In the months ahead of his November election to a seat in Congress (a win virtually assured in Democrat-dominated Maryland), Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. had a dark cloud hovering above him:

The county’s secret $83,675 payment to a retired county firefighter, Philip Tirabassi, who happened to be the older brother of one of Olszewski’s high school buddies.

As The Brew reported, the payment had been filed in disclosure records under the fake name of “Philip Dough.”

It emerged that both Tirabassis had business and political connections with Olszewski, including handling personal real estate transactions for him and his wife.

Documents coming to light also revealed that some of his own aides were privately sharing concerns about the payment.

“Just so wrong on so MANY levels,” then-County Administrator Stacy L. Rodgers fretted in an email to Olszewski’s former chief of staff, Pat Murray, who later quipped back:

“This is between you and the CE [county executive]. God bless you both.”

But today the payment was found to be “proper,” according to a news release from Baltimore County Inspector General Kelly Madigan, summing up her 27-page investigative report.

Within two hours of the report’s posting, Olszewski was touting it with his own press release.

“I have always said my decisions are guided by fairness, transparency and a steadfast commitment to serving the public interest,” the statement sent out to the media said.

“The findings of this independent investigation by the Office of the Inspector General leaves no doubt in its affirmation of my integrity in how I operate and lead.”

Calling the matter “now definitively resolved,” he pledged in his new role as 2nd Congressional District representative to “continue working tirelessly for the betterment of our communities just as I continue to also uphold the trust that the public has placed in me.”

Fighting Disclosure

Madigan’s report said her office received multiple complaints that Tirabassi had been given an improper retirement settlement in 2020.

In light of those complaints and “extensive media coverage,” her office investigated, conducting interviews and reviewing retirement documents, correspondence, emails, litigation motions, the Baltimore County Code and more.

A major impetus for the investigation – and source of key documents in the matter – was the Maryland Public Information Act request filed by former County Administrative Officer Fred Homan.

His request was met with dogged – and highly costly – resistance by the county law office which initially refused to turn over records, as The Brew reported.

Madigan’s report lists a series of payments to an outside law firm representing the county in the case, stretching from October 2021 through October 2024.

So far costing Baltimore County taxpayers $339,494, the payments were described by Madigan as reasonable.

“Based on the number of documents requiring review, the inherent legal complexities associated with many of the documents in that they contained various types of privileged information and the extent of the legal proceedings that have taken place so far,” she wrote, she “was not surprised at the substantial legal costs that have been incurred to date.”

Error Blamed

The original controversy stemmed from Tirabassi’s desire to transfer his two years and several months of service in the 1980s with the Baltimore City Fire Department to the county, to then be used when calculating his county retirement benefits.

The additional service time would have entitled him to a one-time payment of roughly $250,000 when he retired in 2020.

Such credit transfers had expired three decades ago, but Tirabassi argued that the county had never properly notified him that he was able to transfer credits until it was too late.

Documents reviewed by Madigan showed Olszewski administration officials, pointing to an “unauthorized agreement” proposed by a county attorney,to allow the credits to transfer, the report said. Citing that agreement, Tirabassi threatened to sue the county.

“In numerous emails reviewed by the Office surrounding this time period, the administration and the [Office of Law] continued to state the reason to settle with Tirabassi would be due to ‘the error by the [attorney],” Madigan said.

“Otherwise, the county believed it had a strong position that Tirabassi had received notice of his opportunity to transfer the city time and simply failed to do so during the required time period.”

The $83,675 payout was proper, Madigan concluded, because it was “an administrative claim that could be settled by the county attorney pursuant to county code.”

Wrong but not “Willful”

As for the complaints that the settlement was kept secret by attributing it to “Philip Dough” in violation of the County Council’s notification requirement, the report acknowledged that “it was improper to conceal Tirabassi’s name from the County Council on the claim spreadsheet.”

But Madigan said she found no evidence “of a willful intent” in the use of the fake name – or that it was “malicious.”

She pointed out that the budget director and county attorney “were fairly new in their positions,” noting also that the director’s conversation about disguising the name with a senior claims adjustor, who is now deceased, “was conducted orally and not in writing.”

Also addressed in the report were complaints about the $4.2 million that the county spent to purchase dump trucks from Peterbilt Motors, a company that employed Tirabassi’s brother, John Tirabassi.

Madigan’s office again found no evidence of wrongdoing, saying the trucks were not purchased from Tirabassi’s company, but instead through a contract with Sourcewell, a purchasing alliance that entered into a contract with Peterbilt in 2020.

Up for Second Term

Olszewski appointed Madigan, a former deputy state prosecutor, in December 2019 as the first director of the Office of Ethics and Accountability, fulfilling a campaign promise to set up an office to review complaints of waste, abuse and fraud in county government.

Madigan’s five-year term in that position is currently up, and she is seeking a four-year reappointment.

Olszewski, meanwhile, will be leaving county government to assume his Congressional seat on January 3.

Brew’s exclusive coverage:

• PART 1: Firefighter who got secret cash payment handled personal real estate for Baltimore County Executive Olszewski (7/30/24)

• PART 2: County attorney says she was – “100%” – fired for questioning the Tirabassi deal (7/31/24)

• Response: Tirabassi’s attorney says County Executive Olszewski “sought to renege” on initial settlement (7/31/24)

• Olszewski administration seeks $200,000 more in battle over public information records (7/1/24)