More inspectors general necessary to fight Illinois’ corruption woes

For far too long Illinois politicians haven’t done enough to address a public corruption epidemic that has wreaked havoc on the state’s image and the pocketbooks of its taxpayers. Illinois consistently ranks in the top five states for public corruption, and a recent study estimated the cost of corruption in Illinois at nearly $1.4 billion...

For far too long Illinois politicians haven’t done enough to address a public corruption epidemic that has wreaked havoc on the state’s image and the pocketbooks of its taxpayers.

Illinois consistently ranks in the top five states for public corruption, and a recent study estimated the cost of corruption in Illinois at nearly $1.4 billion per year. A recent Gallup Poll showed only 28 percent of Illinois residents trust in Illinois’ state government. Even Rhode Island’s second-worst score of 40 percent would be a massive and welcome improvement for our state.

One promising solution to Illinois’ corruption problem is increasing the number and power of inspectors general on the state and local level in Illinois.

A public inspector general is a professional investigator of allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, misconduct and violations of the law involving individuals employed by or doing business with the government.

There are far too few of these officials in Illinois, and their powers are often very limited. Only 17 out of the 102 counties in Illinois have an inspector general or auditor position. Most local governments in Illinois share inspectors general or forgo one entirely.

Maybe it’s because inspectors general have a strong track record of protecting Illinois taxpayers and exposing public corruption.

In just the past few months, inspectors general have had a tremendous impact on public corruption cases in Illinois. Gov. Pat Quinn’s $54.5 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative program has been under scrutiny by federal and state authorities ever since Auditor General William Holland issued a scathing audit of the program in February.

In Chicago, Inspector General Joe Ferguson released a report that over the past decade, the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation was inappropriately providing free garbage pickup to more than 1,300 properties in Chicago, costing taxpayers more than $6.5 million per year.

Also, a secret report compiled by the Illinois General Assembly’s inspector general, in the wake of former Metra CEO Alex Clifford’s dismissal, revealed that Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan made many personal requests to the agency to benefit his patronage army.

Inspectors general are among the few public servants in Illinois who have consistently made sure taxpayer dollars are being spent appropriately.

Many agree that inspectors general need the power and independence to adequately do the job of making government accountable to the people. Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson stated in an interview with Governing magazine that he believes inspectors general, or IGs, “should have the power to enforce their own subpoenas, something that his office lacks. He also sees it as important that an IG office have authority over its own expenditures. Chicago’s IG office needs mayoral approval for hiring. In the recent past, ordinary turnover reduced staffing to 60 percent simply because City Hall did not allow the filling of vacancies.”

A number of local governments, including Harvey, Country Club Hills, Dixmoor, Maywood and Sauk Village, all in Cook County, have had serious public corruption problems. In response, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart wants to operate an inspector general office with the power to independently audit “nearly every aspect of that suburb’s government, from policing to spending.” But so far Dart has had to rely on local governments voluntarily agreeing to hire an outside inspector general.

An anticorruption report written by University of Illinois-Chicago Professor Dick Simpson suggests the following solution: “Each county could create a Suburban Inspector General’s Office or a Suburban Inspector General could be created voluntarily by suburban governments that enter into an Intergovernmental Compact and agree to contribute .1% of their budget to fund the office.”

When public corruption is estimated to cost Illinois residents nearly $1.4 billion per year, spending a small fraction of that number on inspectors general that can generate large windfalls in terms of money and reduced corruption is a no-brainer.

If Illinois politicians are serious about fighting our state’s corruption problem they would strongly consider requiring the state and every local government in Illinois to set aside .1% of their budget for an independent inspector general’s office to fight wasteful government spending and corruption.

In the absence of a state law, every local government in Illinois should seriously consider contracting or hiring an inspector general to provide an unbiased look at the operations of their agency.

The people of Illinois deserve better. Inspectors general are an affordable, simple solution that will drive better fiscal performance and help deter and expose government corruption.