A longtime state employee identified as Faye Bernstein testified before lawmakers, detailing her experience as a whistleblower and alleging retaliation after raising concerns about contracts within her agency.

Bernstein described herself as a lifelong Democrat and a career public employee with two decades of service.

She said her testimony reflects personal experiences over several years, beginning when she identified what she believed were problematic contracts.

“Chair Niska members, thank you for allowing me to speak today,” Bernstein said. “I'm one of those whistleblowers, and I'm a current state employee, and I'm also a Democrat, Democrat.”

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She emphasized her long-standing affiliation with the Democratic Party.

“I've, I've, I've only voted Democrat, and that's why I think this is a, this is a really sad day for me,” Bernstein said.

Bernstein said she had spent 20 years working at the same state agency and described herself as committed to her job and community.

“I consider myself a very loyal person,” she said. “I have worked at the state agency I'm at for 20 years.”

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She described her career as stable and consistent, noting she had held only a few jobs since graduating from college and had lived in the same neighborhood for many years.

“I've lived on the same block for 20 years,” Bernstein said. “I'm kind of a ride or die person.”

Bernstein said the issues began approximately seven years ago, when she was promoted and gained broader oversight of contracts within her agency.

“So about seven years ago, I noticed risky contracts that I was seeing,” she said.

She explained that her role allowed her to review multiple contracts for the first time.

“I had a promotion, and I, for the first time, was seeing many contracts, more than just my own,” Bernstein said.

Bernstein said she followed internal procedures and raised concerns through the appropriate channels over several months.

“And so I started going up the ladder for the next, next six months, as a person would do,” she said.

However, she said those efforts did not lead to action.

“And so what I found was that I was really kind of getting nowhere,” Bernstein said.

She attributed that response to what she described as a lack of qualifications among leadership.

“So after that, that first thing of noticing these things and realizing I was getting nowhere, I then realized that we had incredibly unqualified leadership,” Bernstein said.

She said her concerns were not understood or addressed.

“Not only did people not really know the solution to what I was bringing, but they really didn't even understand what I was saying,” she said.

Bernstein said her attempts to raise the issues resulted in backlash.

“What actually happened is the messenger gets shot,” she said.

She said she became the target of criticism from leadership.

“I became a very unpopular person amongst leadership there,” Bernstein said.

She described what she characterized as a pattern of retaliation and accusations.

“And the retaliation in the smear campaign is strong,” she said.

Bernstein said she was labeled in various ways, including being accused of racism.

“I was called everything from incompetent to a favorite is racist,” she said.

She said those accusations had a significant impact on her professional standing.

“It is humiliating,” Bernstein said. “It is career killing.”

Bernstein also described interactions with individuals designated to receive reports of fraud within her agency. She said a poster listed three contacts responsible for handling such concerns.

“So I was working with those three names, three people,” she said.

She described a series of actions by those individuals that she said affected her employment.

“One is our ethics officer in the agency I work at,” Bernstein said. “She called me to tell me that if I spoke in front of the legislative committee. That I would like to be fired.”

Bernstein said she was later reassigned to a different role.

“She had me involuntarily transferred to a different a different position to get me out of where I was,” she said.

According to Bernstein, the transfer was presented as mandatory.

“I said, Do I have any choice?” she said. “And the answer was no, it's this or nothing.”

She also described an incident involving an internal auditor.

“And the third person on that list, who was our director of auditing, so he's an auditor, he completely outed me,” Bernstein said.

She said the disclosure led to additional stress.

“I reported fraud to him, and what he did is call up the person I was reporting on,” she said.

Bernstein said the experience took a personal toll.

“I used to sit on the front step of my house and cry because I didn't want him to see me cry,” she said.

She said her testimony was focused on leadership within the agency rather than rank-and-file employees.

“All of my comments and my concerns are really about the leadership and those that have appointed that leadership,” Bernstein said.

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