Whistle-Blowers: Road Is Hard, Rewards Are Few

Who are the dissenters, the rebels, the brave souls who blow the whistle on government and corporate wrongdoing?

Forget all your stereotype notions about conscience-stricken liberals or graduates of 1960s protests who remember fondly their long-haired-radical days.

A typical whistle-blower is about 50 years old, never demonstrated in the ‘60s, has been at the same job for many years and is conservative in personal style and political outlook.

“They are true believers, convinced that their agency or the company they work for will do the right thing, and they become shocked and angry when it doesn’t work out that way,” says Louis Clark, director of the Government Accountability Project, which has defended 2,000 government and business whistle-blowers against retaliations, demotions and firings in the last 20 years.

The GAP just published “The Whistleblower’s Survival Guide: Courage Without Martyrdom,” a tough-minded look at the rewards and perils of being a dissenter.

“My observation is that ‘60s people tend to be cynical when they take a job,” Clark said. “They expect that corners will be cut. But people who blow the whistle are very different. If something goes against their professional standards, they just won’t accept it.”

A sampling of whistle-blower revelations:

* A veterans hospital police chief beat patients.

* The Hanford Nuclear Reservation site in Washington state spilled 440 million gallons of contaminated waste.

* California was systematically underpaid royalties on oil pumped by corporations from federal lands.

Federal laws promise protection for whistle-blowers, defined as people who disclose information about gross waste or mismanagement, illegal behavior, abuse of power or danger to public health and safety. They can be people working in the government or employees at private companies with government contracts.

Ernest Fitzgerald, fired by the Pentagon for revealing billion-dollar cost overruns on military aircraft contracts in the ‘70s, had a more poignant description of what whistle-blowers do. He called it “committing the truth.”

These rebels within the system have a hard road to travel, the GAP guide affirms. A Justice Department worker recalls in the book that “suffering through whistle-blower retaliation teaches you a lot about your own strengths and weaknesses, about what really matters in life, about who your friends are and about what human beings are capable of doing to each other in even the most civilized of settings. It is a life-altering experience.”

The stakes are high. “I am struck by how few people in their 20s and 30s are whistle-blowers,” said Danielle Brian, director of the Project on Government Oversight, which first revealed the losses of hundreds of millions of dollars in oil royalty payments for California.

It is tragic, she said, that the dissenters “are the people who have the most to lose. It’s a drag being a whistle-blower.” Often, they have kids in college and are too old to start a new career, she noted.

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On rare occasions, a whistle-blower strikes it rich. Individuals can bring suits on behalf of the federal government under a 1986 amendment to the Federal False Claims Act, passed to combat profiteering during the Civil War. The lawsuits allow individuals to get 10% to 30% of funds recovered by the government for fraud. One former corporate official got $22 million in a defense fraud case.

But these financial windfalls are scarce compared with the opprobrium that is the fate of many whistle-blowers, the GAP guide warns. “Realistically, the odds of cashing in from a whistle-blower suit are akin to winning the lottery. The odds of painful and protracted reprisal, on the other hand, are a good bet. It would be wiser to invest in the lottery; you will not get fired for losing or risk being blacklisted in your profession even if you win.”

For those who see something wrong at work and are daring enough to take action, the book offers a sober strategy. Talk to your family about what you are going to do. Check discreetly to see if other people are upset and are willing to be your allies. Keep a diary of events at work, with names and dates. Identify and copy all records to support your claims.

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And then consider your conscience, nerves and stomach before going public, the experts say. “We don’t encourage people to do this, because we don’t want it on our conscience that someone took a great risk and was not prepared for it,” said Clark, who was a Methodist minister and pastoral counselor before becoming a lawyer who defends whistle-blowers.

When a would-be rebel comes to the GAP’s offices, Clark and his staff try to determine if the person has the guts and stamina to handle the hardships that accompany dissent. Perhaps the issue is worthy of grand exposure but the individual is too weak a vessel. “If we think they can’t handle the stress, we say, ‘Don’t do it,’ ” Clark said.

He wants today’s Paul Reveres to make their warning rides without getting thrown from their horses.

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Times staff writer Robert A. Rosenblatt writes from Washington about economic, financial and aging issues.

Whistle-Blower Contacts

* Government Accountability Project: (202) 408-0034; www.whistleblower.org/gap

* Project on Government Oversight: (202) 466-5539; www.mnsinc.com/pogo

* Taxpayers Against Fraud: (202) 296-4826; www.taf.org