Sen. McKinney Renews Call for Bill to Combat Govt. Waste & Fraud

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield) has renewed his call for the General Assembly to pass legislation creating an Office of Inspector General that would be charged with rooting out and eliminating fraud and corruption in state and municipal government.

The bill received a Mar. 10 public hearing in the state legislature’s Government Administration and Elections Committee.

Senator McKinney has called for the creation of such an office several times, and has sponsored, supported and testified in favor of legislation.

“The purpose of an inspector general is to combat waste, fraud and inefficiency in government,” Sen. McKinney said. “This office would have the taxpayers’ backs.”

Under the proposal, the state inspector general would:

• Have broad authority to conduct audits and investigations of all facets of state government
• Have direct access to all records of state agencies
• Have power to subpoena information and documents
• Receive and respond to complaints from agency employees, whose confidentiality would be protected.

“At the State Capitol, we talk a lot about the importance of government transparency, but we rarely do anything to improve it,” Sen. McKinney said. “This is my last session in the Connecticut General Assembly. I have proposed creating a state Office of Inspector General in every legislative session since 2003, often with Democrat co-sponsors. But despite numerous scandals, allegations of state government waste, and abuses of state government offices resulting in fines, resignations and even imprisonments, this proposal has been rejected every single year. In many of those instances, Connecticut investigated possible wrongdoing after the fact. An inspector general’s office would be empowered to conduct preemptive inspections, potentially preventing fraud and abuse before it happens.”