McKinney, noting apparent IRS agenda targeting Patriot-Tea Party groups, renews call for CT inspector general

This from State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, who cheered on the recent revelation about the IRS’s targeting Tea Party and Patriot conservatives, as exposed by J. Russell George, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration.

McKinney: “The continued success of federal inspectors general in rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in government should give the Connecticut legislature pause. The IRS scandal represents a reprehensible abuse of government power and without the watchful eyes of an independent inspector general, it may have gone unchecked. We should provide the same protection to taxpayers here in Connecticut.” In recent years, McKinney has proposed a state office of inspector general who would have “broad authority to conduct audits and investigations of all facets of state government; access directly all records of state agencies; subpoena information and documents; administer oaths when taking testimony; and receive and respond to complaints from agency employees, whose confidentiality would be protected. Every day we read about government becoming more secretive, more political, and less accountable to the public.  An Office of Inspector General helps to ensure government transparency and make sure your hard-earned tax dollars are being spent wisely. Taxpayers would be the greatest beneficiaries of a state Office of Inspector General.”

McKinney said that in 2011, federal inspectors general identified $93.9 billion in savings from audit recommendations and investigative recoveries, produced 6,500 indictments and made over 6,000 successful prosecutions, according to the Annual Report of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.