On today's National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter, I am reminded that he signed the landmark 1978 Inspector General's Act, creating the modern Offices of the Inspector General (OIG) within the federal government. President Carter considered IGs "perhaps the most important new tools in the fight against fraud."
Both the kid in me—for whom fairness was a bedrock principle—and, decades later, the New York State IG in me—for whom fairness continues to be a bedrock principle—could not agree more with the importance of watchdog agencies that ensure integrity in government.
Our government has at its disposal incredible resources generated by the prosperity of our country. These resources help us build strong and complex systems that serve us all, including the most vulnerable among us, but that kind of power means that our government must work hard continually to earn and keep the public trust. Inspectors General are vital to that process.
When I was four years old, as a kid in downtown Manhattan, my mom taught as an assistant teacher at nearby PS 3. One day when her childcare fell through, I went with her to her school and was set up with my doll and crayons to entertain myself in the back of the classroom.
Even now, 40 years later, I can picture a little boy in the classroom who immediately fell asleep at his desk, his head resting in the crook of his arm. The primary classroom teacher said and did nothing about this sleeping child and conducted the lesson, gently awakening him when class was over to dismiss him with the rest of the class.
Once the students were all gone, I overheard my mom ask the primary teacher why she had let him sleep through class, against the rules. The teacher replied: "On the days when he falls asleep, I just let him sleep, because I don't know what the night before might have been like for him."
I was stunned—struck by the injustice of a kid in my own neighborhood whose nights were such that he had to sleep during school.
Inspector Generals' offices must be staffed by people who are constitutionally intolerant of injustice. I have the privilege of leading an office full of investigators, auditors, and attorney who share my bedrock principles, but who also share my commitment to seeing the human side of every case we handle.
The dedicated public servants in my office make a choice every day to bring a commitment to honesty and fair play to their work rather than seek more money in the private sector. It is my colleagues' intolerance of people who would bilk the workers' compensation system, avail themselves of welfare benefits to which they are not entitled, or take advantage of vulnerable New Yorkers under their care, that makes them so good at their jobs.
But it is the nuanced and human side of these principles that direct how we choose to deploy our resources. This is what makes it a pleasure to go to work, knowing that it will be alongside people who share those values.
I'm the parent of a nine- and a ten-year-old now, both of whom find many things— big and small—"not FAIR!" I think today of President Carter's words to a classroom full of children just like mine: "You are free to choose what kind of person you want to be. Every day, with every decision, you shape your character. Be kind, be honest, and be fair—those are choices you can make, and they will define the kind of life you live."
I hope that my own children take the righteous indignation with which they judge their Lego disputes and use it to shape their character around an intolerance to injustice, like my colleagues and the many Americans who have built their lives around a commitment to public service.
Lucy Lang serves as New York State's 11th Inspector General.
All views expressed are the author's own.
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