Washington ? Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch met with White House Counsel Fred Fielding on Thursday as he pushed ahead with an ambitious inquiry into White House political operations.

“I came away believing that the White House intends to cooperate and was glad to open channels of communication,” said Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel.

Bloch said he and Fielding set up procedures his agency would use in a probe that will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, some of the missing White House e-mail correspondence, and the distribution of political information to Cabinet agency managers.

A relatively tiny agency with 106 employees, Bloch’s office enforces laws to protect federal whistleblowers and prevent discrimination. It also enforces the Hatch Act, which generally prohibits the use of federal resources for campaign purposes and protects the civil service from political coercion.

Block, a Bush appointee who previously lived in Lawrence, Kan., is facing a barrage of criticism. He has been at odds with liberal groups and advocates for whistleblowers and gay rights – and some White House officials.

Activist groups called for Bloch to step aside, saying he himself is under investigation by the Bush administration for allegedly intimidating agency employees, discriminating against gays and lesbians, and for his record of enforcement of the whistleblower law.

“What we have here is a mutual investigation society,” said Beth Daley of the Project on Government Oversight, an activist group that monitors government contracts and other activities. “Scott Bloch cannot possibly investigate the White House while it is investigating him.”

Bloch, who previously worked at the Justice Department on a faith-based initiative task force, rejected those suggestions, saying the two-year-old inquiry of his operation was without merit and has nothing to do with the Hatch Act violations he is pursuing.

He said the unfolding investigation of the White House political operation would be led by James M. Byrne, another attorney in the office.

Byrne is now setting up a task force to handle the inquiry.