Tamarah Grimes

Former Department of Justice Paralegal in Alabama

DOJ Fires Whistleblower On Siegelman Case

The Justice Department fired whistleblower Tamarah Grimes, left, formerly a member of the prosecution team in the case against former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, in June 2009. DOJ ousted Grimes after six years of employment shortly after she wrote a 10-page letter to Attorney General Eric Holder outlining her concerns about the fairness of that prosecution and mismanagement of her office.

More than a year later, Alabama journalist Roger Shuler compared the Obama administration's continued mistreatment of Grimes to the apology it provided to fired Georgia U.S. Department Agriculture worker. In his piece Shirley Sherrod Is Not The Only One Who Has Been "Put Through Hell," Shuler wrote: "A former U.S. Department of Justice whistleblower in Alabama, who has been without a job for more than a year, says the Sherrod story presents evidence of an ugly double standard from the White House. Tamarah Grimes, in essence, is saying, 'Hey, Shirley Sherrod is not the only one who has been put through hell. What about the rest of us?' We think Grimes has a good point."

DOJ fired Grimes eight days after she wrote her letter. Grimes remains without a job and says she has faced significant financial and emotional stress. Shuler quoted Grimes as telling him:

I find the hypocrisy of the White House in its apology to an ousted USDA worker--and immediate "unique" offer of employment--appalling. What about the injustices perpetrated upon defendants and whistleblowers?"

Grimes had dared confirmed others' doubts in key respects about the most controversial federal prosecution of the decade. DOJ's treatment of her prompted many news articles, including by the Justice Integrity Project in a series of exclusive in-depth interviews last summer. The Justice Department, meanwhile,said its firing was not because of legally protected whistleblower activities. Justice Department spokesman Tracy Schmaler said, "The Department takes seriously its obligation under the whistleblower law, and did not violate it with regards to the termination of this employee. For privacy reasons, it would be inappropriate to comment any further on this personnel matter at this time."

"As a federal employee with a previously exemplary record, the decision to engage in protected activity and file whistleblower claims under the 'No Fear Act' was a careful decision made of necessity and conscience," Grimes responded. "In consideration of necessity, as federal employees, we are continuously reminded of our duty to report waste, fraud, abuse and misconduct. We are assured that the U.S. Department of Justice is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) workplace. We are even offered "safe conduits" for making EEO and whistleblower claims."

She continued:

It is my hope that any federal employee who may be considering a decision to engage in protected EEO or whistleblower activity under the "No Fear" Act will learn from my example. In reality, there is much to fear from filing an EEOclaim or a whistleblower claim under the "No Fear" Act and there are no "safe conduits" for making such claims. Ultimately, there is little value in the performance of your duty as a federal employee, or even as a loyal citizen of the United States, if the result is loss of your security clearance and termination of your federal employment. The knowledge that you have admirably performed your duties as a federal employee cannot pay the mortgage or buy food for your family when you are rewarded with whistleblower retaliation.

I am the second employee to be terminated from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Alabama for opposing unlawful conduct in the workplace. A third employee awaits her fate after seeking relief from violence in the workplace. The message to those left behind is clear: The price for opposition at any level, is at a minimum, termination.

My hope is that my plight will serve as a warning to other federal employees contemplating EEO or whistleblower activity. In my xperience in the Middle District of Alabama, at the agency level, the decision to engage in protected EEO or whistleblower activity requires that you enter the agency's arena where federal law and regulation is subject to interpretation by agency counsel. Rules of evidence do not apply. Constitutional protections and guarantees afforded to every U.S. citizen must be waived under threat of disciplinary action, up to and including termination of federal employment.

The Justice Integrity Project presents below the Tamarah Grimes story, including Justice Department rebuttals and comment by outside observers. One of the latter was Dana Jill Simpson, an Alabama attorney who stepped forward in 2007 to provide a sworn statement that she had inside information that Siegelman and Scrushy were being framed by DOJ and powerful political leaders. In an interview in July 2009, Simpson told our project that she'd never met Grimes or tried to talk with her despite their similar concerns about both retribution to whistleblowers and the ongoing operations of the federal justice system in Alabama.

After the DOJ announced July 21, 2010 that its special prosecutor Nora Dannehy had vindicated department personnel of criminal wrongdoing in the unprecedented 2006 mid-term political purge of U.S. attorneys the Justice Integrity Project published investigative reports showing that, unknown to the public, Dannehy herself was implicated by a federal appeals court in suppressing evidence in a major political corruption prosecution.So was her Connecticut colleague, John H. Durham, whom DOJ had named special prosecutor on potential torture related misconduct. Nieman Watchdog broke our report under the headline New Questions Raised About Prosecutor Who Cleared Bush Officials In U.S. Attorney Firings, with the essentially the same story republished in Connecticut Watchdog, OpEd News and Huffington Post. Harper’s/No Comment legal analyst Scott Horton then published: More on the Latest DOJ Whitewash.

Meanwhile, Bush administration Middle District U.S. Attorney Leura Canary remained in office as of this writing in July 2010 despite her role as being implicated by both whistleblowers in improper behavior and her admitted role as wife of William Canary, 2002 campaign manager of Siegelman's opponent for governor. Simpson said her house was burned and car was run off the road since she stepped forward.

In late 2008,Grimes provided internal documentation to the Senate Judiciary Committee that contradicted the claims of U.S. Attorney Leura Canary and Acting U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin regarding the recusal of Leura Canary, as well as documents regarding known juror misconduct that was not disclosed to the judge or defense counsel.

"I think that woman's a hero,” Jill Simpson said of Grimes. “She came forward knowing she was going to get fired in all likelihood. And isn't it amazing,"Simpson added, "that the big-shots who sent innocent people to prison around the country are still on the government payroll?"

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