Whether or not you liked the outcome of the first impeachment of President Trump, you’d have to agree the allegations about his intimidation of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy would have never surfaced in the same way if not for a whistleblower complaint made public.
Indeed, the New York Times published the entire whistleblower complaint against Trump in September 2019, months before the impeachment trial began.
It is the best example I can think of why complaints of government malfeasance and malpractice should be made public, to assure that allegations by insider whistleblowers get a proper airing.
The Connecticut state auditors, with an endorsement from Attorney General William Tong, would, however, like to make sure that whistleblower complaints about government misdeeds here never see the light of day.
The auditors have proposed, in Senate Bill 1154, which got a public hearing Monday, that the complaints be exempt from disclosure laws. The law would also accomplish some other policy changes on the auditors’ wish list.
The auditors tried to exempt the whistleblower complaints in the last session of the General Assembly, but the bill died in the House after clearing the Senate.
I have a strong personal interest in making whistleblower complaints public, since it was a report of a whistleblower complaint at the Connecticut Port Authority that provided the first clue of the corruption at that agency that is now part of a wide-ranging federal criminal investigation.
In fact,...
Patricia White, 70, of Old Greenwich, received a nine-month prison sentence for submitting false claims for unclaimed properties to around 30 state treasuries. HARRISBURG, Pa. — Months after her br...