South Carolina Governor creates Office of the Inspector General

March 11, 2011

By Greg Janetka

Gov. Haley announces the creation of the new office

COLUMBIA, South Carolina: Gov. Nikki Haley (R) created the position of Office of Inspector General through an executive order (dead link) on Friday. George Schroeder, former Director of the South Carolina General Assembly's Legislative Audit Council, was named to the post.

According to the executive order, the mission of the State Inspector General will be "To detect, expose and deter fraud, waste, mismanagement, misconduct and abuse in the programs and operations of all executive agencies." The position reports directly to the governor and executive agency heads, with auditing work to be done by the current financial staff in Cabinet agencies.

In announcing the new position Haley cited examples of waste and abuse that have been recently exposed in state government agencies, stating that the ultimate goal will not be simply exposing such problems, but rather preventing them. She stated, "We have a lot of state employees who see fraud and they want to tell someone and don't have anyone to tell... so, now we are going to have an office of Inspector General where there will be an 800 hotline where they can call directly." Haley expects the hotline to be setup by the end of March.

While the office will investigate cabinet-level agencies, the governor said she is attempting to lead by example and hopes the General Assembly will pass legislation that would allow the Inspector General to search for waste and abuse throughout state government.

Schroeder served as chair of the Fiscal Crisis Task Force during Governor Haley's transition. Prior to that he was Director of the Legislative Audit Council for 33 years. Schroeder said he felt this is a position that the state has always needed and called his appointment to the position "a wonderful opportunity."

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