FOX45 report questions Baltimore mayor adviser’s work attendance, city car use

Baltimore City Hall is under fresh scrutiny after a FOX45 investigation said one of Mayor Brandon Scott’s closest aides barely reported to work while using a city-issued vehicle during the day. The station reported that Marvin James, a senior adviser in the mayor’s office and a longtime Scott ally, showed up at City Hall only twice over a three-week period and never appeared to work a full eight-hour day. FOX45 also said James used a city-owned Ford Escape for trips to a salon in Columbia, several restaurants and a Washington, D.C., mayoral campaign office.

The questions reach beyond one aide’s calendar. City Hall has not said who approved James’s duties, how his city car use was monitored or what work product the office can point to in return for a salary that FOX45 said is about $198,000 a year. James previously earned more than $231,000 as chief of staff, after earlier reporting in 2023 said he was making $112,000 as a senior adviser before that promotion.

Baltimore announced on May 4, 2023 that James would serve as interim chief of staff after already serving as senior adviser and before that as Scott’s campaign manager. City records and civic-fund materials identify him as a senior adviser in the Office of the Mayor and a former chief of staff, and city statements said he had been in the administration since Scott took office in December 2020. In April 2025, reporting said James had shifted from chief of staff into a new, unannounced $198,000 position, with a farewell party at City Hall.

The mayor’s office said it would review the allegations when FOX45 put them to Scott, but the station later reported that City Hall did not answer whether an investigation had started or whether James would remain employed. Baltimore City Council members also did not respond, leaving the public with a narrow but troubling set of facts: a senior adviser, a city car, and a work pattern that looks far different from the expectations placed on rank-and-file employees.

The broader concern is whether Baltimore’s internal controls are strong enough to police the mayor’s inner circle. The Baltimore City Office of the Inspector General says its mission is to investigate fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement, and the city’s Ethics Law applies to all city officials, employees and lobbyists. That matters in a city where political loyalty has long overlapped with public employment, from Martin O’Malley and Catherine Pugh to Brandon Scott, and where residents are left to judge whether taxpayer resources inside City Hall are being managed with the discipline the job demands.