Down To Just 3 Senators Who Refuse To Say If They Anonymously Killed Whistleblower Bill
from the counting-down dept
A few weeks ago, we noted that WNYC's On the Media's attempt to out the Senator who put an anonymous block on a bill to protect whistleblowers, had narrowed down the list to just five Senators. Since then, two of the five remaining Senators -- David Vitter and Mitch McConnell have both said that they did not put the secret hold on the bill. So that leaves just three Senators, each of whom have been contacted multiple times and refuse to say. Here's OTM's summary:Jon Kyl (AZ)
730 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-4521Number of times contacted: 18
Notes: 3-2-2011 – Have yet to make contact with Senator Kyl’s Press Secretary Ryan Patmintra. Several messages have been left with the office. A caller spoke to a staffer named Nat on 1-18-2011 who didn’t think Sen. Kyl was responsible, but could not confirm. Since 2-17-2011, three constituents have received the following letter in reply to inquiries about his role in killing the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act: “Thank you for contacting me about the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (S.372) . The Senate passed S. 372 on Dec 14, 2010 and the House passed a different version of the legislation on Dec 22. With only hours left in the session, the Senate did not have sufficient time to review the House’s changes and reconcile the differences between the two bills. “
There are some claims that Senator Kyl indirectly admitted that he put the hold on the bill, but that may be reading too much into his statements. That's based on the statement (also included above) where he did suggest that there wasn't "sufficient time to review" the House's changes to the bill. Either way, supporters of the bill have pointed out that whether or not this is an admission, it's a completely bogus reason:
Jeff Sessions (AL)
335 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-4124Jeff Sessions Website Contact Page
Number of times contacted: 15
Notes: 3-2-2011 – Jeff Sessions aide Caroline explained to caller on 1-19-2011 that anonymous holds are 'anonymous' and that he is 'very private.' Subsequent calls have gotten similar responses. Have yet to get a response or make contact with Press Secretary Sarah Haley.
James Risch (ID)
483 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-2752James Risch Website Contact Page
Number of times contacted: 14
Notes: 3-2-2011 – Press Secretary Kyle Hines, as well as other staffers have repeatedly told callers that the Senator does not comment on Secret Holds. Hines has said "That's his policy - that's his right" "He just doesn't comment on them." He told caller he would follow up with the Senator on 2-22-2011, and got back to the caller to confirm that the Senator would not comment.
3-4-2011 - Senator Risch's office continues to refuse comment on the secret hold. Brad Hoaglun, Senator Risch's spokesman sent the following email: "Senator Risch's policy has been to not comment secret holds. Although the rules have changed for this Congress he is still holding firm to his policy as it pertains to the last Congress."
Senator Kyl's response to Arizonans, without further explanation, is woefully disingenuous, since the Senator had more than sufficient time to review the content of the bill. In fact, his office had approved the remaining legislation just weeks prior to this final vote.No matter what, it appears that sooner or later it's going to be revealed who put the secret hold on the bill.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: james risch, jeff sessions, john kyl, protections, secret holds, senate, whistleblower
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
The one with the justification prepared and sent out or one of the other two?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Isn't "why" more important than "who"?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Why?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And that will change what? Exactly, nothing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Think the Senator will get jailtime?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
ROFLOL... US senators... truth... it will snow in hell before you get any real truth out of any of them
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And no, I won't provide a citation, it's well documented.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why is this even possible?
It's one thing to answer questions about their personal lives with a "none of your business", but these are laws, which by definition are both their job and everyone's business.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Why is this even possible?
Well at this point all three are equally guilty. If they won't come clean they have ALL claimed the blame and are officially Bastiches who deserve primary challenges.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Why is this even possible?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Because the two most likely people to have done it are still on a very very short list.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Funny how that works.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who was it?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Whistleblowers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
great
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
comm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]