EDITORIAL MISSING MULLINAX.

FOR all that's wrong in the Los Angeles Unified School District, there's one department that's achieved only good things these past six years - the Office of the Inspector General under the leadership of Donald Mullinax.

And now Mullinax, after enduring years of interference, is leaving the LAUSD.

With all the billions of dollars the LAUSD goes through every year for operations and construction projects, Mullinax was the taxpayers' only hope of getting a fair shake. But in a district that prefers shooting the messenger to fixing its problems, he dodged many a rhetorical bullet.

What becomes of his office remains to be seen. Certainly LAUSD brass would prefer to water down and weaken the position just as they have done over the years to the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, which is charged with making sure bond money is spent honestly and intelligently.

With Mullinax gone, the LAUSD will not have a credible voice for fiscal discipline and integrity unless Superintendent Roy Romer and the school board rise to the occasion.

How they fill and treat the position will reveal soon enough whether or not the LAUSD is headed for serious trouble.