Source:
GovExec.comFBI search, leaked documents lead to renewed calls for ousting of Scott BlochBy Elizabeth Newell and Dan Friedman
[email protected] May 7, 2008 Whistleblower advocates and a key GOP lawmaker are renewing calls for the resignation or firing of Special Counsel Scott Bloch after Tuesday's raid of Bloch's home and office by the FBI and the release of OSC documents on Wednesday.
The Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-based watchdog group that has been calling for Bloch's removal for three years, released on Wednesday an internal OSC memo showing that Bloch repeatedly ignored the recommendations of a task force he had created to investigate sensitive and high-profile matters, and did not heed the group's warnings that he was demanding probes that were overly broad or outside OSC's jurisdiction.
The document, POGO said, supported its theory that the OSC chief had sought "to create the appearance of a conflict of interest with an ongoing investigation into allegations that Bloch himself had engaged in misconduct."
The FBI on Tuesday executed search warrants on OSC headquarters and the Dallas field office, as well as Bloch's home. The agents collected documents and laptop computers and issued 17 subpoenas in an operation lasting more than seven hours. Debra Katz, who is representing OSC employees who have filed complaints against Bloch alleging whistleblower retaliation, said five or six current employees and numerous former employees were issued subpoenas to appear before a grand jury next week.
Read more:
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0508/050708e1.htm
Internal Draft Document Reveals Bloch-HeadednessPOGO has gained access to an extraordinary internal document from the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency charged with protecting whistleblowers from reprisal. Clearly marked "DRAFT," it is a memo dated January 18, 2008, to Special Counsel Scott Bloch from the members of a special task force. The task force was created, according to the memo, in May 2007, "to pursue certain complex and high profile investigations, such as the firing of the U.S. Attorneys and the political presentations given by the White House Office of Political Affairs (OPA)." The stated subject of the memo is "Summary of Task Force Activities and Recommendations," but it reads at times like an anguished cry from investigators charged with an important mission but virtually every recommendation they make is countermanded by their boss. If they recommend going forward with an inquiry, Bloch says no. If they say they lack evidence or jurisdiction, he orders them to go forward.
The inescapable conclusion reached from poring through the contents of this 13-page memo is that Bloch was deliberately creating the impression of a huge ongoing multi-faceted investigation of the White House--at the same time that he himself was being investigated by another arm of the White House for various forms of misconduct.
Here is my analysis, along with some juicy quotes.
Office of Political Affairs:
The task force (TF) began to examine allegations that 25 federal agencies had received political briefings from the White House Office of Political Affairs that may have violated Hatch Act bans against the use of government resources to promote or oppose a political party or candidate. The task force received hundreds of documents from the agencies and thousands from the White House about the briefings. But as the investigators proceeded in their classic methodical way, they received new directions from their boss: transfer a Hatch Act complaint against Commerce Secretary Gutierrez from the Hatch Act Unit to the task force); merge two complaints against Karl Rove into the ongoing OPA investigation; draft new requests for information to the White House demanding copies of all email sent or received by 50 OPA employees from January 2001 through November 2007, from both the employees' government accounts and their RNC accounts.
more:http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2008/05/internal-draft.html
pdf of documents here:http://pogoarchives.org/m/wi/osc-tf-summary-20080118.pdf
Read it all
Bloch-ing Justice: Who is Scott Bloch and why is the FBI investigating him?
By Bill Berkowitz Wed May 07, 2008 at 04:50:59 PM EST print story
When Scott Bloch became head of the Office of Special Counsel he declared war on equal protection for gays in federal workplaces.
In early October 2004, five Democratic members of Congress called on President Bush to "take the necessary action" in regards to Scott Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel.
Bloch had refused "to enforce anti-discrimination protections for federal workers contradict Bush Administration policy to uphold former President Clinton's executive order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation," the Washington Blade had reported.
The letter to the president was signed by gay House members Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), along with Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and George Miller (D-Calif.).
On Tuesday, May 6, McClathchy Newspapers reported that "FBI agents ... searched the office and home of ... Bloch ... as part of an investigation into whether he obstructed an inquiry into allegations of his own misconduct."
Since his appointment the relatively unknown Bloch has been wielding a heavy hand and been the source of a series of controversies.
Who is Scott Bloch and how did he wind up as head of the Office of Special Counsel?
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/5/7/165059/0878
Davis Calls On Bloch To Resign
By Ryan Grim
May 7, 2008
(The Politico) Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, called on Special Counsel Scott Bloch to resign his post.
Bloch's office was raided yesterday by federal law enforcement officials who seized records and computers. Davis also asked Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), to subpoena Bloch for a sworn deposition to ask him why he brought in a non-government computer service company - Geeks on Call - to perform an extensive wipe on his government computer. All things being equal though, Davis would prefer he simply resign instead, he said.
"The White House asked Lurita Doan to step down as head of the General Services Administration because, they said, she had become a distraction," Davis said. "In light of the various investigations into Mr. Bloch's conduct, including the FBI probe revealed yesterday, it's hard to believe he can continue to operate effectively. It's time the OSC put this turbulent period behind it and return to the important work of protecting federal whistleblowers."
more:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/07/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4078765.shtml
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