This is The Players, your update on who's who in Illinois politics and what they're up to.
This week you'll hear Amanda Vinicky's conversation with the man who has power - as in, subpoena power - to really discover what Illinois' political players are doing: Executive Inspector General Ricardo Meza.
Meza's been the chief investigator of the governor's office, the 40 agencies under the governor's purview, and public universities for four and a half years. But he'll be done by the end of this week. He'll still be in Chicago, but he'll resume work as a litigator at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale.
Before Meza moves on, hear from him about what he's done in the office. Meza and Vinicky had a long chat about it earlier this year.
Here's that extended conversation, which covers how his office is handling the Executive Orders passed down by Rauner, and the suggestions he has for improving the office and making its reports more transparent (you may be surprised to learn that for years now, legislators have failed to take up those suggestions).
Meza's the third individual to have that job, since it was created -- ironically, some may say, by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2003. In a press release from the time, Blagojevich is quoted as saying "history has taught us that we cannot solely rely on our own officials - elected or appointed - to always play by the rules. We need to build more checks and balances into the system. We need an office to investigate corruption and root it out.” Blagojevich, as you know, is now in prison.
Now that Meza's leaving, midway through his term, it'll be up to current Gov. Bruce Rauner to choose his replacement -- subject to Senate confirmation.
