Yesterday, Delaware State Senator Colin Bonini responded to a constituent via email about an initiative he wants to create in Delaware. It is an idea that is so simplistic, but it makes perfect sense. He wants to create a “Does It Work?” program which would lead to the creation of an Inspector General in Delaware. This is exactly what Delaware needs. Our budget is out of control. Education funding has little to no oversight. Our State Auditor seems to be asleep at the wheel as he put his chief investigator on leave for the most bogus of reasons. With Markell leaving his post in January, the education mafia in our state will lose a lot of power. They know this.
Bonini just shot way up on my interest list. Carney has been relatively mute with actual ideas. He is too busy planning for his assumed reign to actually get out and talk with the people in a public forum. Out of all the candidates for Governor, Carney is the only one that has not reached out to me. Colin has, Lacey Lafferty has, and so has Sean Goward. Sorry Carney, your response form letters don’t count. The invite to talk is still there, but if you want to squander that opportunity, don’t get mad when I write about you like this.
Bonini needs to get his ideas out now. He needs to be very vocal as of yesterday. This is an excellent idea, and I am looking forward to hearing more about it. Now some might say this was in the planning stages already by the Joint Finance Committee. The same JFC who knew this year would be a tight budget year, but kicked the can down the road another year to take a “serious look” at things. I don’t have faith in the JFC led Democrat tag team of State Rep. Melanie Smith and State Senator Harris McDowell that others may have.
This is what Bonini wrote:
Reality is that it’s very difficult to get reliable information from the bureaucracy. One of the main reasons I vote no on the budget, in addition to the growth in spending, is the lack of accountability in our state government. I am rolling out an initiative in the next several weeks called the “Does it work?” Initiative which will call for the creation of an Inspector General’s office and the requirement that each program in State Government, large or small, be evaluated every year as to efficiency, and most importantly, effectiveness.
We have the right to know where our money is going and whether it is being used for what it’s supposed to be used for. We also have a right to know whether the expenditures are actually producing results.
Way to go Colin!
The Season Of Myths 
Just so you know, Inspector General idea has been around for well over a decade. First strongly pushed by GOP but blocked by their own AoA Tom Wagner who set out competing legislation to give his office those powers instead of creating the new postition and essentially killed the bill.
Currently, Mark Blake, GOPer running for NCC CE 2016, discussed the idea just last night at the Hockessin debate, a position targeted for New Castle County.
And a friend told me that it is a part of military protocol that every base has an Inspector General who keeps things under control.
I have always liked the idea.
LikeLike
Though Inspector Generals have an appeal, there is also a dark side. For example, if appointed (most are), a state inspector general would be most likely controlled by the governor. If you disagreed in priorities with your governor, a governor appointed Inspector General might be a liability. In states that do have them ( feel free to browse), they focus on non political issues to avoid political ones.. It is rare (I have found none) where an inspector general goes against his boss. Particularly check Kansas, where of all places, one would have much ammunition to find on ones boss. In our situation, having a theoretical inspector general in this administration focus on educational issues, their goal would be demonize teachers, not those corporate thieves easily absolved by sending money over to the governor’s campaign, or offerring false promises of future out-of- government employment….
Bottom line… If you like your governor and want to enhance his power. Go Inspector General. If you don’t like your governor and don’t want any more power in his hand, boo Inspector General….
Look up Inspector General Rehnquist for a memory of Inspectorship Gone Wild…
LikeLike
And, don’t write off a future Governor Lafferty … she actually has a better resume than Bonini. For one, much stronger anti Common Core… as well as a much, much, much bigger heart for children….
LikeLike