The Carpetbagger Report: The Not-So-Special Counsel

There were signs early on that Scott Bloch’s tenure at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel — the independent agency created to investigate whistle-blower complaints — was going to be problematic.

Among the first moves Bloch made at the office was to remove references to sexual orientation from a discrimination complaint form, training slides, a brochure titled “Your Rights as a Federal Employee,” and other documents. The motivation was pretty obvious — it’s harder to protect gay government employees from discrimination if the government’s lawyers delete information about their rights from official documents.