PROVIDENCE, R.I. — If elected as governor, Republican Patricia Morgan promised on Wednesday to create an office of inspector general by executive order.

"I will find $4 million to begin the office," pledged the West Warwick lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate, naming former state Attorney General Arlene Violet as her first choice for the job.

Violet, in turn, agreed that the creation of an office of inspector general is "long overdue" in Rhode Island. She described herself to The Journal as "potentially interested."

Morgan's argument: “We simply must do a better job of squeezing waste, fraud and abuse out of government spending ... There is no stronger ally for hardworking taxpayers than an Inspector General. This professional, with the support of investigators and auditors, will make our government more accountable to the people of our state."

As Morgan noted, the tiny House Republican caucus has pushed for years for an independent inspector general to delve more deeply and widely into state spending than, she believes, the auditor general has been allowed to do. The auditor general reports to the House speaker.

Morgan, the House minority leader, cited the state Department of Transportation as an example of an agency in need of a close look. Through her own inquiries, she said, she "discovered change orders on the Southbound viaduct that exploded an initial $1 million contract to over $40 million without the cost savings inherent in competitive bidding. An Inspector General would have been able to catch and stop this abusive practice."

Another area in need of deeper investigation, she said: the state's trouble-prone, $647-million computer system for verifying eligibility for food stamps, Medicaid and other public-assistance benefits. “And, of course, 38 Studios was badly in need of oversight," she said. "Rhode Island taxpayers have still not been given a full accounting.

“UHIP demands independent oversight of the Inspector General. There are dozens of other targets. In each case, the Inspector General would have been on site watching out for taxpayers, searching for wasteful practices that could have been eliminated, guarding against fraud and abuse,'' she said.

The office she proposed would contain about 35 employees, many of them re-purposed communications staff hired by Gov. Gina Raimondo, Morgan said.

Offices of inspectors general across the country often more than cover their own budgets by getting their states returns on fraudulent payments and preventing wasteful spending, she said.

Last year, the Office of the Inspector General in Massachusetts, the only state inspector general's office in New England, recovered about $3.4 million in restitution, cost savings, settlements and fines, according to the agency's annual report. The year before, it recovered over $6.5 million.

"The whole idea is to create open, honest and transparent government for the taxpayer," said Stephen Street, state inspector general in Louisiana and president of the national Association of Inspectors General.

But in order for an inspector general to be effective, the office must be able to work independently and be insulated from politics, he said.

Violet said she trusts that Morgan would allow the office that independence.

"She'd be the type of person that would keep her mitts off," Violet said.

Morgan stressed that an Office of the Inspector General created by her would be independent and that as governor, she would make sure that any department under investigation cooperates.

"I’m not going to try to make sure that people don’t get caught," she said. "I think they deserve to get caught if they’re doing bad things to the people of Rhode Island. We need more than ever transparency and accountability in our government. And we need to show the rest of the world that we can behave ethically, that we can behave in the best interests of all of Rhode Islanders."

With reports from Journal Staff Writer Madeleine List