Citizen advisory board backs Inspector General Cumming’s quest for unredacted records
Without access to IT system data and financial records, the Office of the Inspector General cannot effectively identify and prevent waste, fraud and abuse in city government, the board says
Above: The most recent meeting of the IG Advisory Board on December 3, 2025. (YouTube)
The 11-member OIG citizens advisory board weighed in today on the ongoing records dispute between the Brandon Scott administration and Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming, calling on city agencies to engage in “continued collaboration” with the watchdog office.
Noting that the Office of the Inspector General recently received hundreds of pages of redacted financial records related to a youth diversion program run by the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), the board stated that “delays or limitations in relevant access – regardless of their cause – can hinder timely and thorough investigations.”
“Effective oversight requires the OIG to have appropriate access to financial records, communications, contracts and system data,” it stated.
The Brew has covered the issue – which started with a January 24 mayoral press release complaining of “unapproved” access by the OIG to legally protected records – here and here.
Some of the 200 pages of MONSE financial records redacted earlier this month by the mayor’s law department. (OIG)
Earlier Battles over Independence
The board’s statement (see below) comes 13 months after it enthusiastically approved a second term for Cumming to last until 2030.
Cumming was the first IG to be reappointed to a job that underwent rapid turnover when the mayor’s office controlled the position and, for example, forced the resignation of Robert H. Pearre for looking too closely at an eventually fired chief information officer.
In November 2018, voters changed the city charter to remove the office from the mayor’s control, but left the appointment of the IG in the hands of a board of elected officials and their appointees.
In the wake of a 2021 attack on the IG by proxies of Mayor Scott, voters strengthened the independence of the office in 2022 by establishing a citizens board empowered to examine the office’s budget, conduct performance reviews and, most importantly, appoint or remove the IG.
In today’s statement, the board noted that “interruptions” to the IG’s work slows down investigations into waste, fraud and abuse and “affect public confidence in city operations.”
The majority of the board (seven members) are Baltimore residents chosen at random from applicants by the chair of the city Ethics Board.
The other four are selected by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants, and the deans of the University of Baltimore and University of Maryland law schools.
The board has posted notice that it will be holding a virtual public meeting next Tuesday (February 10) at 7 p.m., presumably to discuss the ongoing dispute.
Statement by the IG Advisory Board
