When Khadija Walker announced online last fall that she got a new job at USAID, one of the first to congratulate her was Arthur A. Elkins Jr., her former boss at the Environmental Protection Agency.

When Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier announced last week that Walker was picked to be the county’s new inspector general appointee, among those most closely involved was Elkins.

The employment attorney, now in private practice in Washington, was one of two persons who joined Klausmeier in the final round of interviews that resulted in Walker’s selection, bypassing the current inspector general Kelly Madigan, who was also a finalist.

Before that, Elkins was one of five members of a selection panel set up by Klausmeier to try to tamp down public anger over her decision not to reappoint Madigan.

The sequence of events raises a number of questions, including:

• Why was Elkins allowed to participate so directly in the hiring of a former employee?

• Did his involvement represent a real or potential conflict of interest, exactly what an inspector general is supposed to combat?

Last week, The Brew reported that the Klausmeier administration misstated Walker’s credentials, saying that she worked more than 20 years as an inspector general, when her actual experience was limited to audits – rather than investigations – at EPA and, more recently, USAID. Which raises the question of why Elkins didn’t flag her lack of relevant experience to Klausmeier.

To become the next inspector general, Walker must be confirmed by the County Council. At present, a majority say they will only support Madigan for the position.

The Klausmeier administration has arranged for Walker to meet privately with Council members before their work session tomorrow.

A “Bipartisan Rally for Integrity” will also take place at 3 p.m. in front of the Historic Courthouse in Towson, protesting the IG selection process and calling for Madigan’s reappointment.

All of which points to a lively public meeting inside the Council chambers starting at 4 p.m.

Few Interactions, County Says

Because the interview process that resulted in Walker’s selection was closed to the public – and the written record redacted in response to a Maryland PIA request made by The Brew – what took place during the deliberations or among Klausmeier aides is not known.

According to Klausmeier’s spokesperson, Walker had little contact with Elkins during the eight years he was EPA’s inspector general in Washington and she was an audit supervisor at the Chicago office. She “may have interacted with him three or four times on case work, but never on a one-on-one basis,” the spokesperson said.

After Elkins left the agency in 2018, they reportedly lost touch. “She hasn’t seen or spoken with Mr. Elkins in nearly a decade,” the spokesperson told Fox45 News, repeating that assertion today.

Yet on Walker’s LinkedIn page – which was made private last week but can be viewed, at present, here – Elkins sent a party popper congratulations emoji last September to Walker after she became deputy assistant inspector general for audits at USAID.

Statement Issued by County

In a statement issued tonight, the Klausmeier administration added to the record by stating the following:

“Ms. Walker interacted with Mr. Elkins fewer than five times on EPA case work when Mr. Elkins was the chief inspector general from 2011 to 2018, but never on a one-on-one basis. She hasn’t seen or spoken with Mr. Elkins in nearly a decade. Notably, there were more than 300 employees of the EPA’s OIG offices in 12 locations at that time. Mr. Elkins was in the Washington, D.C. office while Ms. Walker was in the Chicago regional office.”

Elkins could not be reached for comment today, and Walker has not been made available for interviews.

After Elkins retired from EPA in 2018, he joined the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) as their first inspector general. At the agency, he worked with WSSC’s general counsel, Amanda S. Conn, according to board minutes and other documents.

In 2021, Elkins left WSSC to form a one-man “boutique” firm concentrating on federal employment law. One area of specialty is helping employees deal with an inspector general investigation, noting that his experience as an inspector general can help his clients “protect your hard-earned benefits and your professional reputation.”

Conn resigned from the WSSC last January to become Klausmeier’s chief of staff. In the statement issued tonight, the administration stated this:

“Elkins was the former inspector general of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, and he worked closely with Klausmeier’s chief of staff, Amanda Conn. As the inspector general for WSSC Water, Mr. Elkins led an independent office with its own lawyer and reported directly to the WSSC Water Commissioners, not to the General Counsel’s Office that Ms. Conn led. Ms. Conn did not work closely with Mr. Elkins, and has had no contact with him since his departure from WSSC in 2021. Ms. Conn was not involved in the process of interviewing of candidates by the Inspector General Selection Panel and was not involved in the interview process with the County Executive and Mr. Elkins.”

On May 9, Madigan sent to the administration a report detailing the hundreds of hours that were spent by Robert Olszewski Sr., while a county employee at the campaign headquarters of his nephew, Johnny Olszewski, as he ran for a second term as county executive in 2022 and a seat in Congress in 2024.

On May 12, Madigan was handed a letter saying she was in a “holdover” position and would not be reappointed to a second term.

Re-appling for her old job, Madigan was one of the semi-finalists of the selection panel. But she was bypassed after the final round of interviews conducted by Elkins, Klausmeier and Mandee Heinl, chair of the County Ethics Commission.

• To reach a reporter: reuttermark@yahoo.com