One year into her new job, California Inspector General Laura Chick is frustrated with the way government operates yet somewhat optimistic that things can get better in Sacramento. “The dysfunction is alive and well,” the former L.A. City Controller and Councilwoman told the audience at the Valley Industry & Commerce Association Newsmaker Connection event on April 29. “I’m learning to deal with uncertainty.” Chick was appointed in 2009 by Gov. Schwarzenegger to keep track of $50 billion in federal stimulus funds to make sure they were being used properly and fully so no money would need to be returned to Washington. A mandate of her job is that use of these stimulus funds requires full transparency on the part of entities getting the money including the state itself. “Sacramento is struggling with this issue of transparency,” she said. Some officials don’t like her being in Sacramento and she often finds herself being caught between the legislature and the governor. “I never ran for state office because I didn’t want to get involved in partisan politics. Now that I’m up there, boy was I smart,” Chick said. But she added that the state’s bad economic times will hopefully lead to changes in how things are run. “These economic times are the best example of why government needs to find better ways of operating,” she said. But later she said that if Californians didn’t become more aware of issues and get involved in an active way then she didn’t see many changes coming. The inspector general said her office’s responsibilities are to deter, detect and disclose fraud and abuse in the use of stimulus money. “We are going in fast, following the money in the streets,” Chick said adding that not as much fraud has been detected as federal officials had predicted. Most of the problems her office is finding are due to waste and “stupid spending.” She explained this as cities wanting to spend money on things such as water and skate parks when the federal government specified that the money be used for projects such as infrastructure improvements and job training. Chick added that her office looks for the “early mistakes” in using the public money before they become bigger problems. Chick, who was extremely active in exposing waste in city government when she was L.A. city controller, said she believed that the state inspector general position should be made a permanent post in government to root out waste and inefficiency. Currently, her position was created merely as the result of an executive order. The permanent position, however, would need to have real authority, power and independence, she said. “The internal auditing function in state government is broken,” Chick said. She added that she would apply for the permanent post if it was created.
A Year Into New Job, Chick Finds Success, Frustration
