2010

One of Darlene Fitzgerald's long-time allies says she will have a tough race ahead of her as a Democratic candidate in the 2010 U.S. Senate race, but argues Fitzgerald is just the person to handle the burden.

"She is running as an extreme long shot. There are serious questions whether Darlene is cynical enough for politics," said Tom Devine, the legal director of the Government Accountability Project (GAP). "But, she is proving again that she throws all her energy into what she believes is right, whether it is quote-‘realistic' or not."

Devine and Fitzgerald have worked together for nearly a decade, as advocates for whistleblower's rights. GAP functions as the nation's foremost organization involved in that effort, and Devine initially encountered Fitzgerald after she went public with her criticisms of the U.S. Customs Agency - her former employer from which she resigned in 1999.

She resigned from her duties as a special agent alleging undue pressure from her supervisors after she questioned the suspension of a drug trafficking investigation. Since then, Fitzgerald has served as an activist calling for expanded rights for federal whistleblowers.

"She became one of the premiers of a wave of DHS [Department of Homeland Security] whistleblowers. We call them the Paul Revere whistleblowers who said "the terrorists are coming - we're not prepared!" said Devine. "She's been almost a personal hotline to other whistleblowers, making herself available to help them emotionally survive what can be a horribly traumatic experience when they are going through the retaliation."

While Kentucky may be focusing on this year's U.S. Senate competition between incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) and businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville), one candidate is already gearing up for a shot at a Senate seat in 2010.

Former U.S. Customs agent and self-proclaimed "national security whistleblower" Darlene Fitzgerald announced on Tuesday that she will run for the seat of U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Southgate) a Democrat in the next federal election cycle in the Bluegrass state.

"I am going to be one less person in Washington who can neither be bought off or bullied," Fitzgerald told PolitickerKY.com.

Fitzgerald enters the political fray spending several years pushing for "whistleblower" protections for federal government employees.