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.

Perils of Public Service: Oklahoma City Bombing Omens Gathering Again

by Jeff Ruch | October 29, 2024
As in the mid-90s, anti-government sentiments are running rampant. But today, these paranoid fantasies are fed by ever-growing doses of misinformation pumped into ever-present social media ...

Maryland’s Renewable Energy Law: Are Reforms on the Horizon?

by Tim Whitehouse | October 28, 2024
Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson announced he would sponsor a bill to remove trash incineration from the state’s definition of renewable energy ...

Transitioning to Renewable Energy the Right Way

by Tim Whitehouse | October 25, 2024
As the country builds out renewable energy projects, our goal is to ensure that renewable energy development avoids intact ecosystems and heritage sites ...

Project 2025: Are We Headed Toward An Extreme Public Lands Agenda?

by Chandra Rosenthal | October 15, 2024
Project 2025, the authoritarian playbook for a future Republican administration, would give the extraction industries nearly unrestricted access to public lands ...

Salmon and Orcas Die in Regulatory Gap – Stormwater Contaminants Poisoning Puget Sound Marine Life

by Peter Jenkins | September 9, 2024
Washington’s Puget Sound is an ecological treasure, yet its native salmonids and other aquatic life are facing increasing peril ...

Lead Ammo Harms Wildlife and Undermines the Mission of Our National Parks

by Chandra Rosenthal | August 30, 2024
More than 130 park wildlife species are exposed to or killed by ingesting lead or prey contaminated with lead ...