"I have been accused unjustly," 8-year-old Laura Newman said firmly.

The year was 1951, and Laura was at Beverly Vista Elementary School, where students participated in an exercise that allowed them to put notes in a "citizenship box" if they felt somebody did something wrong. Once a week, the notes were read aloud and if anyone felt they were wrongly blamed, the student would stand up and exclaim, "I have been accused unjustly."

Laura, who is now Inspector General Laura Chick, does not remember the accusation, but she remembers her heart pounding when she spoke the words.

Chick has had a strong sense of right and wrong since early childhood. She said the third-grade exercise played a role, but it was mostly her parents who provided her with her intense moral code.

"They had a strong sense of social justice," she said.

Chick was raised by the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you - and she still believes in it wholeheartedly, believing that it speaks to a personal responsibility to ensure justice for others.

Her desire to help others is the main reason she chose to go back to school to earn her master's degree in social work after years of being a stay-at-home mom and manager of a home-based business. Chick said her intent was to become a school-based licensed clinical social worker. But after her first year at the USC School of Social Work, she realized that being a clinician was not her calling.

Chick has fond memories of her time at the School of Social Work and of professors like John Brekke, Jacquelyn McCroskey and Ramon Salcido. However, there still may be a tiny bit of resentment toward Salcido. "Public policy was the only class I didn't get an 'A' in. Imagine that," she said, laughing.

McCroskey had Chick in her first-year research class.

"As an 'older' student returning to school several years after college, she was clearly nervous about jumping into research," McCroskey recalls.

But Chick was a quick learner and soon demonstrated her aptitude in class.

"But her real passion came into play years later when she was elected to be auditor controller - then research offered the tools she needed to improve public policy and assure that public money wasn't being wasted," McCroskey said. "Her experience is one of the reasons I can honestly tell my current research students that you really never know when and how these skills will come in handy."

In 1988, a year after completing the MSW program, Chick was offered a job as chief field deputy for Joy Picus, who was then the Los Angeles city council member representing west San Fernando Valley.

As chief field deputy, Chick interfaced with community members on a daily basis. Her job was to listen and help address constituent concerns, as well as celebrate the achievements of community groups and members.

"I really was finding that I was interested in being out in the community," she said.

She enjoyed it so much that in 1993, at the age of 49, Chick entered elective office after defeating Picus, the woman who exposed her to the work she loves.

And while Picus may have been the first to be bruised along Chick's way up the political ladder - from council member to Los Angeles city controller to California's inspector general - she certainly was not the last. Chick has never let the possibility of offending fellow public officials or colleagues prevent her from her career goal of improving government effectiveness and transparency for taxpayers.

"I am passionate about solving problems, having things make good logical sense, making government work better for the people," said Chick. "That has been my driving passion for the last 15-plus years."

After serving eight years as a council member, in 2001, Chick became the city's controller, making her the first woman to ever be elected to citywide office in Los Angeles. She was re-elected for a second term in 2005.

As city controller, Chick conducted many audits that put her at odds with city officials. The reviews tackled issues such as the "pay to play" scandal involving contracting at Los Angeles' airport, the backlog of thousands of untested rape kits at the Los Angeles Police Department, and employees' use of city gasoline cards and city departments' bottled water purchases.

Relentless in her efforts to restore public trust and confidence in government, Chick has brought that doggedness to her current position, which she started in April 2009. As California's inspector general, she is charged with ensuring that the state appropriately spends its some $48 billion in federal stimulus monies.

Chick's new position is an appointed one, but she said that even though she was hired by the governor, the audits she conducts and the inquiries she makes are on behalf of the people of California.

At 65, Chick is not thinking of retiring. After years of working in city government, she is ready to stay a while at the state level and is intent on making a difference.

"I know that I am not ready to kick back and pursue hobbies," she said. "And now that I have a better look at state government I would really like to stay involved in its reform."

Her job now may seem far from the profession of social work, but Chick believes there is a connection.

"Social work is about helping people," she said. "I think I am still in the helping profession."