Jeff Ruch
Of Counsel

Jeff Ruch

Jeff serves as Of Counsel to PEER, where he specializes in civil service, scientific integrity, and whistleblower protection issues. Jeff was PEER’s Executive Director from 1997 to 2019 and its Pacific Director from 2019 to 2025. Previously, he was the Policy Director and a staff attorney at the Government Accountability Project, representing whistleblowers from both the public and private sectors. Before coming to DC, Jeff worked in California state government for 17 years, mostly in the State Legislature as counsel to various committees where he drafted hundreds of laws on topics ranging from energy conservation to the rights of employed inventors. Jeff served stints as a deputy district attorney and an appellate court clerk. He is a graduate of the California Correctional Officers Academy.

BLOG | New Age of Impunity: Trump’s Relentless Attack on Oversight

by | May 22, 2020
Trump's firing of the State Department’s Inspector General should send a shiver of fear down the spine of every oversight functionary left in Washington ...

BLOG: Sliming Lincoln’s Memorial

by | May 7, 2020
Interior Secretary Bernhardt ordered the Lincoln Memorial closed so that President Trump could give an interview on the current pandemic ...

BLOG: EPA Should Sit Out Earth Day This Year

by | April 20, 2020
Recent actions by the Environmental Protection Agency’s current leadership cast a sad reality- the EPA should sit out Earth Day this year ...

Can National Parks Practice Social Distancing?

by | April 13, 2020
The still-unfolding pandemic has underlined the public health risks that national parks and refuges pose both to the visiting public and their own employees. How can national parks dedicated to attracting crowds operate in a new era of social distancing ...

National Parks Epitomize Trump COVID Inconsistency

by | April 8, 2020
As more than 100 national park units have closed, hundreds more remain open in an uneven handling of COVID-19 by the Trump administration ...
Phone: 202-265-7337

962 Wayne Avenue, Suite 610
Silver Spring, MD 20910-4453

Copyright 2001–2025 Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility

PEER is a 501(c)(3) organization
EIN: 93-1102740