by Kim Stansbury
Upon hearing that Kathy Klausmeier appointed Khadijah Walker as Inspector General I was saddened but not surprised. Klausmeier continues a legacy of behind the scenes maneuvering that would rival that of Tammany Hall.
Kelly Madigan has done an outstanding job as Inspector General for Baltimore County, but you see that is the problem. On paper she was supposed to weed out fraud, corruption, waste and misuse by the county government. That is exactly what she did and she was good at it, but that was not what was really wanted. In reality, the current regime wanted someone to turn a blind eye to what was really happening and to give the impression that the government was transparent. That is not Kelly Madigan’s style. You see, she took her job seriously and she honestly wanted to make Baltimore County better and the people loved her for it. She was not afraid to take on Johnny O and his relationship with Philip Tirabassi which cost the county $83, 675 in pension money as well as the $4 million spent on dump trucks from the company Tirabassi worked for as well as bringing to light that a member of Johnny O’s family who was a county crew chief used a county vehicle to conduct political activity during working hours to help with Johnny O’s Congressional campaign. Kelly Madigan also led two investigations into Councilman Julien Jones. One was a look into his use of county email to solicit campaign funds for his reelection campaign in 2022. There was also the alley paving incident where Councilman Jones misused a county program. This is just a sample of the effort Kelly Madigan has put into her role as Inspector General. While some of these investigations turned out to be real issues, others were deemed accidental or within county guidelines but that was her job – to investigate. She did it well. In my opinion, the county was better off for her dedication and hard work. I implore the county council to reject Kathy Klausmeier’s appointment of Khadijah Walker and to remain steadfast for the reappointment of Kelly Madigan.