Pol bid to shield whistleblowers
As President Trump rampages against whistleblowers in the nation’s capital, a Bronx pol is seeking to strengthen protections for those who try to shed light on officials’ wrongdoing in the city.
Under the status quo, the only whistleblowers who get protections are city workers and contractors who collaborate with the Department of Investigation. The agency, in turn, has unlimited time to evaluate whistleblowers’ complaints of getting backlash from bosses.
A new category of whistleblowers — those who cooperate with City Council investigations — would qualify for protections under forthcoming legislation from Councilman Ritchie Torres.
His bill also would give the Investigation Department 90 days to evaluate individuals’ complaints of suffering on the job for dropping a dime on city corruption.
“Donald Trump’s assault on whistleblowers is an occasion to take a hard look at our own whistleblower laws, which are woefully inadequate,” Torres told the Daily News.
“Whistleblowers have never felt more inhibited,” he added. “The outrageous conduct of Donald Trump has had a chilling effect on whistleblowers throughout the country.”
Torres plans to introduce the legislation this Thursday, as the impeachment inquiry of the president rooted in a whistleblower complaint continues in Congress. Trump has attacked the unidentified whistleblower, suggesting he’s a traitor, since the emergence of a complaint outlining Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into helping dig dirt on leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Torres also pointed to an example closer to home, saying ex-Deputy Commissioner Ricardo Morales’ experience illustrates shortcomings in the city’s whistleblower law.
Morales was fired after he complained that City Hall was inappropriately intervening on behalf of a campaign donor to Mayor de Blasio who owed thousands in back rent on his Queens restaurant. His lawyer has also said he was a “scapegoat” for shady activity around the flipping of Rivington House, a nursing home for HIV and AIDS patients on the Lower East Side.
Morales, who’s suing de Blasio and the city, applauded Torres’ legislation, especially the measure mandating that the Investigation Department evaluate whistleblowers’ complaints of on-the-job backlash within 90 days.
“The fact that you put a time piece on it as against just having an open-ended piece is very important,” he said. “It shows that there’s focus and there’s a legislative mandate instead of executive discretion.”
If the agency fails to make a determination within 90 days, it has to provide a written explanation, under Torres’ bill.
“The legislation is only the beginning of a much larger effort to revamp the city’s whistleblower law,” Torres said.