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A federal judge refused this week to issue a summary ruling that would reinstate former National Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers, instead giving her a hearing date in September.

In a preliminary ruling, Judge Elizabeth Bogle of the Merit Systems Protection Board said Chambers' did not prove that she engaged in protected whistleblowing activity and, therefore, would not be reinstated.

"The board's jurisdiction to order a stay of a personnel action is limited to personnel actions allegedly based on reprisal for whistleblowing," Bogle wrote in the ruling. "The Whistleblower Protection Act is not a weapon in arguments over policy, or a shield for insubordinate conduct."

Chambers was officially fired July 9 after being on administrative leave since December 2003. The Park Service placed her under a gag order and on administrative leave after she told the Washington Post that her agency faced budget and staffing shortfalls. Chambers immediately contested the actions against her and filed legal challenges with MSPB, the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia and the Office of Special Counsel.

Lawyers for Chambers were unhappy with the MSPB ruling this week, but look forward to her hearing date, which is tentatively set for Sept. 8.

"This decision means we did not land a knockout blow with the first punch," said Richard Condit, general counsel for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which is representing Chambers. "At the hearing, the burden of proof will be on the agency to show why telling the truth is grounds for removal from federal service."

PEER representatives expect to examine several top officials under oath during the hearing, including Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Interior Assistant Secretary Steven Griles, National Park Service Director Fran Mainella and Park Service Deputy Director Donald Murphy.

In taking action against Chambers, Murphy charged her with improper budget communications, making public remarks regarding security on federal property, improper disclosure of budget deliberations, improper lobbying, failure to carry out a supervisor's instructions, and failure to follow the chain of command.

Bogle also discounted the Washington Post story on Chambers' comments, which ran Dec. 2.

Based on her review of the article, Bogle said she was unable to determine that Chambers disclosed any information about a violation of law, rule or regulation. She added that legal counsel for Chambers stated in written testimony that some of the statements attributed to Chambers were not accurate and others were paraphrased.

Return to Roots

After a brief stint at a private law firm, Elaine Kaplan, who has made a career of protecting whistleblowers disclosing waste, fraud and abuse at federal agencies from retaliation, is returning to the National Treasury Employees Union.

Kaplan worked for NTEU, a union representing 150,000 federal workers, for more than a decade before President Clinton appointed her to head the Office of Special Counsel in 1998. In five years as Special Counsel she earned a reputation as an advocate for whistleblower rights, overseeing several high-profile investigations.

Under Kaplan's leadership, OSC took on the case of Donald Sweeney, an Army Corps of Engineers economist whose disclosures are reshaping the way the Corps plans multibillion dollar water projects. Kaplan also defended two Border Patrol agents who disclosed security problems on the U.S.-Canada border after Sept. 11 and a special agent with the Federal Aviation Administration who alleged mismanagement in a team that reviewed airport security before Sept. 11.

"When I arrived at OSC, my impression was that the staff of the agency had a bit of a bunker mentality, because the agency had been under siege for years; in fact, whistleblower groups and others had called for its abolishment," Kaplan recalled Thursday.

In an effort to change that mentality, she engaged in press outreach, developed educational programs and identified "opportunities to pursue cases that would have an impact beyond the specific individuals involved."

OSC is charged with reviewing allegations of government waste, fraud and abuse. The office also protects federal employees against unfair personnel practices, including discrimination and whistleblower retaliation, and prosecutes violators of the Hatch Act, a law restricting the political activities of government workers.

Kaplan succeeded in taking "an activist stance both in protecting the rights of federal employees and in educating the members of the federal workforce about the meaningful rights and remedies, through OSC, that are available to them," said NTEU President Colleen Kelley in a statement announcing the former Special Counsel's return to the union.

In turn, Kaplan said that at OSC she gained "an opportunity to grow as a leader" and a chance to meet a number of "key players" at other federal agencies and on Capitol Hill. She returns to NTEU on Aug. 2 to fill the position of senior deputy general counsel.

"I enjoyed the experience of heading up [OSC], but I did miss being able to appear in court to argue interesting and important cases on behalf of federal employees, as I had done for many years at NTEU," Kaplan said. "I am looking forward to getting back to that."