On January 28, 2009 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a highly controversial amendment to the stimulus bill which included whistleblower protections for federal employees. Although endorsed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her floor speech, this amendment faces opposition in the U.S. Senate.
The National Whistleblowers Center has three experienced whistleblower advocates/attorneys, Stephen M. Kohn , David K. Colapinto , and Michael D. Kohn , available for interviews to discuss:
* Why whistleblower protections are critical to ensure oversight and accountability in stimulus spending;
* The conclusions of a PricewaterhouseCoopers international audit of 5400 companies which found that whistleblowers were the single most important source for detecting corporate fraud;
* Department of Justice findings that whistleblowers were responsible for 67% of all civil fraud recoveries obtained by the United States.
AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS
Stephen M. Kohn is the President of the National Whistleblowers Center and one of the nation’s foremost experts in whistleblower law. He has written six books on whistleblowing, including the first legal treatise ever published on the subject. Since 1984, Mr. Kohn has successfully represented whistleblowers in numerous cases high profile cases, such as the O.J. Simpson murder case, the World Trade Center bombing cases, the Oklahoma City bombing case and the Linda Tripp Privacy Act case. For more information on Stephen M. Kohn click here.
David K. Colapinto is the General Counsel of the National Whistleblower Center. The co-author of Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees,Mr. Colapinto is a highly experienced and highly successful litigator who has represented numerous whistleblowers including FBI Dr. Frederic Whitehurst,. Mr. Colapinto is responsible for the lawsuit that forced President Clinton to issue a historic directive granting whistleblower rights to FBI employees. For information on David K. Colapinto click here .
Michael D. Kohn is the General Counsel for the National Whistleblower Center. He has represented whistleblowers since 1985 in numerous high profile cases, and is currently lead counsel for Bunny Greenhouse, the former top-contracting officer of the Army Corps of Engineers who blew the whistle on an illegal no-bid contract awarded to Halliburton for the Reconstruction of Iraq. Mr. Kohn is the co-author of The Labor Lawyers Guide to the Rights and Responsibilities of Employee Whistleblowers and Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees. For more information on Michael D. Kohn click here
To view the whistleblower provision in the House stimulus bill click here.
To view the Statement of Speaker Pelosi click here.
