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The Art of the Watchdog : Fighting Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Corruption in Government
- Author / Creator
- Available as
- Online
- Summary
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Expert advice on how any citizen can fight government fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption.
- Format
- Books
- Language
- English
- Contributors
- Publication
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- 1st ed
- Bielefeld : State University of New York Press, 2014
- ©2014
- Series
- Physical Details
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- 1 online resource (356 pages)
- ISBNs
- 9781438449302, 9781461951452, 9781438449296, 1438449305, 1438449291, 1461951453
- OCLC
- ocn862812436
- Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1 The Watchdog -- Why Oversight Matters -- Liz Holtzman's Efforts to Uncover Nazis in America -- Step 1: The Whistleblower -- Step 2: The First Hearing -- Step 3: Document Review -- Step 4: Public Call for Action -- Follow Up and Follow Through -- Conclusion: The Art of the Watchdog -- Chapter 2 What is Oversight? -- Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Corruption -- Fraud -- Waste -- Abuse -- Corruption -- Accountability: Compliance and Performance -- Who Are the Watchdogs? -- Legislative Oversight -- Auditors -- Inspectors General -- Other Appointed and Elected Watchdogs -- Investigative Reporters -- For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Government Watchdogs -- Citizen as Watchdog -- Oversight: Protective to Adversarial -- Conclusion -- Chapter 3 Tools of the Watchdog -- Audits and Investigations: An Overview -- Standards for Government Audits and Investigations -- The Audit and Investigative Process -- The Audit Process -- The Investigative Process -- Achieving Reform -- Conclusion -- Chapter 4 Limitations on Oversight -- Tilting at Windmills -- "Greed is Good" -- "The Pursuit of Absolute Integrity" -- Prevention versus Enforcement -- Practical Limitations on Oversight -- Access to Information -- Cost -- Political risk -- Conclusion -- Chapter 5 Congressional Oversight -- Why Congress Investigates -- When Congress Investigates -- How Congress Investigates -- Who Investigates -- Standing Committees on Oversight -- Fiscal Committees -- Other Standing Committees -- Select Committees -- The Glory Days: Truman and Kefauver Committees -- The Truman Committee -- The Kefauver Committee -- The Model of the Senate Watergate Committee: Protecting the Constitution -- Faded Glory -- Protective Partisanship and Less Oversight -- The Consequences of Faded Glory: National Security and Economic Collapse -- "Politics by Other Means"
- The Practice of Congressional Oversight: A "Lone Wolf" and A "Lame Duck" -- "Lone Wolf ": Oversight of the Summer Food Program -- Oversight of Abuse of Power by a "Lame Duck": The Firing of the US Attorneys -- Conclusion -- Chapter 6 Government Accountability Office -- From Accounting to Accountability -- The GAO Today -- Ensuring Independence, Resources, and Power -- Overseeing the Overseers -- What Does the GAO IG Do? -- Conclusion -- Chapter 7 The Federal Inspector General System at Thirty-Five -- Federal IGs Today -- Origins of the Federal IG System -- Congress Makes a Law -- Carter and Reagan IGs -- IGs Under Bush I -- IGs Under Clinton, Bush II, and Obama -- Conclusion -- Chapter 8 State Legislative Oversight -- An Overview of State Legislative Oversight -- Role of the Standing Committee: New York Assembly Committee on Correction -- Oversight of Budget and Operations -- Oversight of Abuse and Localized Management Deficiencies -- Role of Special Oversight Committees: Iowa, Texas, and New York -- Iowa Joint Oversight Committee -- Texas Bexar Water District -- New York State Assembly Subcommittee on City Management and Committee on Oversight and Investigation -- Administrative Rules and Regulations Review Committees and Commissions -- Conclusion -- Chapter 9 State Inspectors General -- State Inspectors General: An Overview -- Federal and State Partnership: Medicaid and Welfare -- School Lease Fleece: The School Construction IG -- Conclusion -- Chapter 10 Other Elected and Appointed State Officials: Comptrollers, Auditors, and Attorneys General -- Comptrollers, Treasurers, and Auditors -- Attorneys General -- A State Comptroller Audit: Abilities! -- Federal Oversight by a State Attorney General -- Conclusion -- Chapter 11 Local Legislative Oversight -- Oversight at the Local Level -- The Rise and Fall of Adrian Fenty
- The Council Investigation of Gray -- Conclusion -- Chapter 12 Local Auditors and Inspectors General -- The Local Audit Function: An Overview -- What Gets Audited and What Audits Say -- The Relationship between Structure and Auditor Independence -- Local Inspectors General -- Chattanooga vs Wall Street -- Conclusion -- Chapter 13 Other Elected and Appointed Local Officials -- Blue Ribbon and Permanent Oversight Commissions -- Local Oversight and Law Enforcement -- An Ombudsman's Approach to Police Oversight -- Conclusion -- Chapter 14 The Role of the Press -- Investigative Journalism: From Nelly Bly to Jon Stewart -- Turn-of-the-Century "Muckrakers" (1880s-1920s) -- I.F. Stone and The Nation -- Print Investigations: Clark Mollenhoff and Seymour Hersh -- Woodstein -- Television: Is Jon Stewart the New Edward R. Murrow? -- Threats and Opportunities: Investigative Journalism in the Twenty-First Century -- Press Oversight and Local Corruption: Two Case Studies -- Russell Harding's "Vanity Fair" -- Is a City Manager Worth 800,000? -- Conclusion -- Chapter 15 The Role of Public Interest and Other Non-Government Oversight Organizations -- The "Goo-Goos" -- Citizens Union and the Bureau of Municipal Research -- Common Cause -- League of Women Voters -- An Unreasonable Man: Ralph Nader, Public Citizen, and the PIRGs -- Project on Government Oversight -- Politics by Other Means and the Nonprofit Oversight Sector -- Judicial Watch -- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington -- "Oversight for Profit" -- Personal Injury Bar -- Qui tam Attorneys -- Independent Private Sector Inspectors General and Other Monitors -- Judicial Review of Administrative Action -- Old King Coal -- Conclusion -- Chapter 16 Conclusion -- Governance Imperative -- Economic Imperative -- The Case for More Oversight -- Is More Oversight Enough?
- Holding Overseers Accountable for Results -- Sources -- Chapter 1. The Watchdog -- Chapter 2. What is Oversight? -- Chapter 3. Tools of the Watchdog -- Chapter 4. Limitations on Oversight -- Chapter 5. Congressional Oversight -- Chapter 6. Government Accountability Office -- Chapter 7. The Federal Inspector General System at Thirty-Five -- Chapter 8. State Legislative Oversight -- Chapter 9. State Inspectors General -- Chapter 10. Other Elected and Appointed State Officials-Comptrollers, Auditors, and Attorneys General -- Chapter 11. Local Legislative Oversight -- Chapter 12. Local Auditors and Inspectors General -- Chapter 13. Other Elected and Appointed Local Officials -- Chapter 14. The Role of the Press -- Chapter 15. The Role of Public Interest and Other Nongovernmental Oversight Organizations and Participants -- Chapter 16. Conclusion -- Name Index -- Subject Index