And Baltimore residents did not have to wait long to see why the inspector general’s access to unredacted records matters. A day after the IG announced her lawsuit, her office released a report detailing hundreds of improper or non‑compliant purchasing‑card transactions inside the mayor’s office. The findings included more than $52,000 spent on food and beverages at Orioles and Ravens games and more than $167,000 in transactions made without required procurement waivers.

The revelations in Wednesday’s report are exactly the kind of misuse that only comes to light when the inspector general has full, unfiltered access to the documents she is entitled to review. And yet, the city continues to cling to an informal letter from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, one the attorney general himself has said is not a formal opinion and may have been drafted by a law student, to justify withholding information.

Now, city taxpayers will likely be forced to fund a legal fight against their own watchdog. Public dollars will go toward opposing the very oversight function the city charter requires the inspector general to perform. That kind of defensive posture from City Hall reeks of impropriety and exemplifies a worrying level of commitment to preventing the IG from doing her job. The simplest thing to do would be to open the books and let the inspector general see the documents she must review to provide proper oversight, but our mayor seems completely unwilling to do so.

The Complete Story can be found that The Baltimore Sun