Department of Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser mistreats whistleblowers in the federal bureaucracy and should be fired by President Obama, according to a trio of nonprofit government watchdogs.
The groups — including the Project on Government Oversight, Government Accountability Project and National Whistleblowers Center — said in a letter made public Thursday that Zinser attacks whistleblowers and protects underlings who join him in suppressing employees who come forward with information about waste and fraud in government.
“IGs are supposed to root out fraud, waste, and abuse—a job they would not be able to do without whistleblowers. If there is anyone in government who should understand the importance of utilizing and protecting whistleblowers, it is an IG,” the groups told Obama.
“This is why it is particularly worrisome that there have been multiple allegations and investigations of Mr. Zinser’s own retaliation against whistleblowers. A 2013 report by the Office of Special Counsel found that Mr. Zinser had shielded two top deputies charged with threatening two employees with retaliation if they blew the whistle on mismanagement at the Commerce IG’s office,” the groups said.
The groups told Obama that the oversight subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has demanded an explanation from Zinser of his handling of the two deputies, his past actions regarding whistleblowers and the circumstances surrounding his hiring of other senior aides.
Zinser was also accused in the letter of concealing from the Senate during his confirmation hearings his role in retaliation against a Department of Transportation whistleblower. A recently discovered 1996 report by the Office of Special Counsel described Zinser’s actions in the case as “draconian in nature” and “motivated by animus,” the groups said.
Zinser’s problems with whistleblowers have not gone unnoticed. The Washington Examiner reported in December 2014 that “in 2013, the Office of Special Counsel rebuked Commerce IG Todd Zinser for coercive tactics used by his top deputies to secure gag orders against four departing employees.”
In response to the letter, Zinser told the Examiner that “the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman referred this matter to the Council of Inspectors General in December 2014. I also asked the council for a review in April and June of 2014. We cooperated with the review of the U.S. House science committee and we will cooperate with the Council of Inspectors General.”
This story has been updated to reflect Zinser’s response.
Mark Tapscott is executive editor of the Washington Examiner.
