Olszewski Announces Major Efforts to Strengthen Independence of the Office of Inspector General, Enhance Government Ethics and Accountability in Baltimore County

TOWSON, MD — In recognition of the 50th anniversary of Spiro Agnew’s resignation as Vice President of the United States under a veil of corruption that began amid his tenure as Baltimore County Executive during the 1960’s, County Executive Johnny Olszewski today announced his administration’s latest effort to strengthen ethics and accountability in County government by implementing a number of key recommendations of the Blue-Ribbon Commission on Ethics and Accountability.

“The residents of Baltimore County deserve and should expect a government that is transparent, fair, and accountable – expectations which Spiro Agnew fundamentally failed to meet half a century ago,” said Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski. “Our administration is making unprecedented progress in making Baltimore County more open and accessible than ever before. These next steps build upon our efforts to date and move Baltimore County further out of the shadow of Spiro Agnew, ensuring a better government for generations to come.”

Since taking office, the Olszewski administration has taken unprecedented steps to make local government more accountable to the people it serves. The administration’s first major legislative effort was a package of reforms to improve accountability in County government and strengthen ethical standards, including:

• Creating a Fair Election Fund System for the public financing for candidates in Baltimore County starting with the 2026 election cycle;
• Prohibiting certain officials from lobbying County government for a period of one year following end of employment;
• Posting all lobbyist registrations online and streamlining the definition of a lobbyist so the same standards apply to those who lobby the executive and legislative branches; and
• Creating an Office of Ethics and Accountability to audit, inspect, evaluate and investigate government operations. In 2020, the Baltimore County Council passed legislation to convert the Office of Ethics and Accountability into the current Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

In October 2021, Baltimore County established the Blue-Ribbon Commission on Ethics and Accountability to further review Baltimore County’s existing ethics laws and laws concerning the OIG. The Commission issued their final report earlier this year, providing recommendations to ensure policies align with national best practices and identifying additional and innovative practices to strengthen the County’s existing ethics laws.

The Olszewski administration has already taken steps to fulfill major recommendations from the Blue-Ribbon Commission, including providing additional legal counsel and data analysis support for the OIG while also creating a new and separate Director of the County’s Ethics Commission.

Today, Olszewski announced plans to introduce legislation to fulfill major recommendations of the Blue-Ribbon Commission and further strengthen the office, including:

• Enshrining the OIG into Baltimore County’s Charter and allow voters to make their voices heard on protecting the independence of the office under future administrations;
• Ensuring the financial independence of the OIG by codifying language into County Charter to require the County Executive and County Council to provide adequate funding for the office in the County’s annual budget;
• Strengthening the OIG’s subpoenas powers by eliminating the office’s current waiting period for subpoenas issued to individuals who are not County employees and reduce to the current waiting period for subpoenas issued to Baltimore County employees to 30 days to help ensure requested records can be produced in a timely manner;
• Clarifying that the Inspector General and Office staff are equitably subject to the County’s existing Human Resources process and procedures. This will not make any changes to the current statutory requirements for removal of an Inspector General.

These bills are set to be introduced at the Baltimore County Council Meeting scheduled for November 6.

In addition, today, the County Executive will issue an executive order affirming employees’ duty to cooperate with an OIG investigation under the County’s employee Code of Conduct.

More information of about the Baltimore County Office of the Inspector General is available here.