If elected, Raúl Labrador says he would reduce fraud and mismanagement in Idaho government by creating a hotline to anonymously report problems, and an independent special unit to investigate them, the Idaho Statesman reports. “There’s currently no easy way for citizens and whistleblowers inside government agencies to anonymously report waste or corruption,” the Republican candidate for governor said in a news release. “As governor, I’ll create an internet portal for concerned citizens and state employees to report their concerns about government waste and corruption. Tips received will be aggressively followed up and investigated.”

The proposal is similar to an idea Democratic lawmakers have pushed for years, to create an independent office of inspector general to investigate complaints of government waste and abuse. Their past proposals did not gain any traction and the bills did not get heard, writes Statesman reporter Cynthia Sewell; her full report is online here.

Most recently, the effort to create an inspector general became bipartisan, with Reps. Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, and Luke Malek, R-Coeur d’Alene, leading an unsuccessful attempt to introduce a bill. It is unclear how Idaho’s Legislature would react to such a proposal if it came from a Republican governor, Sewell writes. When asked how Labrador would handle any legislative resistance to his proposal, his campaign responded, “Leadership.”

The hotline and investigatory agency are among several items outlined Wednesday in Labrador’s plan to increase government accountability and transparency. Labrador’s campaign called it “his plan to Make Government More Fair and Accountable to Idaho taxpayers, the second plank of his Conservative Vision for a Stronger Idaho.”  He is one of several Republican contenders for governor in the May 15 primary, also including Lt. Gov. Brad Little and Boise businessman Tommy Ahlquist.