Public Health

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.

National Parks Epitomize Trump COVID Inconsistency

by Jeff Ruch | April 8, 2020
As more than 100 national park units have closed, hundreds more remain open in an uneven handling of COVID-19 by the Trump administration ...

BLOG: COVID-19 Power Grab

by Chandra Rosenthal | April 2, 2020
Buried deep in the $2 trillion coronavirus bill, was a change in the tax code that “could result in $170 billion in tax breaks for real estate investors ...

NRC Stages Swift Sweeping Rollback During Pandemic

by PEER |
Vast Amounts of Rad Waste Slated for Disposal by Unlicensed Operators ...

PEERMail | Anti-Science Agenda Getting a Green Light

by Tim Whitehouse | March 30, 2020
Failure to address the pandemic lies with Trump and politicians like Mitch McConnell who have a long history gutting funding of our public health agencies and ignoring the advice of scientists and health advocates ...

BLOG: How Mitch McConnell Gutted the Pandemic Response

by Tim Whitehouse | March 25, 2020
While he has been the Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell has led efforts to cut $1.6 trillion in critical funding for CDC and NIH research. And now, as our public health services are begging for resources to save lives from the pandemic, Americans are living the policy result of Sen ...

PEER Letter to Suspend Action During Coronavirus Crisis

by Peter Jenkins | March 23, 2020
A coalition of more than 90 conservation groups issued a letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt urging the department to "suspend major policy changes, changes to regulations, oil and gas lease sales and public comment periods ...