Baltimore official tried to block IG from accessing their documents, report says

A senior official in Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration violated city policy by attempting to cut off the inspector general’s access to the official’s documents, according to a report that’s the latest volley in an ongoing dispute between the inspector general and the mayor.

The investigation released Wednesday by Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming was rebutted forcefully by Scott’s office, which said the IG’s office was retaliating against the employee.

The employee is not named in Cumming’s report. But they have been the subject of several IG reports, multiple sources confirmed, including one earlier this year that said the employee made threatening comments on a city messaging platform that fostered a hostile work environment.

Those investigations of the employee — and how they have been conducted — have taken on growing importance in the legal fight between the mayor and the inspector general over access to city records. Earlier this year, Scott’s team cut the inspector general’s direct access to city records that she could previously access without a request, such as emails and files. Scott said the files were protected by attorney-client and work product privileges as well as the Maryland Public Information Act.

Last month, the city asked an appeals court to intervene after a judge said that the city had to hand over records requested by Cumming. The city argued that Cumming had accessed records beyond the scope of her investigation of the senior employee, calling it a “concerning pattern” of overreach.

In an 11-page response Wednesday, Cumming disputed the administration’s accusations.

“The OIG emphasizes that it does not conduct live or daily monitoring of employees’ devices. ... All data was accessed as the result of ongoing investigations,” she wrote.

Cumming’s latest probe said that the employee confronted the inspector general in November 2025 about the office’s access to the employee’s records. According to the report, Cumming investigated the employee from early 2025 to an unknown date in 2026. That investigation gave her access to the employee’s correspondence.

In November 2025, the employee directed an unnamed senior employee in information technology to sever the inspector general’s access to their SharePoint site, a Microsoft document-sharing platform.

“It’s been months and no one is doing anything about it,” they wrote to the IT employee.

The IT employee responded that they don’t typically interfere with the inspector general’s access.

“I’ll request our staff to cut that, but so you’re aware, I can’t do that for others,” the IT employee wrote.

“This overstep and overreach of her authority is too much and I am very willing to take this issue on,” the senior official responded.

The employee said they would take the issue up with Cumming. In a message to Cumming, they argued they were not subject to an investigation and asked why Cumming was maintaining access to their emails and document drive.

Cumming responded that the senior employee was part of an investigation, according to the report.

In a later email quoted in Cumming’s report, the employee wrote to another quasi-governmental official, “You know Isabel reads all my s--- because she thinks it’s legal for her to have unfettered access. I won’t even go there with her lack of integrity.”

“I said I was going to sue her in my personal capacity because I’m not scared of her ass. AT ALL,” they added.

Cumming argued the request violated the city’s technology policy, which alerts users each time they log into a city device that all activity is subject to monitoring. The city’s technology policy says that communications may be subject to disclosure to certain officials, including the inspector general.

“This action could have limited the OIG’s access to documents that were relevant to ongoing investigations,” Cumming wrote.

Cumming also suggested the employee’s actions were a “potential abuse of power and prestige of office concern.” The prestige-of-office provision in the city’s ethics law bars officials from using their office for private gain.

In a markedly more combative response than those to previous IG reports, J.D. Merrill, Scott’s chief of staff, and Stephen Salsbury, the city’s deputy solicitor, said the report “follows a concerning trend of retaliatory behavior you have undertaken against this Senior Employee after they raised legitimate concerns about overreach and abuse of authority from your office.”

The report is the latest in a series from Cumming that has involved the same employee.

In addition to the report about the employee’s conduct on the city messaging platform, a report in February detailing how federal COVID relief funds were used to pay for Artscape in 2025 included notable quotes from the employee, including that they were “not a big fan of Artscape.” Asked if they would have selected Artscape to receive American Rescue Plan Act funds, the employee said, “probably not.”