Ryan J. Reilly February 22, 2011, 12:55 PM

A group of government whistleblowers wants a special prosecutor appointed to handle the case of former Bush administration official Scott Bloch. The whistleblowers wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that Bloch “gravely damaged the federal civil service” and say they are concerned about “about the appearance of impropriety” because the federal prosecutor currently handling the case supported a plea agreement before Bloch withdrew his guilty plea.

“Attorney General Holder, we have long waited for Mr. Bloch to be held accountable in a court of law,” they write in the open letter to Holder. “For too many of us, the erosion of the rule of law and ethical conduct in government came with a heavy price. With our whistleblowing activities, we sought, and continue to seek, a government of laws, not of men. Please help us restore this noble and long-standing principle by appointing a special prosecutor to lead United States v. Scott J. Bloch.”

The group of whistleblowers wrote that they “are not of the belief that there is improper involvement by current DOJ officials in the defendant’s case” but say “the concern about the appearance of impropriety is equally pressing.”

Bloch pleaded guilty last spring to misdemeanor contempt of Congress, admitting that he phoned Geeks on Call to wipe his government hard drive clean a investigators probed his alleged retaliation against employees.

Bloch, the whistleblowers write, “eroded workplace discrimination protection on the basis of sexual orientation, conducted a political purge of his own employees, attempted to intimidate subordinates from cooperating with outside investigators, deleted computer files and destroyed whistleblower cases, and made false and misleading statements under oath to Congress.”

Former government employee David Pardo posted the letter and the signatories on his blog. Bloch is due back in U.S. District Court in D.C. on March 10th at 2:30 p.m.

Eric Holder, Scott Bloch