Commentary

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.

COMMENTARY | Evisceration of the Federal Communications Commission NEPA

by Guest Contributor | December 22, 2025
The FCC is on the verge of promulgating NEPA rules that would further weaken its already skeletal NEPA rules and further exempt itself from NEPA obligations ...

COMMENTARY | Trump and Congress Just Gifted Big Oil a Multimillion Dollar Stocking Stuffer

by Guest Contributor | December 19, 2025
As Congress recesses this week, it quietly gave the oil industry a multimillion dollar tax break by allowing the 9 cent-per-barrel oil tax into the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to expire on December 31 ...

Building Accountability Back Into Government: Why It’s Essential for the Environment and Public Health

by Tim Whitehouse | December 18, 2025
At PEER, we believe restoring accountability is among the most urgent environmental and public health challenges of our time. It is also a challenge we know how to meet -- if we choose to strengthen, rather than silence, the institutions designed to keep the government honest ...

COMMENTARY | Environmental Attacks Continue at Full Speed; Much of it Under the Radar

by Tim Whitehouse | December 9, 2025
Several major rollbacks show a government being redirected to serve a narrow set of industries at the expense of the public ...

COMMENTARY | Confronting the Rise of Authoritarianism

by Tim Whitehouse | November 6, 2025
The the fate of our work protecting public employees and the environment is dependent on our ability to combat the rise in authoritarianism and promote democratic values in our country ...

COMMENTARY | East Wing Demolition Metaphor for Trump Governance

by Jeff Ruch | October 27, 2025
The bulldozers and backhoes have razed the East Wing of the White House to make way for President Trump’s big, beautiful ballroom. Characteristically, Trump has barreled ahead, heedless of the law, tradition, or concerns about historic protection and good taste ...
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