Dems Demand Probe of Bunnatine Demotion

[Terre]

I searched and didn't see it. Hope I don't get taken to the woodshed 'cause the stories been up for a few hours, BUT...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-082905halliburton_lat,0,4375226.story?coll=la-tot-promo&track=morenews

The LA Times is reporting:

Congressional Democrats demanded an investigation today into the demotion of a senior U.S. military contracting official who publicly criticized a controversial no-bid contract awarded to Halliburton Corp. for work in Iraq.

<snip>

"Retaliation against employees for providing information to Congress is illegal and entirely unacceptable," said the letter, which was signed by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Sens. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). "Ms. Greenhouse has given Congress important information essential to our oversight of waste, fraud and abuse."

Greenhouse had also angered major insurance companies with a proposal to save hundreds of millions of dollars by offering cheaper workers' compensation-style insurance to federal contractors. Her initiative drew sharp resistance from some of the country's most powerful insurance companies, which could have lost business under the proposal.

The Army Corps was scheduled to make an announcement on the cost-savings program as early as September. It was unclear whether Greenhouse's demotion would affect the program, which would have awarded the insurance to a single carrier through competitive bidding.

"This was her baby. She's the one who fought for this thing. And she made some people upset," said one insurance industry official who has monitored the program.

Time for some major keyboard pounding to our Reps.

I just :loveya: Waxman for not letting go of the bone, and MANY THANKS to Dorgan and Lautenberg for standing by you!

[madfloridian]

1. Looks coordinated....good for them. I love Dean's quote about it.

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/greenhouse830

"Democratic leaders on Monday responded quickly to Greenhouse’s demotion, saying the Bush administration wants to "silence truth-tellers" and insisted that Greenhouse was demoted only because she criticized Halliburton. Halliburton also is under federal investigation for alleged favoritism by the Bush administration.

"Today's news regarding Bunnatine Greenhouse is another disturbing example of the Bush administration's determination to abuse their power to hide the truth and silence, smear or demote their critics," Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. "This culture of corruption has got to end. Democrats know we can do better; the American people deserve a government that works for them. Americans want a government they can trust to tell them the truth, not a government that hides the facts to suit their own agenda."

Yeh, "abuse of power" "smear and demote" "culture of corruption".

That is how you talk. And "hiding the facts to suit their agenda" is pretty good as well.

And I love Waxman. He is a veritable bulldog.

[loudsue]

4. Howard Dean tells it like it is!! Once again!!

:loveya:

:woohoo: Kick 'em in the pants, Howard!! :applause:

:kick:

[electropop]

9. Yeah Lautenberg, Dorgan, and Waxler!

Finally some cajones from the Dems!

[NVMojo]

2. this country loves whistleblowers but does nothing to protect them....

[rodeodance]

7. you are right.

[cyberpj]

12. Looks like they snuck one through on Energy Bill but only for NRC, DOE:

DOE and NRC Whistleblower Rights Breakthrough in Energy Bill

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) hailed a breakthrough today for nuclear whistleblowers in the newly-passed energy bill. A little-noticed, bi-partisan Senate amendment by Senators Harry Reid (D) and John Ensign (R) of Nevada was approved by the Energy conference committee in slightly modified form. Employees of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Department of Energy (DOE) will now have access to the Department of Labor (DOL) administrative law system, and jury trials in U.S. District Court if they do not receive a final DOL decision in 365 days. The same expanded rights also will apply to NRC contractor employees, and corporate workers at DOE and NRC regulated facilities. The bill also ends the long standing practice of paying lawyers for DOE contractors to sustain litigation for years through appeals after losing an initial ruling. GAP worked throughout the legislative process to convince lawmakers that these reforms were indispensable for nuclear law enforcement, both for environmental protection and homeland security.

GAP Legal Director Tom Devine said the victory is significant in the bigger picture. “This is a beachhead in the promised land of jury trials for all government workers. Since 1983 they have been banned from a day in real court, prisoners of civil service hearing board rulings that have created far more victims than are helped. Hopefully Congress will expand the precedent as it considers legislation to restore the Whistleblower Protection Act, the civil service law whose credibility is bankrupt after employees have lost 105 of the last 106 appellate rulings since 1994.”

Government Accountability Project • www.whistleblower.org
National Office
1612 K Street, NW Suite #1100
Washington, D.C. 20006
202.408.0034 West Coast Office
1511 Third Ave. Suite 321
Seattle, Washington 98101
206.292.2850

[Wizard777]

3. Push That Probe! Push That Probe! Push That Probe! n/t

[Up2Late]

5. CNN/HLN Just reported this too, Will wonders never cease?

[ShockediSay]

6. "demoted for poor job performance."

Take it from one who has served on the inside of the body corporate legal establishment - -

As soon as someone becomes a serious liability, politically or otherwise, standard procedure is to start a concerted effort of "papering the file" with negative performance commentary, so as to justify the subsequent boot.

[rodeodance]

8. hire and fire at will. this is a classic example of by Bush wanted total

control over hiring and firing--recall the big spat over NO unions!!

[dryan]

10. I was wondering...

when this was going to appear on a DU thread. This is a very serious situation for this woman who is a lifetime public servant. This is why Bush doesn't want federal employees to be unionized, although unfortunately this woman would be exempt.

[emad]

11. The Independent's coverage today:

US Army auditor who attacked Halliburton deal is fired
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
Published: 30 August 2005

An American government whistleblower who denounced the decision to give billions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction contracts to a subsidiary of Vice-President Dick Cheney's old company Halliburton has been fired from her job, ostensibly because of poor performance.

Bunnatine Greenhouse, a senior civilian auditor of military contracts for the Army Corps of Engineers, went public last year with her concerns about a no-bid contract given to Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR). She told a congressional hearing that the decision was "the most blatant and improper abuse I have witnessed" in 20 years as a government contract supervisor.

She will now be removed from her post and offered a junior position in a different department. The Pentagon said she was offered the opportunity to retire early, but she turned it down.

Three Democratic Congressmen demanded an official investigation before the demotion goes into effect. Pentagon officials have denied the move has anything to do with her opinions on the KBR contract.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article309072.ece

[ShockediSay]

13. Maybe we got an 06 campaign issue here

They trashed Richard Foster, Paul O'Neill, Richard Clarke, Mr & Mrs Wilson, Scott Ritter and the findings of David Kay. Now they are attempting to cram down Bunnatine Greenhouse, also for giving us honesty and integrity in government.

Our issue: dedication to individual citizens' rights against big government, abusive big government, dishonest big government and corrupted big government.