Will Senate Kill Inspector General?

Watch How Senate Votes on Funding Louisiana Office of Inspector General

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana House has eliminated the entire $1.7 million budget of the Office of Inspector General, the only non-political law enforcement agency in the state charged specifically with prosecuting corruption in state government.  Inspector General Stephen Street said Monday, “They told me when I took this job that if I did it right, they would try to close us down, and that’s happening.”

PHOTO: Inspector General Stephen Street (right) and chief investigator Greg Phares (left)

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Just when you think Louisiana has turned the corner and is putting the past behind, you realize it hasn’t.

Politics never seems to change, perhaps because it involves people, and people don’t change, do they?

A few years ago, Gov. Buddy Roemer created the Office of Inspector General to ferret out corruption in state government.  In 2008, Gov. Bobby Jindal went to the legislature and, for the first time, placed the Office of Inspector General in the statutes and gave it real law enforcement powers.  Since then, Inspector General Stephen Street and chief investigator Greg Phares have come down hard on governmental corruption at the state level.

With a budget of only $1.7 million, they are the only independent law enforcement agency in state government that is charged with fighting governmental corruption — without having to consider the politics of what they find.

Now the House Appropriations Committee, at the urging of Rep. Joe Harrison of Napoleonville, has stripped the Office of Inspector General of its entire budget and left its continued existence in question.  Harrison’s argument is that the office is “duplicatory” of other law enforcement agencies.

We don’t buy that argument.

This is not about getting rid of duplication in state government.  This is about shutting down the one law enforcement agency that can look at political corruption and go after it — regardless of who it is!

In the past year alone, the Office of Inspector General uncovered more than $3.5 million in fraud and waste, and there are many cases still under investigation.

I’m looking at an article from the Mar. 29, 2012, edition of the Baton Rouge Advocate.  It is entitled, “Louisiana Worst in Corruption.”

It says, “Louisiana ranked No. 1 in public corruption conviction cases per capita in the 2000’s, according to a recently published report in a national magazine that analyzes government policies at all levels.”

“Governing Magazine compiled U.S. Justice Department data from 2001 to 2010 about the number of public corruption convictions — government officials found guilty of corruption in office — in each state.”

The records showed that in the 10 years from 2001 to 2010, Louisiana had 384 public officials convicted of public corruption — more than any other state per 100,000 people.

Think of it: 384 of our public officials convicted of public corruption in just the past 10 years!

Now is not the time to shut down the Office of Inspector General.

Rather, this is a time for the Inspector General and his staff to redouble their efforts.

The Louisiana Senate will soon vote on whether to restore the funding of the Office of Inspector General, and every citizen of Central should be watching closely to see how each of our senators votes.

A vote in favor of funding this important agency will save our taxpayer dollars, help eliminate corruption, and improve our quality of life and our business climate.

A vote against funding the Office of Inspector General is a vote to revert to the bad old days of open and widespread corruption.

Louisiana is already No. 1 in the number of crooked public officials.  Shouldn’t that wake us up?

The vote in the Senate will be on an amendment to HB 1, the general appropriations bill.

Let’s keep our eyes open for this vote and hold our elected officials accountable!

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Dramatic Changes in Our Schools. Over the next few days, Central Middle School and Central Intermediate School will close their doors and begin the move to the new Central School Complex.

What an exciting time for our students and our teachers!  Our community has pulled together and worked very hard for this moment to come.

Now the School Board has appointed Sandy Davis and Jason Fountain as the new co-principals at Central Middle.  After one year, Mrs. Davis is scheduled to become assistant superintendent, and Mr. Fountain is supposed to become principal at Central Middle.  The two have achieved great things at Tanglewood Elementary, the highest performing elementary school in the state, and we expect no less in their new roles.

Meanwhile, the School Board will need a new principal at Tanglewood — big shoes to fill.  Supt. Mike Faulk said he is considering hiring a temporary principal from within the school system or perhaps hiring a retired school administrator to fill in for a year.

Supt. Faulk said, “In order to avoid the problems we had in the selection of a new Central Middle principal, we need to go through an orderly process of advertising, doing background checks, and interviewing candidates.  We don’t have time to do that between now and August.  That’s why I may recommend a temporary appointment to give us time to fill this important position permanently.”

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News, from his column, Country Living in the City