Over the years, I’ve heard many City and County Council representatives express disappointment at the outcome of a vote. There are two lines, however, that they almost never cross.

Following the Council’s refusal last week to confirm the appointment of Khadija Walker as county inspector general, Councilman Julian Jones crossed both.

Jones crossed the first line by demeaning the judgment and character of his colleagues who voted against the appointment, accusing them of abandoning their prescribed roles in the appointment process and treating Walker unfairly because of “political considerations.”

The appointment process is intended to ensure that the best qualified candidate becomes inspector general. It was unforgivable for Jones to impugn the motives of two Democrats and three Republicans for what he knew, or should have known, was a principled stand by them that helped restore integrity to a process debased by County Executive Kathy Klausmeier.

And speaking of motives, good luck to Jones convincing anyone that his concern was fairness, when fairness to the incumbent inspector general, Kelly Madigan, obviously never entered his mind.

Jones crossed the second line by insulting county residents who had stepped up in large, perhaps unprecedented numbers to protect the Office of Inspector General (OIG) from an obvious attempt by Klausmeier to weaken it, describing them as a “mob.”

Those residents will not soon forget his concluding statement: “Let the record reflect that I strongly object to how this process was handled, and I will continue to speak out when fairness and transparency are cast aside for mob rule.”

Jones’ words, maligning both colleagues and county residents, were nothing but sour grapes over the failure by the Council to go along with the scheme to remove Madigan and neuter the OIG.

It came in the context of his long history of antipathy towards Madigan and lack of respect for the importance of her office.

That history is a cautionary tale that demonstrates the importance of giving the power to appoint or remove an inspector general to an independent body, as proposed by Councilman Izzy Patoka, now before the Council.

The McCollum Investigation

Jones’ feelings about Madigan became a matter of public record in 2021, when he and former Council colleague Kathy Bevins chastised Madigan at a 2021 budget hearing for being too “aggressive” and for “terrifying employees who allegedly were afraid that she was “going to take a molehill and make a mountain.”

During the hearing, Jones dismissed Madigan’s report that found that former county employee and political insider Chris McCollum made $30,000 in unauthorized purchases while head of the county’s Ag Center as “fluff.” McCollum later went to jail for stealing money from Bevins’ campaign account while her campaign treasurer.

Councilman Todd Crandell came to Madigan’s defense, noting that her office was tasked with changing the way things were traditionally done in Baltimore County.

“We’ve all heard throughout the years of things that have happened in county government that just don’t seem right,” Crandell said. “We’ve all heard rumors of this or that person looking the other way, the good old boy network. We’ve all heard it.”

Jones responded with another memorable statement that lacked the ring of truth. “I haven’t heard it, councilman.”

Olszewski Joins in the Attack

Just months later in 2021, then-County Executive Johnny Olszewski had a bill drafted to limit the independence and powers of the IG.

That came after Madigan had rebuffed demands by his chief of staff that her requests for county records be submitted to and approved by the county executive’s office, which would have allowed Olszewski to control her investigations.

The public uproar that followed disclosure of the draft bill by The Brew – as well as pointed criticism by the Association of Inspectors General – convinced Olszewski not to introduce it.

Instead, in October 2021, he appointed the Blue Ribbon Commission on Ethics and Accountability to make recommendations on the governance of the OIG.

Jones Re-targets Madigan

Olszewski may have been chastened by the public’s reaction to his bill, but Jones wasn’t. He doubled down on his attacks on Madigan after she cited him in 2022 for using the county email system to solicit campaign donations.

The 4th District Democrat with aspirations to be county executive admonished Madigan for not pointing out the problem to him privately rather than including it in a public report. He criticized the “the nature and tenor” of her investigation and implied that she encouraged a “gotcha” environment.

Council members like himself “are not subject to discipline in the same manner as other county employees”  –  Julian Jones.

Madigan’s “demeanor” has been a continuing theme with Jones, who once told the Baltimore Sun that she should be “kinder and gentler.”

Jones even questioned whether he was subject to the county’s electronic communications policy, asserting that council members “are not subject to discipline in the same manner as other county employees.”

“First and foremost,” he wrote, “we are accountable to the people who elected us and placed us in office – the voters.”

“Alleygate” Investigation

In October 2022, the IG reported that funds from the Alley Reconstruction Program (ARP) were improperly used to repair a privately-owned alley serving commercial properties in Towson. The program is intended for private alleys in “residential, non-commercial” communities.

The IG concluded that intervention by Jones, then the chair of the Council, “effectively changed the process that had been used within DPWT [the Department of Public Works and Transportation] to evaluate the merits of accepting an alley into the ARP” despite vigorous opposition from the career staff at DPWT.

As a result, $69,900 in ARP funds were used to repair the alley.

D’Andrea Walker, then acting public works director and now Klausmeier’s chief administrative officer, overruled the chief of highway design and his subordinate, the ARP program manager, and approved the use of ARP funds for the alley.

Jones insisted he had done nothing wrong, and described the investigation as “a lot to do about nothing.”

According to Madigan’s report, Jones became involved at the request of a businessperson who controls most of the properties surrounding the alley. WYPR identified the owner of the properties abutting the alley as Mid-Atlantic Properties, Inc.

Jones did not represent the district where the alley is located. The report states that the businessperson turned to Jones after Councilman David Marks, who did represent the district, refused to try to get DPWT to fix the alley.

The decision to use ARP funds to repair the alley was made in April 2021.

Three months later, Mid-Atlantic made a campaign contribution of $5,000 to Jones, followed in December 2021 by another $2,500 contribution from the company’s president, Wayne Gioioso.

“I Want it Done”

Jones communicated his desire to have the alley paved to D’Andrea Walker. Her subordinate, the now-retired chief of highway design, told the IG that Jones also contacted him, calling him at home on his cellphone to try to get him to change his position.

The retired engineer said he explained to Jones that the alley did not qualify for ARP funding, which is intended for alleys providing access to residences for emergency services and trash pick-up. He told the IG that Jones replied with “words to the effect that he did not care and wanted it done.”

Although Jones later told reporters that he “never even had that conversation” with the chief of highway design, he refused to be interviewed by the IG during the investigation, claiming that he had a categorical objection to having his interviews recorded.

Whatever the reasons were for his refusal to be interviewed, it left Madigan with unrebutted testimony that Jones leaned on the chief of highway design to disregard county policy.

Alleygate was embarrassing to Jones, but it could have been worse. I am left wondering why it wasn’t.

The IG report never mentions Section 310 of the County Charter, which strictly prohibits council members from contacting officers, agents and employees in the executive branch of county government other than the county executive except for the purposes of “inquiry or information.”

Alleygate was embarrassing to Jones. But it could have been much worse.

Section 310 provides that council members may not give orders or “in any manner attempt to influence or coerce any such officer, agent or employee in the performance of his duties.”

Other charter counties in Maryland have provisions like those in Section 310 because they’re an important part of the separation of legislative and executive powers and a safeguard against corruption.

A violation of an express prohibition imposed by Section 310 is subject to prosecution for the crime of misconduct in office, which can lead to removal of a council member.

Had Madigan cited Jones for a violation of Section 310, it would have, or at least should have, triggered a review by the State Prosecutor.

I am not saying that there was a quid pro quo for Jones’ actions or that a crime was committed.

I am saying that it is illogical to conclude that Jones’ intervention produced a deviation from longstanding county policy but not conclude that the intervention constituted a violation of the prohibition against a council member attempting “in any manner” to “influence” an administrative official in the performance of his or her duties.

Based on Madigan’s own report, it’s my opinion that the IG should have cited Jones for a violation of Section 310, and State Prosecutor Charlton Howard’s office should have at least looked at the facts to see if further action was warranted.

Human nature is human nature, and I don’t believe that we can rule out the possibility that the repeated criticism and lack of support to which Madigan had been subjected during the preceding two years caused her, consciously or unconsciously, to pull her punch in the Alleygate report.

Yet Another Attempt

In February 2023, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Ethics and Accountability issued its long-awaited report. It recommended legislation strengthening the OIG and hard-wiring its existence into the County Charter. The legislation was introduced in November 2023.

Just before the legislation was scheduled for a vote the following month, Jones made a desperate attempt to sabotage it.

He used his authority as chair of the council to convene a secret meeting, exposed by The Brew, at which he tried to persuade his colleagues to adopt a series of amendments to the legislation.

The amendments were a reprise of Olszewski’s 2021 bill and met the same fate.

Jones withdrew the amendments in the face of widespread criticism, and the reform legislation passed.

One community activist said this to Jones at a work session during which his amendments were discussed: “Your effort to restrain the inspector general has been sustained, egregious and damaging to your reputation.”

What was true two years ago remains true today.

Amending the Charter

The extraordinary level of civic engagement shown by ordinary citizens determined to stop a caretaker county executive’s attempt to return to the “good old days” when cronyism and sleazy backroom deals went unchecked has been gratifying.

At last week’s meeting, Jones called the rejection of an unqualified candidate for inspector general  a “sad day for the county.” On the contrary, it was one of the county’s best days.

I don’t know if Jones realizes how deeply offensive it was to describe the council’s positive response to overwhelming public opinion as “mob rule.” I hope so, because he owes an apology both to his colleagues and to county residents who invested considerable time and energy in persuading their elected representatives to do the right thing.

The next step is for the council to approve a charter amendment that confers the power to appoint or remove an inspector general on an independent body, a measure adopted in Howard County and Baltimore City and proposed by Bill 50-25.

If we expect an IG to act without trepidation in the snake pit that is the Baltimore County government, we should provide the IG more protection from the snakes.

• David A. Plymyer retired as Anne Arundel County Attorney after 31 years in the county law office. To reach him: dplymyer@comcast.net and Twitter @dplymyer.