He left Lawrence and landed in a top-ranking job in the Bush administration.

Now, attorney Scott J. Bloch is once again a lightning rod for criticism. This time from the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay organization that Wednesday began demanding Bloch be sacked. Bloch, who worked 15 years for Lawrence’s Stevens & Brand law firm, now heads the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

“Scott Bloch is a rogue official,” said Chris Barron, spokesman for Log Cabin Republicans. “He should be replaced.”

The national organization representing gay and lesbian Republicans on Wednesday began a campaign urging President Bush to fire Bloch.

The campaign, Barron said, was sparked by Bloch’s testimony last week to a U.S. Senate subcommittee. Bloch told senators his office lacked the authority to protect federal employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

“We are limited by our enforcement statutes as Congress gives them,” Bloch said in response to a question from Sen. Carl M. Levin, D-Mich, according to The Washington Post. “The courts have specifically rejected sexual orientation as a class protection.”

When asked by Levin whether he would recommend that Congress clarify the law, Bloch declined to take a position, according to The Post.

New interpretation

Federal law prohibits employment discrimination based on race, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability and political affiliation. It does not apply to sexual orientation, Bloch said.

But Barron blasted Bloch’s interpretation, saying the special counsel has the legal firepower to safeguard against gay discrimination, if he wanted to use it the way his predecessors have.

“He says he doesn’t have statutory authority, but he knows that since 1974 – the Richard Nixon era! – federal law has been interpreted to prohibit discrimination against federal employees based on sexual orientation,” Barron said.

“And yet, 30 years later, Scott Bloch shows up and decides he no longer has authority. It’s absolutely outrageous.”

Bloch

Barron said Bloch’s office was not investigating reports of discrimination that involve sexual orientation.

Calls seeking comment from Bloch or his spokeswoman Cathy Deeds in Washington were not returned Wednesday.

Counter to White House

Barron said Log Cabin Republicans’ outrage was compounded by Bloch’s apparent disregard for an April 2004 statement from White House officials that, in part, read: “Long-standing federal policy prohibits discrimination against federal employees based on sexual orientation. : President Bush expects federal agencies to enforce this policy and to ensure that all federal employees are protected from unfair discrimination at work.”

Log Cabin Republicans endorsed Bush’s 2000 election, Barron said, after receiving assurances from campaign officials that sexual-orientation protection would be extended to federal employee.

“We are asking the Bush administration to remain true to its word and put an end to the sideshow that is Scott Bloch,” Barron said.

Bloch, a Lawrence native, graduated from Kansas University with a bachelor’s degree in 1980 and a law degree in 1986. He practiced law at Stevens & Brand for 15 years before accepting a position with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001.

While at the Justice Department, he had oversight of the Bush administration’s faith-based initiatives.

KU graduate shares experiences from D.C., Special Counsel Office (10-01-04)

Democrats protest handling of gay discrimination policy (04-01-04)

As special counsel, Bloch is responsible for protecting the rights of federal employees, whistleblowers, soldiers and veterans.

An ultraconservative

Tim Metz, a former Lawrence attorney who worked with Bloch at Stevens & Brand, said he wasn’t surprised by Bloch’s stance or the controversy surrounding it.

“His comments aren’t surprising,” Metz said. “He’s been ultraconservative a long time. He’s following that pattern.”

Metz, who now resides in western Colorado, said Bloch “was a nice guy” but that he was passionate about conservative Republican causes even while working at the law firm in Lawrence.

“I can’t think of a guy I disagree with more on politics,” Metz said.

Previous controversy

Bloch is no stranger to controversy since he went to work for the Bush administration.

¢ Earlier this year, a Senate panel admonished him for his handling of an internal reorganization during which 12 career employees were given 10 days to accept transfers to other cities or be terminated. He extended the deadline only after complaints from some lawmakers.

Several employee advocacy groups have accused Bloch of targeting workers who had been critical of his management style. Bloch denied the allegations.

¢ In February 2004, Bloch incensed gay advocates by removing language from his agency’s Web site and training literature that said gay and lesbian workers could not be discriminated against. Gays said then that was evidence Bloch had no intention of safeguarding gays from discrimination.

“We simply said, “We’re going to enforce the law as written,” Bloch told the Journal-World later that year. “There was a huge, unnecessary hullabaloo about it.”

¢ This past February, Bloch drew heat from a federal employees’ organization, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The group was angry that Bloch’s office had dismissed more than 1,000 whistleblower cases.