Over the past 45 years, I have attended more judicial and legislative hearings than I care to remember. But I never witnessed a hearing more embarrassing to â or revealing about â a local government than the budget hearing held by the Baltimore County Council last Wednesday.
The FY 2022 budget for the countyâs Office of Inspector General (OIG) was on the agenda. Councilwoman Cathy Bevins (D-Middle River) used the opportunity to excoriate Inspector General Kelly Madigan for her investigation of William âChrisâ McCollum, a county employee.
In my opinion it was a jaw-dropping abuse of authority for Bevins to grill the IG on the investigation of a specific individual under the guise of a budget hearing. It was made much worse by the fact that that McCollum is a personal friend and political ally of Bevins â a bit of information that the councilwoman somehow never disclosed at the hearing.