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.

COMMENTARY | PEER at Age 30 – Some Perspective

by | January 17, 2023
PEER is based on the somewhat novel idea that public servants can also be activists to advance their agencies’ mission when they fell short ...

COMMENTARY | Park Service’s Inhumane Inertia

by | December 9, 2022
The Biden administration has left several disastrous Trump policies in place - from allowing inhumane hunting practices to not taking action on park crowding ...

Speaker Pelosi’s farewell gift to San Francisco should be a clean Hunters Point

by San Francisco Examiner | November 22, 2022
As U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi enters her last weeks in leadership, she has the unique opportunity to leave her city an invaluable gift that has eluded it for decades — a fully remediated Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The shipyard sits on 638 acres of bayfront property in The City’ ...

Park Service Lack of Transparency Created Its Huge FOIA Backlog

by | November 18, 2022
The National Park Service is drowning in FOIA requests - the backlog has nearly doubled during the past two years ...

COMMENTARY | Countering the Western War on Wolves

by | November 2, 2022
A science-based approach to wolf and predator management is the key to restoring ecological balance in America’s Western lands ...
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