Golden Owl James Naughton dies

James Naughton, a Golden Owl and Communicator member of the National Press Club, died March 10.

Naughton, 85, served from 1955 to 1983 as counsel to the House Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources Subcommittee. In that role, he was instrumental in developing the legislation that established inspectors general in federal agencies, according to his obituary in the McLean Times.

The obituary quotes an Oct. 22, 1992 article in the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News: "Most Americans have never heard of Jim Naughton. His name never gets mentioned in campaign speeches. But taxpayers have him to thank for devising the current system that has saved them billions of dollars. It was largely his idea to team government investigators with auditors to find waste, fraud and abuse."

In that article, Naughton said: "I never felt it was going to wipe out waste, fraud and abuse overnight. But it’s a good start. In the old days, nobody could even find the auditors."

The McLean Times tribute to Naughton can be found at http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=349905&paper=68&cat=104. The Washington Post also published an obituary: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/2011/04/06/AFafxleD_story.html