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.

BLOG | Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s Autocratic Power Grab

by Peter Jenkins | August 3, 2020
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s Autocratic Power Grab In an obscure announcement on July 22nd about President Trump’s border wall obsession, the Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, stated that he was handing 66 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to the ...

BLOG | Don’t Mention COVID-19 at NOAA

by Kyla Bennett | July 22, 2020
NOAA has informed its employees to avoid mentions of COVID-19 in publicly available documents as the hyper-political White House attempts to win reelection ...

Illegal Indirect Lobbying by Interior  

by PEER | June 18, 2020
Tweet and Video Violate Ban on Propaganda and Grassroots Lobbying ...

BLOG | 43 Steps for the Next Presidential Term

by Kevin Bell | June 11, 2020
The advice the government gets from its formal scientific advisors should be robust and independent, and the government should rely on the expertise of those advisors ...

BLOG | It’s Time to Take on Interior Department Corruption

by Tim Whitehouse | June 2, 2020
In the midst of a pandemic, corruption at the Department of Interior continues with slashed oil and gas royalties and fines on renewable energy companies ...

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

by Jeff Ruch | 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 ...
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