Woe to the whistleblowers
WASHINGTON
SUSAN WOOD and Bunnatine Greenhouse, senior government officials both, had nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina or the government's disgraceful, tardy response to its horrid aftermath.
But just as inevitably as civic collapse produces price gougers and looters, they are examples of what can go on when the nation's attention is diverted by catastrophe. What can go on is that bad people behave really badly, taking cowardly cover behind the explosion of other news.
Just as Katrina was being upgraded to a dangerous hurricane, Susan Wood's political bosses at the Food and Drug Administration decided to circumvent procedure and probably law to block approval of over-the-counter sales of the birth control medicine known as the morning-after pill. Their actions made the position of this public health official untenable and in an act of commendable integrity she resigned.
Just as Katrina was bearing down on the coast on that fateful Sunday, Bunnatine Greenhouse's bosses at the Army Corps of Engineers, with Donald Rumsfeld ultimately responsible, demoted her for raising objections to contracts awarded more than two years ago to a subsidiary of
As the infuriating aftermath of Katrina continues to unfold, President Bush's habit of not only avoiding responsibility but also attacking other government officials who tell the truth is worth keeping in mind. The habit was formed very, very early. Indeed, the first victim was none other than Mike Parker, a former Mississippi congressman who was fired from his senior position in the Corps after he had the guts to object in public to cutbacks in, of all things, flood control projects in his native region.
The abuse of Wood and Greenhouse was particularly ugly. In the former case, top FDA officials were following a time-dishonored cover-up ritual -- do a dirty deed on a Friday afternoon when it is least likely to get extensive news coverage, but do a really dirty deed when much bigger news is likely to provide weekend cover.
The dirty deed was by FDA boss Lester Crawford, who went back on the word he gave during a controversial Senate confirmation that a decision on the pill would issue by this month. Instead, under political pressure, he put it off for at least two months.
There is no scientific or regulatory basis for his decision. As Dr. Wood has noted in e-mails to colleagues, it came out of Crawford's office with no professional participation. Science says the pill is safe, and drug stores do a very efficient job already carding teenagers trying to buy cigarettes. The morning-after pill is a safe way to avoid up to half the 3 million unexpected pregnancies that still occur annually in this country. The plan Crawford has blocked to appease antiabortion political activists would make it available over the counter to girls over the age of 16 and by prescription to younger girls.
Hopefully, Crawford's move will backfire, now that he has circumvented a biologist whose tenure has been dedicated to informing a range of public health policies affecting women with science, not religious dogma. But he made his move in the political equivalent of the dead of night.
If anything, Rumsfeld and his Pentagon gang were more flagrant. Bunny Greenhouse, a veteran contracting official with membership in an elite corps of top-ranked career civil servants called the Senior Executive Service, simply did her job.
Two years ago, she objected in private to improper procedures in the awarding of a $10 billion contract to the Halliburton unit for the rebuilding of Iraq's oil infrastructure. Among other things, she cited political interference, the participation of Halliburton officials in meetings about the project, as well as the specifics of the no-bid, sole-source, five-year deal. Her objections were referred to the inspector general last fall. She then had the temerity to answer questions this summer at a meeting called by congressional Democrats on Capitol Hill -- one of several such meetings that substitute for the legislative oversight of the executive branch which the Republican leadership refuses to conduct.
For telling the truth Greenhouse was demoted. In order to tell the truth, Dr. Wood resigned. Here's hoping that Katrina only gave Bush and his henchmen temporary cover.
Thomas Oliphant's e-mail address is oliphant@globe.com. 
