Bunny Greenhouse

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Do not underestimate Army Corp of Engineers whistleblower Bunny Greenhouse. A stern, elegant woman who favors sprawling floral lapel pins, she could be mistaken for the schoolteacher she once was. And, don’t think that time and retirement have tempered Greenhouse. The woman who objected to no-bid contracts for Iraq War contractors still has something to say.

Tonight, Friday June 28, the CBS show “Whistleblowers” includes a segment on her story as part of the last episode of the season. The program also includes an interview with Michael D. Kohn, a board member of the National Whistleblower Center and one of Greenhouse’s lawyers.

Bunny Greenhouse

“I never considered myself as a whistleblower,” she tells host Alex Ferrer. “I was doing the work I had taken the oath of office to do. But I still became the skunk in the park.”

Bunnatine Greenhouse was in charge of procurement for the Army Corps of Engineers and she took her job seriously. In 2003, she objected to a secret, no-bid contract guaranteeing Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, billions of dollars for services related to the invasion of Iraq. Unsatisfied with the response to questions she raised, she took her concerns to Congress in 2005. Thus began a long battle between Greenhouse and the Corps. She was demoted, her glowing job evaluations turned sour and she was sidelined.

Still, she tells Ferrer: “I learned to not let fear paralyze me.”
Continue Reading Tonight, 6/28: “Whistleblower” on CBS features military procurement whistleblower Bunny Greenhouse

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Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered that the Army Corps of Engineers must answer for its decision to withhold top-secret security clearance from whistleblower Bunnatine (Bunny) H. Greenhouse.

Bunny Greenhouse was the Corps’ top procurement officer when she objected to the Bush administration’s no-bid contracts for Halliburton subsidiary KBR. When Ms. Greenhouse was scheduled to testify before a Congressional Committee during the Bush Administration, the Army Corps’ then acting General Counsel personally advised Greenhouse it would not be in her bests interests to do so. She was swiftly removed as the Army Corps’ Procurement Executive when she ignored that warning.   The Corps also refused to renew her top-secret security clearance (TSSC) on grounds that her new job did not require any clearance.

Ms. Greenhouse filed a lawsuit to get her old job back.  In a ruling yesterday, Judge Sullivan overruled the government’s motion to dismiss Ms. Greenhouse’s claim for her TSSC.Continue Reading Judge Says Army Must Answer For Retaliating Against Bunny Greenhouse

Today the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard from whistleblowers, their advocates, and even an administration official about the need for convincing remedies for federal employee whistleblowers.   Committee Chair Edolphus Towns (D-NY) opened the hearing with an encouraging word about the prospects for Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), H.R. 1507. He indicated that he had positive signs from the Senate and the administration about getting improved whistleblower protections passed this year. It remains to be seen if these protections will provide full court access, including jury trials, and coverage for national security employees, as is already provided in Title VII cases, and is now proposed in the current text of H.R. 1507. Bunny Greenhouse spoke about how the current law failed to protect her.  She added, “I am well versed in how poorly it works when it comes to federal sector whistleblower protection.”  Here is a photo of Michael German (ACLU), Corinne Kohn (Friends of Whistleblowers), David Colapinto (National Whistleblowers Center), Angela Canterbury (Public Citizen) and Michael D. Kohn (National Whistleblowers Center).

House Committee attenders

Continue Reading Whistleblowers and experts testify to House Committee

 My client Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse has issued a letter to the American public asking them to support the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA). Her letter comes on the eve of her testimony tomorrow to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 10:00 am at Hearing Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

"I will be explaining how whistleblower protection is essential to deter contractor fraud and wasteful military spending," Bunny says.  The first time Bunny testified to members of Congress, she explained how Army brass pressured her to approve no-bid contracts for Halliburton, and how she objected.  After she testified, she was stripped of her position in the Army Corp of Engineers’ Senior Executive Service, as the Procurement Executive. Here is a photo of Bunny, with her lawyers, Michael D. Kohn and David Colapinto.

 Bunny Greenhouse with her lawyers, Michael D. Kohn and David ColapintoContinue Reading Bunny Greenhouse asks citizens to support enhancement of whistleblower laws

As you know, we have been waging an intense campaign for new whistleblower protection laws. We have experienced recent victories and setbacks. And now, prominent whistleblowers like Bunny Greenhouse are calling us all to action. Throughout this campaign, our staff has been incredibly impressed with the level of support shown by our blog readers…

On Wednesday, behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, House and Senate leaders hammered out a deal to pass the economic stimulus bill. Both the original House and Senate versions of this bill included protections for employee whistleblowers. By Wednesday evening, news sources such as Talking Points Memo were reporting that the whistleblower provisions in the…