This post originally appeared at https://reforminggovernment.org/irg-launches-center-for-investigative-oversight/

Will promote accountability, transparency and conservative governance at state and local level

Delafield, WI – Wisconsin is witnessing an alarming trend in executive and bureaucratic failures, as well as claims of power for which there is no support in our constitution or statutes. In recent years, there have been unprecedented delays in processing unemployment insurance applications, unlawful invocations of emergency power, a failure to keep track of billions of dollars of federal funds given to schools during the pandemic, and many other instances of questionable activities in both state and local governments.

Wisconsinites are, justifiably, asking who is responsible for finding out why this is happening. And they want to know how we can hold our government accountable for these failures.

Today the Institute for Reforming Government announced the launch of the Center for Investigative Oversight (CIO), a new division of IRG aimed at promoting accountability, transparency and conservative governance in Wisconsin by conducting and supporting rigorous, independent and objective oversight of state government.

Managed by IRG’s Chief Legal Counsel and Director of Oversight, Anthony LoCoco, the CIO will help to discover the sources of dysfunction within state government; reveal the results to the public; and work to ensure the proper people are held accountable.

Anthony LoCoco, Director of CIO: “For too long, the power of government oversight has remained unrealized in Wisconsin. Building off of IRG’s previous work that received national attention, the IRG Center for Investigative Oversight will play a pivotal role in providing public, nonpartisan research and legal analysis about oversight and accountability in the Executive Branch.”

The CIO’s major 2023 initiatives will include building off of IRG’s previously released report, Lawmaker’s Manual for Legislative Oversight, that serves as a roadmap for the legislature to utilize its constitutional and statutory powers of oversight and also publishing independent investigative reports within the executive branch and in local government.

CJ Szafir, CEO of IRG: “Since its founding, IRG’s core mission has been to educate and inform people about the barriers and red tape of state and local government. I’m excited that the new CIO takes our mission to the next level. Hardworking Wisconsinites need to know that their taxpayer dollars are being spent efficiently and constitutionally – and our CIO will do just that.”

To learn more about and subscribe to receive updates on the Center for Investigative Oversight, please visit the IRG website.