MARYLAND NEWS

In 2018, then-mayor Catherine Pugh named Isabel Cummings as Baltimore’s inspector general. Eight years later, under a new mayor, there is too much tension between the mayor’s office and the inspector general, who is trying to do her job on behalf of the people of Baltimore.  Source: Editorial Advisory Board, Maryland Daily Record

Baltimore City leaders are grappling with the findings of a new audit that revealed millions of dollars in unpaid bills from customers and contracted businesses in 2023 and 2024...City Auditor Jason Pasch outlined glaring errors in the Department of Finance's invoices and a backlog of unpaid leases, utilities, and conduit payments totaling over $4 million. Source: Source: wbaltv.com 

Anouncement comes as a Wall Street Journal article describes “taxpayer outrage” over mayoral spending and his battle with Baltimore’s watchdog over access to City Hall records. Source: Baltimore Brew and the Mayor’s press statement, “Proposed Legislative Actions Provide Roadmap to Address OIG Access Concerns, Strengthen Baltimore's Oversight Structure.”

The mayor and city’s watchdog are locked in battle over access to City Hall internal records. A report cited baby showers, crab cakes and skyboxes. Source: Wall Street Journal

A Maryland mother allegedly turned a family business into a sprawling Medicaid fraud operation involving six of her daughters, a police officer son-in-law, and a sheriff’s deputy on the Eastern Shore, according to Attorney General Anthony Brown. Source: Daily Voice Mail, Prince William County, VA via msn.com and https://oag.maryland.gov

A Baltimore County jury found a Parkville man guilty of 10 felony counts of insurance fraud by acting as an insurance agent without a license. 

The jury found that he acted as an insurance agent without a license by selling annuity policies on 10 occasions from 2021 to 2024, pocketing more than $88,000 in commissions, all of which were sold after the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) revoked his license in 2019 for misappropriating premium payments. After his license had been revoked, he set up another business, Wise Money Group, and recruited another licensed agent to sign annuity applications for policies sold.  Source: oag.maryland.gov

Source: U.S. Attorney, District of Maryland

Judge denies city’s motion to disqualify attorneys, allowing IG Cumming’s lawsuit to proceed. The judge’s decision undercuts the administration’s broader efforts to limit the inspector general’s access to city records.

In an earlier report on April 17, the Brew reported the following: "Even before hearing any arguments, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Pamela J. White made clear she was pretty skeptical of the city’s position..In dismissing Cumming’s request for document access as 'a political disagreement,' she said, the Scott administration 'minimizes the charter authority of the OIG – particularly concerning [its] powers and responsibilities to issue and enforce subpoenas.' Source: https://baltimorebrew.com/

Today’s motion continues the city’s argument that the Office of the Inspector General is part and parcel of city government and cannot enforce a subpoena or otherwise act independently from the law office...Such was the case prior to 2018 when the inspector general reported directly to the city solicitor, an appointee of the mayor. That year voters approved a charter amendment to create an “independent” inspector general governed by an advisory board. Source: baltimorebrew.com

Two former inspectors who monitored Maryland's flagship EmPOWER energy efficiency program have come forward publicly for the first time with allegations that millions in ratepayer funds were misspent. Source Baltimore Sun