Quinn Appoints New Inspector General

Chicago - Gov. Pat Quinn on Sunday announced the appointment of Ricardo Meza to head the state's Office of Executive Inspector General (OEIG).

Meza is the Midwest Regional Counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney.

Meza replaces James Wright, whose term as Inspector General expired in 2008 but had stayed on until last week. Wright was appointed to the post in 2005 by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

As Midwest Regional Counsel for MALDEF, a national civil rights organization, Meza has led its litigation and policy efforts in ten Midwestern states, a release Sunday from Quinn's office said.

In 2008, he received the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office’s El Humanitario Award.

Meza also serves on the boards of directors for a number of community organizations, according to the release.

Meza served for more than a decade in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted more than 30 federal criminal trials involving public corruption, mail, wire and bank fraud as well as narcotics, arson and bank robbery cases, according to the release.

He was also assigned as an Equal Employment Opportunity Investigator for the Executive Office for United States Attorneys.

“Ricardo Meza will help me continue to hold employees of the state of Illinois to the highest ethical standards,” Quinn said.

The Office of Executive Inspector General is an independent agency that investigates Illinois Ethics Act violations, fraud, waste, abuse and misconduct in state government.

The office also provides and coordinates ethics training for all state employees under its jurisdiction.

It has jurisdiction over all state agencies, boards, and commissions under the jurisdiction of the Governor, including the state’s public universities.

It receives, self-initiates and investigates complaints of violations of law, rule or regulation.

It also investigates claims of abuse of authority or other forms of misconduct by officers, employees and appointees of state agencies under its jurisdiction.

The office has jurisdiction over vendors and others who do business with the state, the release said.