Reply #2: Oooh, is that Bloch? Can't wait to hear what this is about! [View All]

[babylonsister]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Bloch

Controversies

"Sexual orientation" erasure

Bloch has been a lightning rod for controversy since he took the position in the Office of Special Counsel. His first major actions as head of the office were to choose as deputy a Catholic lawyer who had publicly taken a position against the "homosexual agenda", and to hire young lawyers from Ave Maria School of Law, the conservative Catholic school founded by Domino's Pizza billionaire Tom Monaghan.<2> In February 2004, Bloch was embroiled in controversy when, shortly after joining the OSC, he ordered all mention of sexual orientation workplace nondiscrimination be removed from OSC's website and printed materials. Bloch stated his office lacked the authority to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. <3>

Bloch's critics charged that gay employees were protected by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, which prohibits discrimination against federal employees "on the basis of conduct which does not adversely affect the performance of the employee." Since its enactment, all five prior presidential administrations (Ford, Carter, Reagan, H. W. Bush, and Clinton) had interpreted this law to protect gay employees. <4>

After complaints from Congress, <5> the Bush Administration released a statement saying gay employees were still protected in April 2004. <6> Bloch quickly bowed to political pressure and issued a statement that after conducting a legal analysis: "It is the policy of this administration that discrimination in the federal workforce on the basis of sexual orientation is prohibited." <7>

This did not satisfy gay rights organizations, which claimed a lack of enforcement of the policy. The OSC has still not restored the language on its website or printed materials. <8> <9> Notably the Federal GLOBE (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Employees of the Federal Government) called for Bloch's resignation. <10>

Bloch later retracted his statements and stated his office did not have the legal authority to protect employees from workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (see Refusal to Investigate Complaints below)

Refusal to investigate complaints

Media sources, Congress, and gay rights organizations continued to criticize Special Counsel Bloch and the OSC's lack of enforcement of its policies, particularly in regards to dismissing gay discrimination complaints.

For example, Michael Levine, a 65-year-old and openly gay radio technician, claimed that, after he blew the whistle on a coworker's and his supervisor's workplace misconduct, a personnel officer engaged in retaliatory action against him: pursuing knowingly false allegations of child pornography against Levine, suspending Levine for 14 days, seizing his computer, and referring to gay people as "those fucking faggots".<11>

One year after filing both a retaliation and antigay discrimination complaint with the OSC, Levine received a letter from the OSC on December 28, 2004. Without interviewing even a single witness, the OSC wrote that it was unable to investigate the complaints because only conduct, not sexual orientation, was protected under the Civil Service Act of 1978 <11> -- a reversal of Bloch's April 8, 2004 statement that sexual orientation-based discrimination was prohibited due to imputed conduct and therefore that the OSC has the authority to pursue such complaints. <7>

After being embroiled in a related "internal purge" controversy (see below), Special Counsel Bloch testified before a Senate panel on May 24, 2005 and reiterated his original position that he lacked the authority to protect federal employees on the basis of sexual orientation. <12> The next day, the Log Cabin Republicans called on Bloch to resign. <13>