Chuck Grassley: “as my colleagues know, I get a lot of information about wrongdoing in government from whistleblowers. A significant part…”

“as my colleagues know, I get a lot of information about wrongdoing in government from whistleblowers. A significant part of my investigative activity is driven by whistleblower disclosures. To make that very effective, I have directed my investigative staff to cultivate those whistleblower relationships. Whistleblowers share information with me that the government likes to hide from Congress and, indirectly, then hiding it from the American people. Today, I am going to discuss a very concerning problem within the U.S. Postal Service. Based on whistleblower disclosures to my office, I have been alerted that the post office hired a registered sex offender as a letter carrier. The employment was confirmed in writing by that same Postal Service. Based on whistleblower allegations, this employee disclosed his status as a registered sex offender on his job application. If accurate, did the Postal Service then even bother to read his application before he was hired? After the Postal Service figured out what they had done, my office has been told via whistleblower disclosures that they put the employee on paid leave. So I began digging deeper to figure out the extent of this problem at the Postal Service. Since then, the Postal Service has obstructed every effort that I have made to get the information that Congress is entitled to. Wouldn't the American public like to know how many letter carriers are registered sex offenders? Where are they working?…”