After more than two years without a leader, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is getting someone in charge. Carolyn Lerner, nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as special counsel, was confirmed last week by the U.S. Senate.

 

The OSC is charged with investigating federal whistleblower disclosures, protecting them from retaliation, and defending the merit system.

 

Lerner, a specialist in mediation, is a founding partner of the Washington, D.C. civil rights and employment law firm Heller, Huron, Chertkof, Lerner, Simon & Salzman.

 

Tom Devine, legal director for the watchdog organization, the Government Accountability Project, praised the confirmation of Lerner, saying she “could be the strongest Special Counsel since the office’s creation in 1978.”

 

The office has been leaderless since the resignation of Scott Bloch in January 2009. Bloch was the focus of controversy during his five years as special counsel to President George W. Bush. He was accused of closing hundreds of whistleblower cases without investigating them and retaliating against his own employees.

 

Bloch was sentenced in March to one month of jail time for withholding information from Congress while he was under investigation. He pleaded guilty in connection with his use of “Geeks on Call” to erase files from his government computer.

 

Bloch also was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation and 200 hours community service.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

GAP Praises Confirmation of New Special Counsel Lerner (by Tom Devine, Government Accountability Project)

Scott Bloch Sentenced To One Month In Prison In 'Geeks On Call' Case (by Ryan Reilly, TPMMuckraker)