The Choosing of State Officials in Representative Democratic Mode: Inspector General-By Harsha Sankar

 

Dear Citizen,                                            October 2020

Of the departments of the state's executive branch which should not be chosen by the governor or state legislature, the Office of the Inspector General is the department that should pick inspectors to audit each and every bureaucratic agencies to determine their levels of compliance with federal and state law and also with governor's policies. The OIG then submits its official reports to the governor and state legislatures.

A candidate for Inspector General should not be a participant in any branch of government for at least one year prior to the election. That candidate should also neither belong to any organization that is not publicly announced nor should its contents of its meetings be sealed in secrecy for at least two years prior to the election. Finally, that candidate should not belong to any group comprised solely of any government branch participants.

The governor should accept all the applicants eligible for this position, limit the number of candidates for this position to ten, and then submit these choices of candidates to the lower house(House of  Delegates/Assemblymen). The reason the lower house is the body to review these choices is because they deal with matters which deal with how financial resources are allocated and are spent by each government agency.

The lower house (House of Delegates/Assemblymen) limits the number of candidates to five and then submits that list to the vice-mayor or the vice-chairman of the county board of supervisors of each locality. The Office of Inspector General is a passive agency that does not actively execute law. Therefore, it is incumbent that the cities' vice-mayor or counties' vice-chairman of its board of supervisors, who is designed to have a passive role,to cast votes for this position.

The vice-mayor or county board of supervisors' vice-chairman then decide their choice of candidate and submits its choice to the Governor. The candidate who receives the majority of their votes is declared the Inspector General.

If a candidate cannot get the majority of their votes to choose him or her, then the Top Three candidates are voted on, with a quorum of two-thirds, by the upper house(state senate) of the state legislature. It is important to involve this specific house at this stage since they have not had previous involvement. The candidate who receives the majority of votes from its members is declared the Inspector General.

If a candidate still cannot get a majority of the upper house(State Senate) votes, then the Top Two candidates who received the highest number of  their votes are voted on by the lower house(House Of Delegates/Assemblymen). The lower house at this stage will be involved again in the selection of the Inspector General as the majority of its members, with a quorum of two-thirds, makes final decision.

Harsha Sankar
Virginia, USA