Inspector General Departed Without Permanent Successor In Place

Inspector General Departed Without Permanent Successor In Place

(Source: State House News Service)

Glenn Cunha left the inspector general's office earlier this month after a decade on the job, but the search that began in early April for his replacement as the state's independent watchdog is still ongoing.

Gov. Charlie Baker's office this week said that Natalie Monroe, who had been first assistant inspector general under Cunha, was appointed as acting inspector general effective Aug. 8. As of Wednesday, the inspector general's office website still listed Cunha as inspector general and Monroe as first assistant, and Cunha penned the opening of the office's August newsletter, saying the month "marks the end of my second and final five-year term."

The inspector general is appointed jointly by the governor, attorney general and state auditor. Baker and Auditor Suzanne Bump's offices said they had no updates to provide about the search for a new IG and Attorney General Maura Healey's office did not respond to a News Service inquiry.

Cunha was appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley and Auditor Bump. He was sworn in as inspector general on Aug. 6, 2012, and was reappointed for a second five-year term on July 25, 2017 by Baker, Bump and Healey. Inspectors general are limited to two five-year terms in office.

The inspector general is charged under state law with acting "to prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse in the expenditure of public funds, whether state, federal, or local, or relating to programs and operations involving the procurement of any supplies, services, or construction, by agencies, bureaus, divisions, sections, departments, offices, commissions, institutions and activities of the commonwealth, including those districts, authorities, instrumentalities or political subdivisions created by the general court and including the cities and towns."

Monroe served as the office's first assistant since 2012 and had previously served as the chief of the Appeals Division in the Criminal Bureau at the attorney general's office, according to her biography. She also has experience as an administrative magistrate for the state's Division of Administrative Law Appeals.

State payroll records list an annual salary of $185,615 for Cunha, but the inspector general's salary is set each year by the Inspector General Council and "shall not exceed ninety per cent of the salary of the chief justice of the supreme judicial court." - Colin A. Young/SHNS | 8/31/22 5:29 PM