Group honors GSA's IG, other whistleblowers

Thirty former and current government employees and contractors who took action against corruption, incompetence and ethical abuses during the current presidential administration are praised in a new report from the nonprofit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.Brian Miller, the General Services Administration inspector general who repeatedly clashed with former GSA Administrator Lurita Doan, is one of those recognized in the report, titled “Those Who Dared.”The report details Miller's work in helping the government win a False Claims Act settlement of $98.5 million against PeopleSoft, which had been charged with making incorrect price disclosures during negotiations with GSA. Miller also investigated Sun Microsystems, leading to his head-butting with Doan and Sun's cancellation of its GSA contract.CREW also recognized other IGs, including John Higgins at the Education Department, Earl DeVaney at the Interior Department and Glenn Fine at the Justice Department.Those honored include Marty Bahamonde, a public affairs official from the Federal Emergency Management Agency believed to be the only FEMA staffer on the ground in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck; Bobby Boutris of the Federal Aviation Administration, who testified to Congress on lax enforcement of regulations; former national security adviser Richard Clarke; former Deputy Attorney General James Comey; FBI counterintelligence official Pasquale D’Amuro; Col. Morris D. Davis, former chief prosecutor for terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay; and former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds. “The people identified in this report stood up and did the right thing, risking their jobs and, in some cases, even their lives. Some have already been recognized as heroes, while others have been vilified for daring to say what no one else would,” CREW wrote.The organization intends to honor each month a federal employee who has fought corruption.