MARSHA COLEMAN-ADEBAYO
Coleman-Adebayo is president of the No Fear Institute, which is organizing Whistleblower Week in Washington next week. A conference there will seek “to protect individuals’ civil rights and justice as well as the rights of truth tellers who report hazardous, illegal and unsafe conditions, and waste, fraud and abuses of authority in government and government-funded entities.”
Coleman-Adebayo said today: “I was a whistleblower at the EPA and like a lot of whistleblowers was retaliated against. The lack of sufficient protection of whistleblowers affects so many aspects of our lives, of the public health and safety. Problems permeate the EPA, particularly under the current administrator, Stephen Johnson. We’ve just seen the ouster of Mary Gade, who headed the EPA’s Midwest office, after she tried to blow the whistle on Dow Chemical. Too often, it’s actually the people who are trying to serve the public good that get forced out of agencies charged with protecting the public. We’re very happy members of Congress will be at our conference, but Congress must act in ways that assure the public safety.”
STEPHEN KOHN
MARSHALL CHRISWELL
Kohn is an attorney-trustee at the National Whistleblower Center; Chriswell is communications director with the group. The group noted in a statement this week: “In a notably ironic turn of events, FBI agents raided the office of Special Counsel Scott Bloch [on Tuesday] seizing computers and documents as part of an ongoing obstruction of justice investigation. Bloch, who is charged with protecting federal whistleblowers, has been under investigation for, among other things, whistleblower retaliation within his own agency.”
Kohn said today: “Most of the whistleblower community has been disappointed with Bloch’s tenure in office. He had no actual expertise in the field and was viewed as a patronage appointment.” The National Whistleblower Center will also be participating in Whistleblower Week.
More Information
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
