Commentary

Of Counsel

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 | Rebalancing Checks and Balances: How to Curb Executive Abuse

by | April 25, 2025
President Trump has conclusively demonstrated that the executive branch cannot be trusted to police itself in following the law ...

COMMENTARY | National Parks or Jurassic Parks? Conservation Trump Style

by | April 22, 2025
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum suggests that technology can replace the role of habitat and intact ecosystems in the survival of wildlife ...

COMMENTARY | Climate Hope & Public Employees in the Age of Trump

by | April 16, 2025
The Trump Administration’s assaults against efforts to preserve a livable climate are breathtaking in their ambition. What can public employees and ordinary citizens do to help maintain climate hope during this critical time ...

COMMENTARY | Public Lands Unprotected: The Impact of Department of the Interior Law Enforcement Firings

by | April 11, 2025
With understaffing of law enforcement officers and rangers already a severe problem, the new wave of terminations is exacerbating under-enforcement into crisis status ...

COMMENTARY | Overlooking the Obvious: Red King Crab Collapse Due to Overfishing

by | March 26, 2025
NOAA claimed that the primary cause of the Bering Sea red king crab's collapse was warming seas caused by climate change rather than overfishing. A new NOAA study puts the lie to that alibi ...

COMMENTARY | Trump and the IGs – From Watchdogs to Lapdogs

by | March 25, 2025
The role of the Inspector General requires political independence to function properly. That independence is now irretrievably lost ...
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