By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
Like many other former soldiers, I learned during my 22 years in the Army and Kentucky National Guard that the best way to get someone’s attention in the chain of command was to say you were taking your complaint to the “IG”.
Those initials strike fear in the heart of military commanders and other top leaders because the letters stand for Inspector General. That system also is used in state government and by some corporations.
Inspector Generals outrank everyone and have unfettered authority to investigate any and all alleged mismanagement, particularly involving the big three ills of fraud, waste and abuse.
A negative finding by an IG can get you fired, demoted, suspended with or without pay, forced to reimburse whatever funds you wasted or even sent to jail or prison, depending on the nature of the misdeed involved.
That’s why I am baffled by President Trump’s decision to authorize the firing of 12 federal IGs last Saturday night, especially those from most of the largest departments in the federal government.
This so-called “Saturday night massacre” robbed us taxpayers of the services of individuals already trained in spotting fraud, waste and abuse in the massive federal bureaucracy.
Now it will take time to find and train other competent persons who can help the Trump Administration ferret out those we really don’t need in Washington or any other workplace in the world with folks on our federal payroll.
My educated guess is that those 12 IGs and perhaps many others who work for Uncle Sam had been patiently waiting for a leader like President Trump who clearly has expedited the process of “Making America Great Again” by fixing things in government that don’t function for the common good…and trying to do so as quickly as possible.
All this talk about smaller government reminds me that some media wag once wrote that finding ways to fix the federal government was like eating hospital Jello – the more you chew, the bigger it gets.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.
