Good Governance

Senior Counsel

Jeff serves as Senior 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.

Park Service Lack of Transparency Created Its Huge FOIA Backlog

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

PEERMail | What This Election Means

by PEER | October 31, 2022
It's easy to become jaded about elections but climate change efforts, public lands protection, and regulation of toxic chemicals are on the ballot ...

PEERMail | Ending a Culture of Reprisal at USGS

by PEER | October 17, 2022
We are here to protect scientists like Evi Emmenegger who was fired after reporting dangerous biosafety breaches at a wildlife disease laboratory ...

PEERMail | Shocking News on Pesticides

by Tim Whitehouse | October 3, 2022
PEER is urgently asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of PFAS in pesticides ...

PEERMail | Save the EPA

by PEER | September 19, 2022
On September 20, 2022, thousands of people from around the country will take part in a rally outside of the EPA headquarters in DC ...

EPA Routinely Ignores Chemical Risk Calculations

by PEER | August 2, 2022
Workers imperiled by failures to flag serious known hazards ...