian style, we must overwhelm with force," Tramont wrote, referring to 19th-century Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz.
...
Fishbein was hired by Tramont in 2003 to improve the safety and patient protections in AIDS research after lapses during a high-profile NIH research project in Africa to test the AIDS drug nevirapine.
Last year, he went to Congress with allegations of shoddy science. NIH says there were problems with the research cited by Fishbein but they involved paperwork and patient protections and did not affect the underlying conclusions about the drug's safety.
A judge recently ruled Fishbein has no whistleblower protections, as normal federal workers do, because he was hired as a special employee at a higher salary.
The memos show Fishbein was targeted for firing within days of raising allegations last February of interference and a hostile work environment against AIDS Division Deputy Director Jonathan Kagan.
"The incessant interference and distraction of Jon Kagan is jeopardizing my work," Fishbein wrote Tramont on Feb. 4, 2004. "By creating a hostile working environment for me and other members of my staff, Jon is trying to destroy my chance at success for this office and the entire division."
Kagan said Tuesday he could not discuss the matter because of personnel privacy.
The memos show Kagan and other NIH officials inquired within eight days of the complaint about firing Fishbein even though Tramont had just recommended him for the cash award and strongly praised his work improving research safety and compliance.