BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Well, he hasn’t exactly bitten the dust yet, but as of last report he was being “sequestered in a room” in his office building.  It is almost certain that he will bite the dust, and if all goes as expected, he may be trading his Office of Special Counsel office for a cubicle… more like a cell.

FBI agents on Tuesday raided the offices of Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch, who oversees protection for federal whistleblowers. The agents seized computers and shut down email service as part of an obstruction of justice probe, NPR has exclusively learned.

FBI agents also searched Bloch’s home and a Special Counsel field office in Dallas. A grand jury in Washington issued subpoenas for several OSC employees, including Bloch, according to NPR sources who spoke on condition their names not be used.

Apparently, there is some discussion of Bloch violating the Hatch Act, sending employees to far off offices in retaliation for suspected employees in his office(s) ratting him out, and obstruction of justice. 

Email from OSC offices across the country were shut down early this morning, as six FBI agents raided Bloch’s office.  It seems that while Mr. Bloch has been aware of an investigation, he thought he would tidy up things by hiring “Geeks on Call” to scrub the hard drives of the computers in his office(s) and his home.  Within no time the six agents had called in help to the tune of 20 agents.

The warrant to seize the computers apparently was part of an investigation of whether Bloch violated a Congressional mandate known as the Hatch Act. The act prohibits employees from using their offices for partisan political purposes.

The Office of Special Counsel was created by Congress after the Watergate scandal to protect federal whistleblowers.

Bloch has been a controversial figure since he was appointed by President Bush in 2004. One of his first official actions was to refuse to investigate claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Career employees in his office say Bloch blamed them for leaking the story and retaliated by creating a new field office in Detroit and forcing them to accept assignments there or relinquish their jobs.

Well, the story is still breaking, but I think we can assume that it is time to turn on the old cassette tape and listen to Queen sing “Another One Bites the Dust.”  It is becoming more and more obvious that the Bush administration is attempting to leave a legacy of corruption…. and doing a fine job of it.