National fraud watchdogs keep eye on bitter legal battle between Baltimore's mayor, inspector general

The tense legal battle between Baltimore's inspector general and mayor over access to documents is being closely watched across the country. 

In the latest filing this week, Inspector General Isabel Cumming demanded Mayor Brandon Scott be held in contempt. She accused him of deliberately disobeying a court order to restore her full access to the city's computer systems.

The mayor denied that accusation. 

WJZ Investigates reached out to both the mayor and inspector general Tuesday.

Cumming declined comment. The mayor's office did not respond.

Contempt filing 

On Monday, Cumming alleged Scott's administration missed a judge's deadline to hand over access to City Hall's computer systems. 

"The city's failure to comply is willful—that is, voluntary and intentional," her lawyers wrote. "The city granted the very access at issue and maintained it for years, unilaterally revoked it, and has since refused to restore it despite a direct court order, an express deadline, and the denial of its motions to stay."

They told the court, "This is not a case of negligence, inadvertence, or good-faith incapacity; the city has deliberately withheld access that lies entirely within its control."

The court also ordered the mayor's office fulfill subpoenas within 45 days. 

Fraud watchdogs react 

WJZ Investigates spoke to Will Fletcher, the president of the Association of Inspectors General, a non-profit that advocates for fraud watchdogs. 

Cumming is first vice president of the organization.

"What's at stake here is whether or not an IG is going to be able to do their job in an informed way against the resistance of political pressure," Fletcher told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "It is unusual for an office of inspector general with the track record and longevity that this one has to face this kind of resistance for something that you would consider to be a routine task for the Office of Inspector General to perform."

David McClintock, the inspector general prior to Cumming, told WJZ Investigates earlier this month he never faced the roadblocks Cumming is currently facing under then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. 

Fletcher said the Cumming's case could have national implications.

"It's not just Maryland," Fletcher said. "The Association and the oversight community are looking at this case from all corners of the country as a bellwether for the types of work that IG's are expected to be able to do and for the access that they are expected to have—to see whether this type of pushback, this type of unprecedented pushback by an elected official, would succeed."

Fletcher called the dispute "very abnormal."

He said, "That's what surprises me. I could understand if it was a brand new office and someone thought these rules do not apply to them or something like that, but this office has been around for awhile, has investigated a lot of cases, and is very popular with the public. So, it is a bit puzzling as to why City Hall is taking this stand."

Mayor's reaction 

While Mayor Scott's team has aggressively fought the inspector general in court, the mayor denies her allegation the city is not complying with Judge Pamela White's order to restore her access.

Scott posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, a timeline of his administration's efforts to comply.

On Monday, the mayor told reporters, "I ordered my team to start doing that immediately following the order, so as I said to you before last week, we're always going to follow the law, and immediately, I ordered them to do just that."

Mayor Scott has argued Cumming abused her access to information for personal motives, but that fell flat with Judge White, who chastised the Scott administration for 

"…denying lawful subpoenas and… failing to provide access to the resources necessary and adequate for OIG to complete its responsibilities."

The mayor also posted to social media Monday that Cumming's motion to hold him in contempt is "showmanship not integrity."

Fletcher said, "IG offices need to have the access to the books and records of the agencies that they oversee in order to be able to tell the story of what's going on, how money is being spent, and whether there's been any misconduct. Without it, they are not able to do their jobs."