IG fights back after Scott neuters her powers
BREAKING: Baltimore Inspector General asks judge to hold Scott administration in contempt
IG says the city did not restore records access by 1 p.m. today in defiance of Judge Pamela White’s order
Above: Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming. (Baltimore OIG)
Attorneys for Baltimore’s Inspector General have filed a civil contempt of court motion this afternoon against Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council for failure to comply with a judge’s order to provide the accountability watchdog access to city records.
Last week Circuit Court Judge Pamela J. White ordered the Scott administration to restore all permissions needed by the OIG to access city databases by September 23 and to begin supplying other records subpoenaed by the investigative agency.
The Scott administration had blocked online access by IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming’s office since last January and has withheld documents requested by more than 60 subpoenas issued by the IG.
“This is not a case of negligence, inadvertence or good faith incapacity; the City has deliberately withheld access,” the motion argues.
It comes as Mayor Scott told reporters today that the law department was complying with Judge’s White’s directive following the city’s failure to pause the order last Friday before the Maryland Appellate Court.
“I ordered my team to start doing that immediately following the order,” the mayor told Fox45 at a public event this afternoon.
“We are always going to follow the law. It [the IG’s access to records] should be restored by the time you and I are talking right now,” Scott asserted.
“It [the IG’s access to city records] should be restored by the time you and I are talking right now” – Mayor Scott speaking today.
According to the contempt filing, Cumming’s attorneys requested access to online data be restored no later than 1:00 p.m. today. “If access was not restored, Plaintiff [Cumming] would seek court intervention.”
The attorneys said they had not received any response from the city, and their contempt motion was filed around 2 p.m. today.
Mayor Scott speaking to reporters today. (Fox45)
“The City has the present ability to comply. The systems, account and permissions identified in the September 21 Order belong to the City and are administered by the City,” the attorneys told Judge White.
They added that “because the City itself granted and then revoked these permissions, it can restore them by the same administrative action, immediately and without burden.”
The motion calls on Judge White to impose “a coercive sanction sufficient to compel the City’s compliance, including a per-day fine accruing for each day the City fails to restore the access.”
• READ The Brew’s full coverage of the dispute.
Contempt Motion Filed Against Mayor
