WaPo Wants Whistleblower Provision Stripped From $800 Billion Stimulus Package: Tell Senate No

[ProSense]

WaPo Wants Whistleblower Provision Stripped From $800 Billion Stimulus Package: Tell Senate No!

by Jesselyn Radack

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Today, the Washington Post has a lead editorial on why Senators should remove the whistleblower provision, which passed unanimously in the House last week, from the $800 billion stimulus package. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/01/AR2009020101032.html This editorial chooses form over substance.

With regard to whatever the Washington Post thinks is "the way it is supposed to work," how about the taxpayers? We are in the midst of an unprecedented, nearly $2 trillion spending frenzy. That is the wrong time to sacrifice justice for whistleblowers, and accountability for taxpayers, at the altar of the "right way."

Please call your senators, or send them a quick message by clicking on http://www.WhistleblowerAction.org.

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There was no whistleblower protection in the Administration’s unprecedented bailout of Wall Street--despite promises that it would be added "later"--and now we learn that a sizeable chunk went to pay corporate bonuses.

In 1991, the RTC law following the S&L crisis had "best practice" whistleblower rights for its time. In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley law wisely included whistleblower and witness protection as an enforcement cornerstone of that law. Congress since has perfected weaknesses in these pioneer approaches in four subsequent laws, including three since 2006. A whistleblower provision should be included to provide teeth for any financial recovery bills to ensure that this crisis is never repeated.

Secrecy was the breeding ground for this disaster, because it sustained the reckless decisions and corruption that caused it. Now the Administration proposes to give $800 billion--the largest stimulus in history--and the Washington Post doesn't want any accountability for how it is spent: no judicial review; no whistleblower rights; no public acces to records; and waiver of normal government contract rules. Apparently, one financial disaster wasn't enough for the Post.

Thank you for helping us make it this far. We now must tell the Senate to include the same common-sense whistleblower protections in their stimulus spending legislation, which they're planning to vote on early this week. Please contact your Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

P.S. You can also send a letter to the editor of the Washington Post at [e-mail], but it's more important to contact your Senators.

Here is how WaPo begins its editorial:

THIS IS NOT the way it is supposed to work. The $800 billion stimulus package making its way through Congress is supposed to include measures to jump-start the economy -- extension of unemployment benefits and food stamps, infrastructure programs to create jobs. But whistleblower protections?

I guess WaPo wan't people to believe that accountability isn't part of the remedy.

I guess WaPo believes people are stupid.

[Joe Chi Minh]

1. it's bizarre. It's as if they want to unequivocally confirm their penchant from crime and collusion

with the criminal underworld, and make the right to perform major white-collar crimes a national "crusade". Utterly, utterly bizarre.

After the people have suffered extortion on an almost apocalyptic scale, the Republicans still don't seem to understand why normal human-beings would like some accountability from their plunderers turned game-keepers. Are they Androids or what? Whatever happened to "Two strikes and you're out?"

[ProSense]

2. Exactly, and accoutability also includes oversight.

WaPo is fully aware of how this provision fits into the package.

[Joe Chi Minh]

3. Oversight is preventive accountability! Better still - for the future.