"Otay" -- so we're all excited that the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the supposed government in-house watchdog agency meant to
safeguard the merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing OSC
is going to "follow the investigation wherever it leads us, leaving no stone unturned" of Karl Rove.
Right. So who is the Avenging Angel that's been sicced upon Karl Rove?
Scott J. Bloch, head of the OSC, father of seven, and reluctant -- it would appear -- investigator and enforcer of the the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and the Hatch Act, the three federal statutes he's charged to monitor. Violations such as workplace improprieties, including a violation of law, rule or regulation, gross mismanagement and waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial danger to public health or safety are his balliwick.
Looks like Karl Rove is sweating buckets about now. No?
No. Why should he fear an investigator who's "made-in-the-mold" and is Republican-appointee-shy about looking under the stones he turns over?
Mr. Bloch, who began his service to his country in January of 2004, has told Congress that while he'd like to protect federal workers, well, gee and gosh darn, the law just doesn't apply to gays. Says Bloch,
"The courts have specifically rejected sexual orientation as a class protection." WaPo
Bloch's history is that of the typical Bush appointee. Another Alberto Gonzales, someone who will blow smoke, look busy, take the bullet, remain loyal, and do his best to do nothing. Since taking office, Bloch's critics have charged that he is
failing to enforce a long-standing policy against bias in the federal workplace based on sexual orientation, unnecessarily reorganizing the OSC to try to run off internal critics, and arbitrarily dismissing some personnel complaints and whistle-blower disclosures in an effort to claim reductions in backlogs.
And like Gonzales, Bloch insists he's "done nothing wrong. In fact,
he argued that he has made the agency more efficient at processing cases and, at the same time, more receptive to whistle-blowers and federal workers who have suffered unfair treatment.
So far, during appearances before Congress his memory hasn't failed him. Perhaps he's working on "improving" that.
Don't worry, Mr. Bloch gets worse. Just this February, the man whose job it is to protect federal workers from intimidation stands accused of intimidating those same civil servants who have been conducting an investigation of him for the past 16 months, regarding
allegations by current and former OSC employees that Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch retaliated against underlings who disagreed with his policies -- by, among other means, transferring them out of state -- and tossed out legitimate whistle-blower cases to reduce the office backlog. WaPo
Specifically, the intimidation stemmed from when
Bloch's deputy sent staffers a memo asking them to inform OSC higher-ups when investigators contact them. Further, the memo read, employees should meet with investigators in the office, in a special conference room. Some employees cried foul, saying the recommendations made them afraid to be interviewed in the probe.
Further,
The OSC's memo, the group said, "was only the latest in a series of actions by Bloch to obstruct" the investigation. "Other actions have included suggestions that all witnesses interviewed . . . provide Bloch with affidavits describing what they had been asked and how they responded."
Fox, guard hens. Karl, greet another fellow obstructor of justice. Abu, shake hands with another fellow demoralizer of staff.
Earlier in the "series of actions by Bloch to obstruct," workers in OSC filed a complaint in March of 2005, alledging that Bloch had
retaliated against employees who complained about office policies and ultimately forced senior career staff to relocate from Washington to a new regional office in Detroit, according to a source close to the groups.
The employees contend Bloch has issued illegal gag orders to prevent them from talking to the media or members of Congress, and has discriminated against gay employees. GovExec.com
The FBI, when last heard from, was investigating.
This announced investigation into Karl Rove by the OCS is going to find no wrong doing as long as Bloch remains in charge. His 5-year appointment runs out at the end of Bush's term. And Bloch has his defenders. Most notably, Catholic League head, William Donahue, who alleges that Bloch is the victim of "leftist anti-Catholic bigotry," stemming from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) boss, Jeff Ruch's WNYC Radio interview during which Ruch is quoted as saying, "Scott Bloch is running the shabbiest closeout sale in the history of the Whistleblower Protection Act," and "Scott Bloch is politicizing the office," and -- perhaps most damning:
he's hired three brand new graduates from the ultra-conservative Ave Maria Law School to act as investigators and attorneys rather than, as traditionally was done, have a competitive examination so that attorneys from around the country could compete for these positions. He's not made a single hire on a competitive basis.
"Ave Maria Law School?" you ask, "Could that be just down the road from Regents University?" Theologically, perhaps, but geographically it's in Ann Arbor, Michigan -- but not for long. Ave Maria plans to relocate to southwest Florida in 2009. Read about it:
Ave Maria espouses a natural law philosophy and teaches law within the context of the Catholic intellectual (?) tradition. Politically, its student body and faculty tend to lean in a conservative direction. Ave Maria's dean and president is Bernard Dobranski and its faculty includes legal scholar Robert Bork and scholar Bruce Frohnen. Wikipedia
The Bush administration has so many foxes guarding so many hen houses it's more like maniacs guarding the assylums. Scott J. Bloch is just another corrupt place-holder in power.
Every branch of our government has been politicized and evangelized -- justice and the military, most notably -- by this administration with the goal to subvert American democracy and government from its former secular humanist form to a Christian and ideological theocracy. Put aside the tinfoil, folks. We've been ruled by a true conspiracy since Bush first took office. The task of dismantling and unfiltrating it will be gargantuan and may require the next Democratic president in the White House to establish a new arm of the federal government, The Office of Restoration and Rededication. Its agents, the Fumigators, will be spraying every bureacracy in Washington to rid our government of the Blochs, Gonzales', the Roves and their evil spawn. One hopes.
[UPDATES] Limelite is tired of toiling in the dirt. However excellent fellow-miners have dug up more dirty details that are linked in the comment thread. Some, but not all miners are: HiBob; BloggerJohn; smintheus; MediaFreeze; Gee, it's great to be a part of this community! Thanks everyone.
[UPDATED Update] highfive says We're famous! As seen on USAToday!