Civil service bill to be amended
Carter administration says ‘whistle blowers’ to get protection
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Carter
administration, responding to congres
sional criticism, has agreed to add more
protection for “whistleblowers” to the
president’s civil service bill, several offi
cials say.
Protection will be included for dissi
dent employees who make allegations
of non-criminal waste, mismanagement
or impropriety, provided they do so con
fidentially within the government.
This will be added to the protection
against firing, demotion or transfer
which Pres. Carter proposed three
months ago for civil servants who go to
the news media or Congress to allege
criminal acts or rule violations by their
colleagues or bosses.
One of the most noted whistleblowers
of recent years was A. Earnest Fitz
gerald, a Pentagon analyst who dis
closed to a congressional committee a
$2 billion cost overrun on the C-5A
transport plane in the late 1960's. He
was fired from his Air Force job, then
ordered reinstated as a deputy for pro
duction management after a seven-year
legal battle which he said cost him
$400,000.
Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis., said
the treatment of Fitzgerald by the Air
Force amounted to a cover-up of crimi
nal behavior.
The adtninistration also intends to
push for passage of a bill to create
strong inspector-general offices inside
federal agencies to investigate the sub
stance of complaints by whistleblowers
and others. One version of the bill al
ready has passed the House.
The new investigative arms would be
in addition to a special counsel pro
ff
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posed to investigate personnel griev
ances, including those by employees
who say they are being punished for dis
closing illegal activities.
The White House is continuing to
negotiate with congressional critics of
the plan who want to give wider powers
to the special counsel and to protect
those who make allegations of non
criminal improprieties to Congress and
perhaps to the media.
White House domestic policy aide
Fred Lazarus III and three Senate aides
who asked not to be named said agree
ment might be reached this week which
would avert a House fight over the whist
leblower issue, one of the most con
troversial aspects of the civil service
plan.
Senate aides are continuing to press
for protection for those who make allega
tions of non-criminal matters to the Con
gress but seem ready to drop proposals
to protect those to take such allegations
to the public or the news media.
Also apparently shelved are meas
ures to allow the proposed special coun
sel to investigate and overrule other fed
eral agencies on the basis of whistle
blower complaints.
The Senate aides continue to object to
a provision in Carter’s plan that would
allow a president to lift whistleblower
protection from any employee he deter
mines part of the intelligence committee.
And the White House remains op
posed to granting iron-clad immunity
against discipline for civil servants who
campaign publicly against the policies of
their superiors or who make public al
legations about matters which they feel
are improper but not necessarily illegal.
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9
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