OPM & The Employee Benefits Lawsuits

The Washington Post's Greg Sargent reported earlier in the day that attorneys for gay federal employees who are suing the government to get benefits coverage for their partners were complaining that the Obama administration, specifically the Office of Personnel Management, had refused their requests to meet to discuss the legal reasoning the administration was using in those cases. I called over to OPM, and Elaine Kaplan, the agency's general counsel, told me that wasn't the case. She says she's talked to Gary Buseck, the legal director for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders who complained to Sargent that the Justice Department had turned down his request for a meeting, and described their conversation as productive. And Kaplan said that she wasn't sure who Jennifer Pizer, the marriage project director for Lambda Legal who complained that OPM had been unresponsive, had reached out to (Kaplan has only been at OPM since March 30), but said she called her and left a message on her cell phone.

"it's my policy to talk to anyone who wants to talke to me about legal cases before OPM," Kaplan told me. "I'd be glad to talk to her, I think it would be very worthwhile."