Darn those investigative minds.  Tom Abate  wants to know if my past whistleblower disclosure had anything to do with data integrity.  Yes Tom, it did.  In 2003, I reported Stanley P. Stephenson Jr. of Litigation Economics for using his inside influence for personal gain while running a private economics consulting firm on government time. 

So that Stan doesn’t try to sue me, I’m including the following quote from the Department of Labor, stipulating that “it is undisputed that Mr. Stephenson was shortly thereafter placed on paid leave and then left the agency’s employ.”

When I started ten years ago, most of the people I worked with were good citizens concerned with data integrity.  So much so that they were extremely vigilant about protecting the barrier between BLS, DOL and any conflict of interest. In the nineties, it was just a few bad apples that could have been culled out and the crop saved.  Today, I wonder if it is too late.  Instead of culling out the bad apples, in 2003, the Department defended Stanley Stephenson and gave him a taxpayer-financed golden handshake, allowing him to collect retirement that he would have been otherwise unentitled to had he resigned at the time it was announced that he had departed.

Further, they protected my harassers, Robert Gaddie, Nancy Treadwell and Douglas Betten by sending a contingent of attorneys to fight our request for an end to the retaliation.  (I was assaulted, removed from my job and locked out of the office)  It was only after Attorney Mary Dryovage posted the hearing on the Internet that my working conditions improved dramatically. 

Hence, you can see why I believe in transparency.  Of note — and this is something that even the Department of Labor was unaware of until our case was in progress — MSPB is public record.  This may be its only high point.  Otherwise, it is the epitome of a kangaroo court, no different than any other federal agency: its employees subject to the same harassment and lack of protection.

I do have additional thoughts on this subject, but in many ways the whistleblower events are behind me — my remorse is not in having spoken up, but ultimately, in not having been able to have served the citizens I care so deeply for.

Tom Abate’s blog posting