Nothing would send a stronger message to a Federal bureaucracy corrupted by eight years of the Clinton Administration that harassment and retaliation against whistleblowers would no longer be tolerated. A broad and growing coalition, composed of organizations as diverse as the National Organization for Women, the AFL-CIO, and the Free Congress Foundation, is petitioning the White House and the Congress to restore the Whistleblower Protection Act to its original intent and purpose. During the Clinton Administration, a hyperactive Federal Court of Appeals gutted the Act and Clinton political appointees, fearful of public disclosure of misdeeds and waste, encouraged an already hostile Federal bureaucracy to wage open warfare on whistleblowers. During the Clinton Administration, whistleblowers saw their careers shattered, their professional and personal reputations destroyed, and their families subjected to enormous stresses. One well-known whistleblower, Frederic Whitehurst, has candidly discussed the personal toil his decision imposed on his family.
Most whistleblowers undergo similar experiences.
But retaliation and harassment doesn't stop when whistleblowers leave government. Just ask Jennifer Long, the IRS whistleblower. Her testimony, confirmed by others, eventually forced Clinton to sign a law that put some limits on IRS powers and exposed it to more outside review. For her efforts on behalf of American taxpayers, the IRS tried to fire her. But now the IRS has extended its retaliation by interfering with her application for a certified public accountant's license.