House Dems to DoJ Whistleblowers: Send Us Your TipsDid your supervisor at the Justice Department tell you that he was looking to hire a Republican? Or maybe he altered your performance evaluation in order to punish you for not toeing the line? Or maybe he inexplicably eliminated a large number of job applicants because they’re Democrats?
Well, the House Judiciary Committee wants you to know that your complaint is safe with them. The committee has launched an effort to get into contact with Department employees who want to blow the whistle but are afraid they’ll pay for it..
“This Web site is designed to receive on a completely confidential basis any information concerning the possible politicization of the United States Department of Justice since 2001,” the page, called “Write Congress to Right Justice” and part of the committee’s website, reads.
A senior aide to the committee told me that it was launched after the committee got calls from people “who indicated to us fairly strongly that they knew of people currently employed in the Justice Department who had info they wanted to provide us, but they were just scared to do it.” If the committee made it clear that such tips would be handled confidentially, the aide was told, “we’d get a lot more information.” The most smoke thus far, the aide said, was coming from the Civil Rights Division — where Bradley Schlozman and Hans von Spakovsky once held sway — but the committee is looking for tips from throughout the Department.
The site advises potential whistleblowers not to use their Department e-mail addresses to send in their tips — to avoid “unfortunate retaliatory actions” at which a number of officials have proven adept. Anonymous tips will not be considered, but “similar confidentiality will apply to anyone identifying him or herself and requesting such confidentiality.” The information, once verified, “will be included in matters that are investigated by the Committee [such as the U.S. attorney firings] and will be incorporated in the Committee’s reports and in legislative and oversight activities of the Committee.”
Note: The TPMmuckraker tip line is, as always, open.