FederalDaily.com > Group Says Whistleblowing Is Behind Proposed Firing of DOI Lawyer

FederalDaily - August 30, 2007

Group Says Whistleblowing Is Behind Proposed Firing of DOI Lawyer

An environmental advocacy group says the Department of Interior (DOI) is using purported violations of the Trade Secrets Act to camouflage the agency’s efforts to fire a DOI whistleblower. In backing up its assertion, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) on Aug. 28 released documents related to DOI’s attempts to terminate Robert McCarthy, a field solicitor, for violating the act. PEER said the real reason for the proposed dismissal was McCarthy’s revelations of extensive ongoing mismanagement of Indian properties under the agency’s jurisdiction. PEER said that McCarthy—the chief DOI legal officer in Southern California responsible for overseeing management of properties of individual members of Indian tribes held in trust by the agency—has documented massive losses due to agency missteps that are costing those Native Americans millions of dollars a month in lost revenues. After he tipped off a reporter for the Palm Springs Desert Sun newspaper about his concerns, DOI officials threatened to fire him, PEER said in a statement. DOI has threatened McCarthy with sanctions for violating the Trade Secrets Act, which PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said does not apply in this case. “Interior invoking the Trade Secrets Act to cloak its own malfeasance is not only baseless but somewhat chilling,” said Ruch, whose organization is representing McCarthy. To see more, go to: http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=911.

IRS Announces New Key Officials

The Internal Revenue Service on Aug. 28 announced the selection of four people who will move into key posts at the agency. In the Wage and Investment Division, Richard E. Byrd, Jr., will become commissioner, and Pamela G. Watson will become deputy commissioner, following the January 2008 retirement of current Commissioner Richard Morgante. In the Large and Mid-Size Business Division, Frank Y. Ng will serve as commissioner after the retirement of current Commissioner Deborah M. Nolan in October. Art Gonzalez, who is now deputy chief information officer (CIO), will become the new CIO, replacing Richard Spires, who moves to IRS deputy commissioner for Operations Support in September. “These four people bring a strong set of leadership skills and professional expertise to these important positions,” said IRS Deputy Commissioner Linda Stiff, who becomes Acting IRS commissioner next month. To see more, go to: www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=173431,00.html

Grassley Questions Whether NIEHS Probe Is a ‘White-Wash’

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has renewed his inquiry into allegations of mismanagement at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and is worried that the internal probe will be incomplete. Grassley said on Aug. 28 that he sent a new letter to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias Zerhouni, the head of the institute’s parent agency, asking him to address concerns that an internal review of ethical questions involving NIEHS Director Dr. David Schwartz glossed over problems. Grassley said information received by the committee indicates that Schwartz may have engaged in a range of potentially unethical behaviors, including serving as an expert witness in court cases, circumventing normal hiring practices, and disregarding established internal policies and procedures during the approval process for extramural grants. Grassley said documents also indicate that Schwartz may have exceeded budget for his personal lab, and then redirected $4 million from other research into his own. “I’m urging the top leader at the National Institutes of Health to take responsibility for what’s happened at the Environmental Health Sciences division, where allegations have been made about violations of the public trust and subsequent damage to employee morale,” Grassley said. To see more, go to: http://grassley.senate.gov/public