Delaware Live | April 24, 2023
by Sam Haut
The idea of creating an inspector general for Delaware united multiple advocacy groups that sponsored a Zoom forum on the benefits of such a job.
On Monday, 71 people attended a virtual forum hosted by the Delaware Coalition for Open Government and Delaware Press Association.
Also sponsoring the call were Common Cause Delaware, Delaware Poor People’s Campaign, Delaware Public Preschool Coalition, the League of Women Voters of New Castle County, Lead-Free Delaware, Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, Network Delaware, New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists and RISE Delaware.
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Stephen Street, Louisiana’s inspector general, said that it’s important for any inspector general legislation to have protections against political meddling.
“And no matter where you land, you’re going to upset some people,” Street said. “It’s just the way it is. And so the IG is there with those protections to be able to wade in and do that job that no one else in a state government position can do.”
Street said that this protection was important as in the process of his investigations, there were attempts by the legislature to remove him, but were unsuccessful because of the protections in place.
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