Baltimore inspector general sues city for access to information, subpoena authority

The Baltimore Inspector General's Office (OIG) is suing the city for access to information and the power to issue and enforce subpoenas, after Inspector General Isabel Cumming said she was blocked from seeing documents that are essential to her job. 

Baltimore's OIG sues city

The OIG is tasked with investigating complaints of fraud and financial waste to enhance efficiency and accountability in the city's government. 

According to Cumming, the lawsuit seeks to prevent the city from interfering with OIG investigations and confidential systems. 

Cumming said the lawsuit comes after the city refused to comply with a subpoena by trying to recategorize it as a request under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA), per advice from an attorney with the Maryland Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

In response to the subpoenas, the lawsuit alleges that the city presented the OIG with heavily redacted documents.

The lawsuit claims that the Baltimore City Charter authorizes the OIG to issue and enforce subpoenas "in any court of competent jurisdiction."

According to the lawsuit, the city's actions "hampered the OIG's ability to monitor its confidential investigative database."

Cumming said she has had access to information from city offices since 2018. However, she said in June 2025, the city suddenly switched from its "longstanding practice of cooperating with the OIG, instead asserting for the very first time in OIG history that subpoenas issued by the OIG are subject to the MPIA."

The inspector general said her goal in filing this lawsuit is to "require the city to do what it has done since I took office - provide the OIG with the information it needs to ensure taxpayer dollars aren't being wasted by government officials."

"Unprecedented" actions

Cumming discussed the lawsuit in an interview on WYPR's Midday show Tuesday, saying she was only trying to get financial records for the MONSE youth program SideStep.

"It is very clear I can subpoena any records. [The city has] decided not to respond...they did nothing," she said. "So I am now suing the city for the SideStep records they will not give us so I can do my job."

In late January, Cumming said her team can no longer monitor who is accessing sensitive data online, including whistleblower complaints. 

According to a previous statement from the mayor's office, the issue came after "an account associated with the inspector general's office had gained unapproved and unfettered access to the lawyer's legally-protected confidential work product and communications."

The mayor's communications director accused Cumming of misleading the public, and said, "The office of the inspector general did not get authorized access to these files for a current investigation. Removal of this access will not impede the lawful work of the office of the inspector general."

After learning about the lawsuit, the mayor's office shared a statement saying, "As we have noted from the beginning, the Mayor remains committed to transparency and to an OIG that is both effective and complies with the law. As this matter is now subject to litigation, we will reserve further comment for the appropriate judicial forum."

"Separate from the litigation, we remain eager for the Law Department to work with the OIG to outline renewed protocols that ensure the Inspector General's work proceeds uninterrupted, while complying with state law," the mayor's office added. 

Cumming said if her work had been subject to MPIA, she wouldn't have been able to do as much as she has.

"For example, of the 324 investigations conducted by the OIG since January 2018, 104 involved cases that would have shielded information from the OIG under the MPIA. In those 104 cases, the OIG identified approximately $38.9 million in fraud, waste, or abuse," the complaint reads.

Earlier this month, Cumming, as well as the inspectors general of Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery counties, wrote a letter calling on state lawmakers to amend MPIA to create an exemption for local inspectors general.