The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. OSC's primary mission is to safeguard the merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing. In July 2013, a federal employee (disabled veteran) went to OSC and disclosed what she believed to be White House vetting improprieties and contract fraud by senior officials at the National Council on Disability (NCD). In March 2013, the White House appointed Jeffrey Rosen, a former NCD employee as the Chairperson of the agency. Shortly thereafter the whistleblower discovered that Rosen had a background of DUI and was previously found guilty of criminal misconduct in the agency, which led to his resignation prior to his punishment in 2007. In 1994, Rosen was stopped in Montgomery County, Maryland for erratic driving. He failed a field sobriety test and, after signing a consent form, failed a breath test. Rosen was then arrested and taken to the station house, where he signed a form that explained his rights and gave consent to a chemical test. The test registered a reading indicating blood-alcohol content above the legal limit. Rosen was given probation before judgment, fined, and ordered to attend six alcoholics’ anonymous meetings as a condition of having his conviction expunged. The question looms “did Rosen complete his meetings” because it appears that his record was not expunged and is public record online. The White House employee involved in Rosen’s vetting was hired within 30-days of Rosen’s appointment as Chairperson and was awarded a $59K pay increase despite not having any relevant position or managerial experience. Managerial experience possessed by this employee was retail experience working in Victoria Secrets. Her lack of experience caused great harm to the agency. Rosen and this employee were also involved in the contract fraud reported by the whistleblower, whereas these individuals were improperly awarding contracts without competition, extending expired contracts and using expired government funds to pay for these contracts. With knowledge of Rosen’s past misconduct, it’s hard to understand how Special Counsel Lerner entrusted him to be honest. Nonetheless, she referred these matters back to Rosen for investigation, which allowed Rosen and other responsible parties to investigate themselves. Special Counsel Lerner purposely omitted pertinent details of the facts prior to referring the matters to Rosen for investigation. And despite having an abundance of evidence to substantiate the whistleblower’s claims of audit and contract fraud, Special Counsel Lerner and her staff lied to the President and Congress in her official report. In fact, Special Counsel Lerner's three (3) page report failed to address many factual and documented issues the whistleblower raised in her comments and the use of expired government funds. Special Counsel Lerner started out lying in her report by stating that “members of Rosen’s in-house investigative team were not implicated in any way in the wrongdoings and could conduct a fair and impartial investigation." She even made defenses for the agency that the agency did not mention in it's report and made false statements against the whistleblower in order to strategically conceal the whistleblower’s official comments to the agency investigative report from the general public by not posting them to OSC’s website. Special Council Lerner had in her possession evidence from agency employees corroborating the whistleblowers claims. In an email to the whistleblower, NCD Council Member Gary Blumenthal, who was named in the wrongdoings and who was a member of Rosen’s in-house investigative team writes “I agree with you that a substantial amount of observations you have made about contracts are clearly accurate.” He goes on to say “you inherited a very problematic set of issues when you joined NCD. Federal procedures, contractual rules and internal controls were minimally respected at best.” Despite Blumenthal’s admission to contract violations, he and other members of Rosen’s in-house investigative team erroneously found no violations during their investigation. In another email, the Legislative Affairs Director “expressed her concerns and the concerns of others flagged over the last couple of years regarding the agency’s IT contract being inadequate. She stated “it was during the course of that review and contrast against solid contracts for the same services that I came to more fully appreciate the concerns the whistleblower’s been raising and how vulnerable NCD is as a result of a less than adequate original contract.” Despite having an abundance of incriminating evidence in her possession, in her report to the President and the Congress, Special Counsel Lerner states “she did not find any violations of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).” And although the Senate Help Committee was given a “sneak preview” of the reports by OSC staff, the committee was encouraged not to take action by Special Counsel Lerner. Special Counsel Lerner stalled releasing investigative findings allowing Rosen time to complete his term as Chairperson without any actions being taken against him. Rosen left office around September 18, 2015 and soon thereafter Special Counsel Lerner conveniently released her findings to the President on September 30, 2015; over two (2) years after the issues were originally reported to her office by the whistleblower. What’s more alarming is in December 2013, the whistleblower disclosed to OSC what she believed to be improprieties with the agency’s 2013 audit. The whistleblower also disclosed that agency employees were destroying incriminating contracting files. However, Special Counsel Lerner’s office took no action, not even to open an inquiry. According to Rosen “Ms. Lerner sent a letter to auditors at the com...

In today's Family Court environment, judges often make decisions contrary to the best interest of children; at times depriving parents of their due process and reaching decisions based on personal bias. This behavior will continue as long as these public servants' power go unchecked and they continue to hide behind their judicial immunity with no oversight and no accountability.

Donald Trump is expressing views at a high level of politic that flies in the face of what America stands for. He has to be removed from government and the country.

In July, 2014, the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) found that New Hope Crushed Stone (NHCS)’s mining activities are creating a public nuisance, and that the PA DEP has a duty to abate and remove public nuisances. On September 11, 2014, the department issued a Technical Deficiency to NHCS, and subsequently issued additional requests for detailed reclamation plans. NHCS has repeatedly failed to comply with this directive. In the last 13 months, NHCS has proposed a reclamation plan which was based on minable reserves rather than addressing the public nuisance issue; this was deemed unacceptable by the DEP. NHCS then claimed they were in compliance; also rejected by the DEP. After several back-and-forth correspondence and meetings, the DEP took the unusual step of issuing a Compliance Order, requiring compliance by October 30. Days before that deadline, NHCS claimed that a change in their management necessitated an extension, despite the fact that over 13 months had passed since DEP initially directed them to comply. The DEP yet again granted them another extension to November 30. Meanwhile the quarry continues to operate, new sinkholes continue to form, and the safety of the public is at risk. Just this week (11/16/15), an emergency permit was issued to repair a sinkhole in Primrose Creek. So far no one has been injured or killed, but the township and its residents simply can’t afford to continue to take these risks. The time for concrete and specific action is here – no more extensions – the quarry must be ordered to comply or halt operations. Enough is enough!

Mayor de Blasio has his own special interest group, the Campaign for One New York - and it is setting a dangerous precedent. As a non-profit organization, One New York collects millions of dollars in large checks from businesses and individuals directly doing business with the City. Using this cash flow, One New York then hires expensive political and PR consultants to promote the mayor’s policies and initiatives. This cycle makes a mockery of our campaign finance laws - which are designed to prevent corruption and conflicts of interest. Tell Mayor de Blasio that NYC residents find this unacceptable – we need to end to One New York now!

Connecticut’s Democratic legislative leaders have proposed cutting off $11.7 million in funding to the Citizen’s Election Program in order to fill in a budget shortfall. This effectively eliminates the nationally acclaimed Citizens’ Elections Program, of publicly financed elections in Connecticut. Please save our Citizen's Elections Program! We must stop this reversal of years of successful campaign finance reform legislation.

Connecticut’s Citizens Election Program has increased participation, diversified the donor pool, helped more candidates of color run for office, and led to policy outcomes more responsive to the needs of the general public than the elite donor class. In bipartisan interviews with public officials, Demos has shown the state’s public financing has helped Connecticut—in policy, representation, and process. Once candidates were no longer exclusively dependent on wealthy donors and businesses, the influence of lobbyists decreased, and elected representatives became more responsive to the public will and passed popular programs such as guaranteeing paid sick leave to workers and raising the minimum wage. And participation in the Citizens’ Election program is extremely high. The 2012, 77 percent of elected legislators participated in the voluntary program and all current statewide offices are held by public financing participants. That’s why this really makes no sense. Let the Connecticut legislature know this is unacceptable.

I am tired of listening to people talk about issues without having any basic understanding of the issue, of history, of facts or reality.

I am in the process of having my dog Molly, trained by a Certified Professional Trainer to become my Service Animal. In September the Department of Veterans Affairs set a policy that will affect me and thousands of Veterans who will be obtaining Service Animals to help them with their disabilities. The VA has chosen just two non profits, one of which is based in the UK, and is primary for Seeing Eye Animals, as the benchmark/certifiers of these animal to become eligible for insurance coverage benefits. By this standard you MUST qualify your animal with a less-than-100-member organization to be eligible for this benefit. These "qualified" organizations are proprietary to their animals and most will not "test" animals from non member trainers.

I am starting this because I feel it is the right thing to do. The Las Vegas Municipal Court has been ripping off the citizens of Las Vegas for years, and it must come to a stop, so please join in and sign this petition so we can let our voices be heard.

Many of us have first-hand knowledge of the sacrifices that our veterans have experienced. For countless veterans, the sacrifices continue. Veterans Day is the day that we as a nation honor our veterans. Yet, veterans employed in the private sector compete for this day off with their non-veteran counterparts. Those veterans are required to use their accrued time off. All veterans should have this day off without reservation.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie just vetoed his state's Democracy Act, a bill which would have automatically registered eligible voters at the DMV, adding up to 1.6 million voters to the rolls, among other crucial voting rights reforms. The Governor’s veto is a step in the wrong direction. But right now, the Senate is considering the REGISTER Act, a federal bill sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would make automatic voter registration the law of the land. Its companion bill – the Automatic Voter Registration Act (introduced by Rep. Cicilline (D-RI)) – is before House members. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to gut the Voting Rights Act, and an ensuing wave of anti-voter restrictions across the states, we need reforms like this one to engage every eligible American in our democracy. Oregon and California are leading the way, bringing millions of eligible voters onto the rolls. Now, call on your senators to follow their lead and co-sponsor the REGISTER and/or Automatic Voter Registration Acts to bring automatic voter registration nationwide.