407 Organizations, Associations and Businesses Support Swift Action to Restore Strong, Comprehensive Whistleblower Rights

Thursday, December 2, 2010

(Council 26)

The undersigned organizations and corporations write to support the completion of the landmark,nine-year legislative effort to restore credible whistleblower rights to federal employees. We offerour support to expeditiously pass legislation that includes the critical reforms listed below.Whistleblower protection is a foundation for any change in which the public can believe. It doesnot matter whether the issue is economic recovery, prescription drug safety, environmental protection, infrastructure spending, national health insurance, or foreign policy. We need conscientious public servants willing and able to call attention to waste, fraud and abuse on behalf of the taxpayers.

Unfortunately, every month that passes means the status of federal government whistleblowers continues to erode because none have viable rights. In 2009, on average, 16 whistleblowers a month lost initial decisions from administrative hearings at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

From 2000 through 2009, only two out of 54 whistleblowers received final rulings in their favor from the Merit Systems Protection Board. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the only court which can hear federal whistleblower appeals of administrative decisions, has consistently ruled against whistleblowers. Since 1994, when Congress last strengthened the law, whistleblowers have won only three cases out of 211.

A strong Whistleblower Protection Act would:

− Grant employees the right to a jury trial in federal court;

− Extend meaningful protections to FBI and intelligence agency whistleblowers;

− Strengthen protections for federal contractors to make them as strong as those provided to

DoD contractors and grantees in last year’s defense authorization legislation;

− Extend meaningful protections to Transportation Security Officers (screeners);

− Neutralize the government’s use of the “state secrets” privilege;

− Bar the MSPB from ruling for an agency before whistleblowers have the opportunity to

present evidence of retaliation;

− Provide whistleblowers 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.

We know you share our commitment to more transparency and accountability in government.

Passing a strong, bipartisan whistleblower reform law would do much to restore the public’s faith

in Congress, ensure efficient and accountable government, and save taxpayer dollars.

Sincerely,

Adele Kushner, Executive Director

Action for a Clean Environment

Joseph P. Carson, PE, President and Co-founder

Affiliation of Christian Engineers

David Swanson, co-founder

AfterDowningStreet

Pamela Miller, Director

Alaska Community Action on Toxics

Dan Lawn, President

Alaska Forum on Environmental

Responsibility

Cindy Shogun, Executive Director

Alaska Wilderness League

Dana Kuhnline

Alliance for Appalachia

Ruth Caplan

Alliance for Democracy

Nan Aron, President

Alliance for Justice

Susan Gordon, Director

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Terrie Barrie, Co-Founder

Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups

Rochelle Becker, Executive Director

Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility

Gil Mileikowsky, M.D.

Alliance for Patient Safety

Linda Lipsen, Senior Vice President for Public

Affairs

American Association for Justice (AAJ)

Mary Alice Baish, Director, Government

Relations Office

American Association of Law Libraries

F. Patricia Callahan, President and General

Counsel

American Association of Small Property

Owners

John W. Curtis, Ph.D., Director of Research and

Public Policy

American Association of University

Professors

Christopher Finan, President

American Booksellers Foundation for Free

Expression

Laura Murphy, Director, Washington Legislative

Office

American Civil Liberties Union

Dr. Paul Connett, Executive Director

American Environmental Health Studies

Project, Inc.

John Gage, National President

American Federation of Government

Employees

Charles M. Loveless, Director of Legislation

American Federation of State, County &

Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary

American Friends Service Committee

Roy Speckhardt, Executive Director

American Humanist Association

Caitlin Love Hills, National Forest Program

Director

American Lands Alliance

Jessica McGilvray, Assistant Director

American Library Association

Tom DeWeese, President

American Policy Center

Alexandra Owens, Executive Director

American Society of Journalists and Authors

Charlotte Hall, President

American Society of Newspaper Editors

Pat Schroeder, President and CEO

Association of American Publishers

Chris Monteleon, Executive Director

Association of FAA Whistleblowers

Patricia A. Friend, International President

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFLCIO

Marcel Reid, Chair

The Association of Community Organizations

for Reform Now 8

(ACORN 8)

Prudence Adler, Associate Executive Director

Association of Research Libraries

Ms. Bobbie Paul, Executive Director

Atlanta WAND (Women's Action for New

Directions)

Samuel H. Sage, President

Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc.

Jay Stewart, Executive Director

Better Government Association

Jay Feldman, Executive Director

Beyond Pesticides

Scott Stevens, Founder

Bill of Attainder Project

Shahid Buttar, Executive Director

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

J. David Reeves, National President

Blacks in Government

Edna Harvin-Battle, Executive Vice-President

Blacks In Government

Heritage Chapter

Diane Wilson, President

Calhoun County Resource Watch

Jane Williams, Executive Director

California Communities Against Toxics

Peter Scheer, Executive Director

California First Amendment Association

Terry Franke, Executive Director

Californians Aware

Charles Komanoff, Director

Carbon Tax Center

Ms. L. Wilson, Founder and Executive Director

C.A.S.O.O.

Citizens Against Sexually Oriented Offenders

Reece Rushing, Director of Regulatory and

Information Policy

Center for American Progress

William Snape, Senior Counsel

Center for Biological Diversity

Charlie Cray, Director

Center for Corporate Policy

Gregory T. Nojeim, Senior Counsel and

Director, Project on Freedom, Security &

Technology

Center for Democracy and Technology

J. Bradley Jansen, Director

Center for Financial Privacy and Human

Rights

Joseph Mendelson III, Legal Director

Center for Food Safety

David K. Hackett

Center for Government Accountability

Paul Kurtz, Chairman

Center for Inquiry

Robert E. White, President

Center for International Policy

Robert S. Lawrence, MD, Director

Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins

Bloomberg School of Public Health

Lawrence S. Ottinger, President

Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest

Reverend David Ostendorf, Executive Director

Center for New Community

Michael R. Harbit, Chief

Center for Occupational and Environmental

Medicine

Michael Jacobson, Ph.D., Executive Director

Center for Science in the Public Interest

John Richard

Center for Study of Responsive Law

Linda Lazarus, Director

Center to Advance Human Potential

Craig Williams, Director

Chemical Weapons Working Group &

Common Ground

Mike Tidwell, Director

Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Phil Fornaci, Counselor

C.H.O.I.C.E.S.

Leonard Akers

Citizens Against Incineration at Newport

David B. McCoy, Executive Director

Citizen Action New Mexico

Doug Bandow, Vice President for Policy

Citizen Outreach

Deb Katz, Executive Director

Citizens Awareness Network

Barbara Warren, Executive Director

Citizens' Environmental Coalition

Vera Scroggins

Citizen’s For Clean Water

Elaine Cimino

Citizens for Environmental Safeguards

Don Kraus, Chief Executive Officer

Citizens for Global Solutions

James Turner, Chairman of the Board

Citizens for Health

Michael McCormack, Executive Director

Citizens for Health Education Foundation

Gerard Beloin

Citizens for Judicial Reform

Laura Olah, Executive Director

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

Anne Hemenway, Treasurer

Citizen's Vote, Inc.

Rick Piltz

Climate Science Watch

Tanya Ward Jordan, President

The Coalition For Change, Inc.

John Judge

Coalition on Political Assassinations

Julia Bonds, Executive Director

Coal River Mountain Watch

Sarah Dufendach, Vice President for Legislative

Affairs

Common Cause

Judy Vander Boegh, President

Gary Vander Boegh, Vice-President

Commonwealth Environmental Services

Jeff Bloom

Community Access National Network

David Deal, CEO

Community IT Innovators

Greg Smith, Co-Founder

Community Research

Clarissa Duran, Director

Community Service Organization del Norte

Neil Cohen, Publisher

Computer Law Reporter, Inc.

Joni Arends, Executive Director

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety

Lokesh Vuyyuru, MD, Founder

Concerned Citizens of Petersburg

Daniel Hirsch, Member, Executive Committee

Concerned Foreign Service Officers

Matthew Fogg, President

Congress Against Racism & Corruption in

Law Enforcement (CARCLE)

Mitch Friedman, Executive Director

Conservation Northwest

Linda Sherry, Director of National Priorities

Consumer Action

Chris Waldrop, Director, Food Policy Institute

Consumer Federation of America

Ellen Bloom, Director of Federal Policy

Ami Gadhia, Policy Counsel

Consumers Union

Bob Shavelson, Director

Cook Inlet Keeper

Neil Takemoto, Director

CoolTown Betta Communities

Tonya Hennessey, Project Director

CorpWatch

Louis Wolf, Co-Founder

CovertAction Quarterly

Erica L. Gordon

Council for Citizens Against Government

Waste

John Issacs, Executive Director

Council for a Livable World

John Wilner, Director

CounterCorp

Anne Weismann, Chief Counsel

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in

Washington (CREW)

Clay G. Colson, Board Director and Water

Issues Chair

Citizens for Sanity.Com, Inc.

Diane Hofner, Co-Founder

CROP PLUS

Concerned Residents of Portland, NY + People

Like Us

Rev. Walter Stark

Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice

Cathy Harris, Founder and Executive Director

Customs Employees Against Discrimination

Association

B. Arrindell, Director

Damascus Citizens for Sustainability

Miho Kim, Executive Director

DataCenter

Melvina C. Ford, Executive Director

DC Employment Justice Center

Karen Murphy

DC Charter Chapter of Federally Employed

Women

Mary Elizabeth Beetham, Director of Legislative

Affairs

Defenders of Wildlife

Sue Udry, Director

Defending Dissent Foundation

Bob Fertik, President

Democrats.com

Miles Rapoport, President

Demos

Paul E. Almeida, President

Department for Professional Employees,

AFL-CIO

Courtney Dillard, Founder

Dillard-Winecoff Boutique Hotel

Ben Smilowitz, Director

Disaster Accountability Project

Dr. Shirley Moore, National President

Disclosure Watch

John DiBiase

Divorced Men's Association of Connecticut

Dr. Patrick Campbell

Doctors against Fraud

Dr. Disamodha Amarasinghe

Doctors for National Healthcare

James J. Murtagh, Jr., President

Doctors for Open Government

Kathryn Serkes, Founder & Co Chair

Doctor Patient Medical Association

Dr. John Raviotta

Doctors for Reform of JCAHO

Michael Shamberg, Carla Shamberg,

Stacey Sher

Double Feature Films

Lynndel Edginton, President/Founder

Eagle Research Associates, Inc.

Kathleen Rogers, President

Earth Day Network

Marco Simons, Legal Director

EarthRights International

Bruce Baizel, Senior Staff Attorney

Earthworks

Larry Chang, Founder

EcolocityDC

Thea Harvey, Executive Director

Economists for Peace and Security

Dr. Grace Vuoto, Executive Director

Edmund Burke Institute for American

Removal

Lisa Walker, Executive Director

Education Writers Association

Kevin Bankston

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Judy Braiman, President

Empire State Consumer Project

Jason Zuckerman

The Employment Law Group

Mike Ewall, Executive Director

Energy Justice Network

Gregory Hile

EnviroJustice

Chuck Broscious, President

Environmental Defense Institute

Carol Werner

Environmental and Energy Study Institute

Judith Robinson, Director of Programs

Environmental Health Fund

Eric Shaeffer, Executive Director

Environmental Integrity Project

Peter Montague, Ph.D, Director

Environmental Research Foundation

Rob Weissman

Essential Information

George Anderson

Ethics in Government Group (EGG)

Ronald J. Sider, President

Evangelicals for Social Action

Bob Cooper

Evergreen Public Affairs

Gabe Bruno

FAA Whistleblowers Alliance

Robert Richie, Executive Director

FairVote

Mary Ann O'Neil

Families Against Cancers & Toxics

Fred Sottile, President

Fathers 4 Justice

(Los Angeles)

Chad Gist, President

William Dunn, Florida President

Fathers Supporting Fathers

Janet Kopenhaver, Washington Representative

Federally Employed Women (FEW)

David Nolan, President

Federal Ethics Center

Steven Aftergood

Federation of American Scientists

Marilyn Fitterman, Vice President

Feminists for Free Expression

BJ Davis, President

Julia Davis, Vice President of Production

Fleur De Lis Film Studios

Tammi Vajda

Flower Bound Citizens Against Urban

Drilling

Ellen Connett, Administrative Director

Fluoride Action Network

Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director

Food and Water Watch

Bob Darby, Coordinator

Food Not Bombs/Atlanta

Marian Feinberg

For a Better Bronx

John Feffer, Co-Director

Foreign Policy in Focus

Dr. Jan Schwartz, President

Forensic Fraud Research, Inc.

Andy Stahl

Forest Service Employees for Environmental

Ethics (FSEEE)

Tom Ferguson

Foundation for Global Community/Atlanta

Ruth Flower, Legislative Director

Friends Committee on National Legislation

(Quakers)

Brent Blackwelder, President

Friends of the Earth

Conrad Martin, Executive Director

Fund for Constitutional Government

Don Young, Founder

FWCanDo

Fort Worth Citizens Against Neighborhood

Drilling Operations

Karyn Jones, Director

G.A.S.P

Gwen Marshall, Co-Chairman

Georgians for Open Government

Neil Tangri

Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance

Denny Larson, Executive Director

Global Community Monitor

Reede Stockton

Global Exchange

Paul F. Walker, Ph.D., Legacy Program Director

Global Green USA

(The US Affiliate of Green Cross International,

Mikhail Gorbachev, Chairman)

Bill Owens, President

The Glynn Environmental Coalition

Tom Devine, Legal Director

Government Accountability Project

Bill Hedden, Executive Director

Grand Canyon Trust

Molly Johnson, Area Coordinator

Grandmothers for Peace, San Luis Obispo

County Chapter

Alexis Baden-Mayer

Grassroots Netroots Alliance

Luci Murphy

Gray Panthers of Metropolitan Washington

Alan Muller, Executive Director

Green Delaware

Jenefer Ellingston

Green Party of the United States

Jim Riccio, Nuclear Policy Analyst

Greenpeace USA

Tracy Frisch

Greenwich Citizens Committee

Nancy Seats, President

Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings

James C. Turner, Executive Director

HALT, Inc. -- An Organization of Americans

for Legal Reform

Tom Carpenter, Executive Director

Hanford Challenge

Arthur S. Shoor, President

Healthcare Consultants

Roberta Mikles, Director

Health Care Patient Advocates

Helen Salisbury, M.D.

Health Integrity Project

Vanessa Pierce, Executive Director

Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah

(HEAL Utah)

Gerry Pollet

Heart of America Northwest

Ernie Reed, Council Chair

Heartwood

Liz Havstad, Chief of Staff

Hip Hop Caucus

Phyllis DeGrave, Vice President

Hudson Bay Company of Illinois

Mimi Brody, Director of Federal Affairs

The Humane Society of the United States

Doug Tjapkes, President

Humanity for Prisoners

Aaron Krowne, CEO & President

Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, Inc.

Scotlund Haisley, President

In Defense of Animals

Keith Robinson, Interim President

Indiana Coalition for Open Government

Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director

Indigenous Environment Network

Scott Armstrong, Executive Director

Information Trust

Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D., President

Institute for Energy and Environmental

Research

Brenda Platt, Co-Director

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

John Cavanagh, Director

Institute for Policy Studies

Donald Soeken, President

Integrity International

Michael McCray, Esq., Co-Chair

International Association of Whistleblowers

Bama Athreya, Executive Director

International