DN Editorial: KEEPING THEM HONEST: The Inspector General does just that. Make it a permanent department

THIS WEEK the city's Office of Inspector General announced the arrest of a Department of Human Services employee for allegedly stealing $18,000 worth of SEPTA tokens intended for her poor clients.

It's all in a week's work for the office and Inspector General Amy Kurland.

Since given the task by Mayor Nutter to root out corruption, cheating and chiseling in city government, Kurland's office has recovered $40 million in misused funds, forced the termination or resignation of about 200 city employees and led to the arrest or indictment of 65 of them.

It's an impressive record that goes a long way toward cementing the mayor's reputation as a chief executive who is serious about ethical and honest government.

This week, Nutter sought to strengthen the OIG's standing by asking former Mayors Ed Rendell and W. Wilson Goode, who first created this public-integrity office, to join him as he issued another executive order outlining the office's duties and powers.

Therein lies the problem.

Executive orders are all well and good, but they last only as long as the mayor who signed them.

Created with a stroke of the pen, the office could be eliminated if the next mayor simply rescinded the order.

As Ellen Kaplan, interim head of the Committee of Seventy, noted this week: Just because the OIG has existed for three decades in the mayor's office does not guarantee that it will continue to exist.

We need people like Kurland and her office to instill the fear of God in city employees tempted to stray. Training city employees in ethics is a good and useful thing, but it helps to have the OIG's office looking over their shoulders to ensure they live by the code of conduct.

Kaplan says the only way to guarantee the office's future is to change the City Charter and make it a city department under law. A bill to do just that has been introduced by City Councilman Jim Kenny. And there it has sat in committee for 22 months, an idea that is gathering dust.

It's not the idea of changing the charter that bothers Council members. They propose numerous charter changes over trivial matters. It seems more that Council members don't like the idea of having a watchdog, lest perhaps they get bitten by it. (Currently, the Inspector General's purview does not include Council or independently elected offices, such as City Controller.)

In fact, Controller Alan Butkovitz has said he is not sure the OIG is needed because his office - which is a charter-authorized agency - covers much the same ground.

We disagree. The controller is an auditor. The OIG is an investigator and prosecutor. Both functions are needed to check the actions and programs of city government.

Council shouldn't wait until next year's election is over (and they are safely re-elected) to deal with this issue. It should hold hearings on Kenney's bill now and pass it in time to get on the ballot as a charter question next year.

It's sad but true to say that Philadelphia government has a history of corruption, small and large. Under Nutter, Kurland and former Chief Integrity Officer Joan Markman, that reputation has changed for the better.

Now is the time to make sure the trend continues.