Baltimore City Hall, inspector general clash in court over subpoena access

Baltimore City Hall’s clash with Inspector General Isabel Cumming moved into court Friday, putting a fight over subpoenas and records access in front of retired Judge Pamela White and raising a larger question for taxpayers: whether the city’s watchdog can still dig into spending and misconduct when the mayor’s legal team says no.

Cumming says the city shut off access to records and blocked subpoenas her office needs to investigate fraud, waste, abuse and corruption. City lawyers, in turn, argued that the Law Department must protect confidential material and that the inspector general’s reach is limited by privilege and city law. The dispute is no longer an internal government spat. It is now a public test of how much independence Baltimore’s oversight office really has.

The stakes run straight through Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, where Cumming’s office has already been looking at the SideStep youth diversion program. In a March 17 synopsis, the inspector general said SideStep operated in Baltimore’s Western District from January 2022 through 2024, serving youth 17 or younger who were first-time offenders, had no active warrants and were charged with qualifying Category 2 offenses. The office said city taxpayers spent about $694,000 on 15 contractors tied to the program, and that at least two contractors submitted fraudulent or altered invoices.

That investigation became even more complicated after MONSE’s juvenile-record access under a carve-out expired on Sept. 30, 2025 and stopped on Oct. 1, 2025. Mayor Brandon Scott has asked Annapolis to restore that access and extend it to two other offices, the Mayor’s Office of Children and Family Success and the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement. The outcome matters far beyond one program: if records go dark, probes into grant spending, contractor billing and internal decision-making can slow or stall before they reach the public.

Cumming’s office says the city’s current restrictions would have affected 104 of the 324 investigations it has opened since January 2018, involving about $38.9 million in suspected fraud, waste or abuse. The office also says it receives about 60 complaints a month. Baltimore’s charter says the inspector general may issue subpoenas and enforce them in any court of competent jurisdiction, language Cumming is using to argue that her office does not need City Hall’s permission to pursue evidence.

The larger fight is over whether Baltimore’s anti-corruption system can operate as voters intended. Residents approved a 2018 charter amendment creating the inspector general as an independent office, then backed 2022 changes to make the advisory board citizen-based instead of politically appointed. Councilman Mark Conway has introduced a charter amendment to make the inspector general a co-custodian of city records, while state legislation to clarify access has stalled in committee. However White rules, the decision could shape how hard Baltimore can look at its own contracts, spending and misconduct for years to come.