 
Whistleblower Groups are Supporting
Former US
Department of Energy Employee
By Mike Gellatly
Staff writer
July 28, 2008
A former SRS worker convicted of lying to collect federal
retirement benefits has become the friend of those crusading
for open government and accountability.
Martin Salazar worked at the Savannah River Site as an engineer of the best part of 20 years. However, when he filed for early retirement and his credentials were investigated, discrepancies were found - discrepancies that prompted a U.S. District Court jury to find Salazar guilty of making false statements to the Department of Energy.
Though he has been found guilty and sentenced, Salazar has
still not begun his year-long sentence as his conviction is
being appealed, an appeal that has been emboldened by the
support of a few well-known friends.
Eight
independent government watchdogs and accountability-focused
groups have come together to file a brief of Amici Curiae in
support of Salazar's appeal to the United States Court of
Appeals.
Literally translated as "friend of the court," this legal
filing refers to someone, not a party to a case, who
volunteers to offer information on a point of law or some
other aspect of the case to assist the court in deciding a
matter before it.
The Government Accountability Project is a three-decade-old nonprofit group that promotes government and corporate accountability. It does this, according to its website, by "advancing occupational free speech, defending whistleblowers and empowering citizen activists."
The GAP and many other groups see Salazar
as a
whistleblower and someone who was shoved
down for attempts to stand up to the Department of Energy.
"During his nearly 20-year tenure at (DOE),
Salazar was a
relentless critic and activist challenging management on
alleged DOE racial inequity," the GAP brief
states. "In an effort to silence Salazar, the agency brought
... charges against him."
The brief goes on to say that it was this whistleblowing
that prompted DOE to use information they knew previously,
that of discrepancies with his date of birth, to seek
revenge.
However, he claims beyond this case, many other actions were
taken against him tit-for-tat as he filed his complaints.
In the criminal case, Salazar was filing for early
retirement. To claim this, he had to have 20 years within
the company and be at least 50 years of age.
Salazar's believed real birth year was 1957 and not eligible
for retirement at the original date set of August 2005.
However, on these forms, he listed his date of birth as
being 1954.
While Salazar has very recently admitted that he did use the
wrong date of birth on certain forms, his appeal claims that
he was
trapped into doing so by government officials,
specifically DOE officials.
He claims a jury should have been charged with the option of finding him not guilty due to entrapment by estoppel.
"Estoppel" is a term that means that someone has stated
something which they know to be false, but they have been
prompted or coerced into doing so by a government official.
In his case, the former nuclear engineer states that several
DOE officials knew Salazar had more than one date of birth
on documents
but told him
to use the false one to facilitate the retirement claim.
See Original Article
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