From the Baltimore Brew

Last week’s meeting of Baltimore’s Inspector General Advisory Board was ominous. It confirmed my worst fears about the ulterior motives of several board members.

Any actions taken by the board over the next few months to weaken the Office of Inspector General (OIG) would have a profoundly negative impact on the future of the city.

Residents and others interested in the well-being of Baltimore must make themselves heard before it is too late.

It is not hyperbole to describe the effort to undercut the OIG’s independence through intrusive “oversight” by a highly political board as a watershed moment.

• Hearing dominated by board’s concern about whether IG investigations could threaten them or their allies (8/26/21)

City agencies are failing under the combined weight of incompetence, waste and corruption – and city services are deteriorating accordingly.

Watching and listening to last Wednesday’s board meeting, however, the casual observer would have concluded that the most serious problem facing Baltimore is the possibility that an investigation by the IG might embarrass a city politician or one of his or her cronies.

Powerful Enemies

By contrast, the opening statement by IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming offered a compelling argument about her office’s mission and the current challenge to its independence.

• FULL TEXT of Cumming’s opening statement.

Let’s not be naive. There are people inside and outside of government thriving on that incompetence, waste and corruption. City officials have friends, family members, political allies and donors who directly benefit from it.

Things will get worse if the anti-IG forces prevail, and city agencies will never get fixed.  Full Story at the Baltimore Brew