Complainants v. Office of Special Counsel and Special Counsel Scott Bloch
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Washington Post quotes Debra S. Katz, counsel for former and current OSC employees who brought a complaint against Bloch which is currently being investigated by the OPM IG. Earlier in the week, Katz sent a letter to President Bush urging Bloch's termination in light of the latest revelations concerning his destruction of evidence and obstruction of the OPM IG investigation.
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The Washington Post, November 30, 2007 U.S. Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files 
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Debra S. Katz sent a strongly worded letter to President George W. Bush
today on behalf of a coalition of current and former employees of the
United States Office of Special Counsel ("OSC") and whistleblower
protection groups, urging President Bush to fire Special Counsel Scott
Bloch in the wake of his admission that he directed the deletion of
computer files at the Agency. According to today's Wall Street Journal,
in the midst of the OPM IG's investigation into his misconduct at OSC,
Bloch hired a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call, to delete
Agency computer files destroying crucial evidence and making it
virtually impossible for forensics experts to restore the data later.
Katz stated, "Today's Wall Street Journal
contains a report confirming what my clients and other sources within
OSC have been saying since the OPM IG investigation began: that Mr.
Bloch and his political henchmen have continuously obstructed the
investigators' efforts to get at the truth. ... Tellingly, the article
quotes Mr. Bloch as defending himself with a claim that the OPM IG has
a 'conflict of interest' in pursuing its investigation of Mr. Bloch
while his office supposedly is conducting an investigation of the White
House. This claim by Mr. Bloch confirms what we have repeatedly pointed
out in correspondence with the White House Counsel, with Clay Johnson,
Deputy Director of OMB, and with members of Congress - that Mr. Bloch
launched his supposed investigation of the White House to insulate
himself from the OPM IG investigation."
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The Federal Times, November 28, 2007 Attorney: New claims against special counsel are firing offense
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The Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2007 Head of Rove Inquiry in Hot Seat Himself
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USA Today, November 28, 2007 Rove investigator accused of wiping data from office computer
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The Washington Post
quoted from Ms. Katz's letter to Mr. Fielding concerning Special
Counsel Scott Bloch's obstruction of the investigation of the OPM IG
into allegations of prohibited personnel practices and other serious
violations of federal law by Bloch, including retaliation against
employees who disputed his policies. The Post reported :
"This week, a lawyer representing the employees wrote to White House
counsel Fred Fielding urging him to request an interim report from OPM
"regarding what its investigation has uncovered to date, and to explain
the reasons for its long delay in concluding this investigation."
"Debra S. Katz, the lawyer, contended that Bloch 'has succeeded in
obstructing and delaying this investigation,' most recently by
directing current and former staff aides to refuse to provide answers
to questions from the OPM inspector general, Patrick McFarland. In the
letter, Katz said that 'Bloch's end-game here is obvious. He intends to
play out the clock through the end of the president's term and avoid
any responsibility or consequences for his misconduct.'"
"Bloch, in a statement, called Katz's letter 'rehashed allegations of
obstruction that are false. I have fully cooperated with and never
impeded the investigation, and agree that the OPM IG should explain its
long delay in completing this now two-year-old investigation.'"
The Washington Post
also reported that KMB clients the Government Accountability Project
(GAP), the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and Public Employees
for Environment Responsibility "sent a letter this week to the Senate
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee asking that it not
support higher funding for Bloch's office in fiscal 2008. Citing the
mountain of evidence that Bloch has run this federal whistleblower
protection agency into the ground and Katz's letter to Mr. Fielding,
they stated in their letter that "they do not trust Bloch, adding that
his office "'cannot take on any more responsibilities without further
abandoning its primary constituency: government whistle-blowers.'"
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The Washington Post, October 12, 2007 That Whistle's Been Blowing for Two Years
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October 10, 2007 Letter sent by GAP, POGO and PEER 
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Congressional Quarterly reports on letter sent by Debra S. Katz to Fred Fielding, White House Counsel
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October 10, 2007 Watchdog Groups Oppose More Money for Special Counsel
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October 10, 2007 Watchdog Groups Oppose More Money For Special Counsel |
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October 9, 2007 Letter to Fred Fielding
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Debra S. Katz, counsel for current and former employees of the Office of Special Counsel who have filed a complaint against Scott Bloch, OSC Special Counsel, is quoted by the Federal Times in connection with the OSC reauthorization hearings. According to Katz, "We believe that it is obvious that Mr. Bloch launched this wide-ranging inquiry in an attempt to deflect attention from his own serious misconduct and obstruct the investigation that is being conducted by the OPM IG." The article references an April 2007 written by Katz to White House Counsel Fred Fielding asking Bloch to recuse himself from the Hatch Act probe of Karl Rove and other White House personnel. According to Katz, "the Hatch Act investigation will allow Bloch to label an adverse finding in the OPM investigation as retaliation. She also notes that if Bloch's investigation of the White House "is still under way when OPM completes its own investigation of Mr. Bloch ... the White House will be put in the position of having to make a decision about Mr. Bloch's future while it is itself being investigated by [him]."
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Federal Times, July 12, 2007 Political battles expected to overshadow OSC reauthorization
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Head of U.S. Office of Special Counsel investigated by Office of Personnel Management and questioned by Senate. KMB attorneys Debra Katz and Avi Kumin represent former employees of Special Counsel Scott Bloch, the top government official responsible for investigating whistleblower complaints, alleging that he himself retaliated against the employees after they voiced objections to his policy decisions.
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The Washington Post, March 9, 2005 Senators Have Questions About Changes in the Office of Special Counsel
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