By Adam Pagnucco.
Montgomery County Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi has publicly alleged that the county government has denied information requested by her office for its work. If the allegation is true, it could become a serious threat to the inspector general’s mission to investigate fraud, waste and abuse.
Montgomery County’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) was established by legislation authored by then-Council Member Ike Leggett in 1997. The goals of the office under Sec. 2-151 of the county code are to “review the effectiveness and efficiency of programs and operations of County government and independent County agencies; prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse in government activities; and propose ways to increase the legal, fiscal, and ethical accountability of County government departments and County-funded agencies.” The OIG was also given the ability to investigate MCPS under state legislation passed in 2020. The county council has more than tripled the OIG’s budget since then, making Limarzi by far the best-resourced inspector general in the county’s history.
On Friday, I printed a joint statement by Limarzi and the heads of inspector general offices in Baltimore City and Baltimore and Howard counties claiming that a new advice letter from the state’s Office of Attorney General (OAG) held that their access to information could be subject to restrictions in the state’s public information law. In other words, despite their statutory missions, these inspectors general would not be entitled to any information above and beyond what is available to the general public. The inspectors general rang the alarm bell and wrote:
Fundamental to our work is having unrestricted access to all relevant records held by our local jurisdictions. Those records are critical to our ability to fully and capably investigate allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, and misconduct, as required by local laws. As a result of the OAG’s letter, such records could be withheld from us in whole or redacted to the point that they are essentially rendered useless from an evidentiary standpoint.
While the war over records access seems to have originated in Baltimore City, Limarzi now claims that Montgomery County has also denied access to records. In response to my request for more information, Limarzi sent me the following statement.
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In recent weeks, interpretations of the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) have been used by local governments as the basis for denying local inspectors general, including me, access to records necessary to do our job.
For the first time since becoming Montgomery County’s Inspector General my office was denied information from a county department citing an exception in the MPIA. The requested information is of a type that had been previously provided to us without question. The full effect of these denials, and the Attorney General’s related advisory letter, on our ability to serve the residents of our County is yet to be seen but will be significant. Continued denials will affect not only investigations that expose fraud, waste, and abuse, but the critically important proactive audits and reviews that identify potential cost savings and needed efficiencies in programs and activities. Equally important, denials may result in fewer public reports and thereby negatively impact the community’s full understanding of what happens with their tax dollars.
The residents of Montgomery County have been fortunate over the years to have elected leaders that have supported and strengthened efforts to increase transparency and fight fraud, waste, and abuse. Unfortunately, those efforts will have been for naught if State legislators do not act now to amend the MPIA so that inspectors general have access to the information and records needed to do the job that we were hired to do.
I remain grateful to all those who work with our office, who bring concerns and critical information to us, and who value the independent oversight we provide. I stand by the statement issued on February 12th for members of the Maryland General Assembly to act now and stand up for transparency and accountability in all levels of government throughout Maryland.
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On Saturday, I asked the county’s public information office whether Limarzi’s allegation was true, and if so, why the executive branch felt that its withholding of information was appropriate. Once I receive a response, I will print it.
Let’s bear in mind the exceptions to disclosure under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) that are applied to the public and may now be applied to inspectors general. They include but are not limited to personnel records, attorney-client advice, trade secrets, distribution lists, security and emergency procedures and some forms of business and financial information. In all, the exceptions account for 58 pages in the state’s MPIA manual.
Imagine how a local government could use these exceptions to deny, redact or otherwise delay access to records to thwart investigations by an inspector general. And in Montgomery County’s case, if the county government begins to use these tactics (as Limarzi now alleges), what happens if MCPS adopts the same tactics?
Would there ever be any meaningful investigations of fraud, waste and abuse ever again?
Since the MPIA is a state law, the local inspectors general are asking that the General Assembly amend it to grant them access to the records they need for their work. Now that Baltimore City and perhaps Montgomery County are withholding records, every day that the law stands unchanged is a day for corruption to spread its evil wings. The sooner such practices are prohibited, the better.