Sensing a golden opportunity, the Maryland Republican Party last Thursday issued a statement calling for Baltimore County Executive John “Johnny O” Olszewski Jr. to resign as county executive as well as the Democratic nominee to fill retiring U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger’s Second District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. “Washington D.C. has enough corruption,” said Maryland Republican Party Chairwoman Nicole Beus Harris, according to the statement, “the last thing we need is another crooked Democrat [sic] Congressman handing out government funds to his friends and supporters.”

Harris was referring to the swirl of allegations surrounding Olszewski and his relationship with brothers John and Philip Tirabassi, the former a longtime friend, the latter (and older brother) a retired county firefighter whose pension benefits have been disputed.

As reported in this newspaper and the online news site Baltimore Brew, objections have been made to a secret pension settlement paid to Philip Tirabassi in 2020. Questions have also been raised about a county contract to pay $4.2 million for 16 dump trucks from Peterbilt of Baltimore, a supplier that employs John Tirabassi.

Making matters more complicated are claims county lawyers mishandled the pension settlement and that much of the recent criticism of the arrangement (and the secrecy associated with it) comes from Fred Homan, a former county administrator, and Suzanne T. Berger, a former assistant county attorney, who may have their reasons to hold grudges against Olszewski. Throw in a lawsuit and a possible connection of the Tirabassi brothers as real estate agents to homes Olszewski and his spouse purchased in 2019 and 2020 (as well as the younger Tirabassi’s appearance on the county executive’s Venmo account) and you have, at minimum, a lot of unanswered questions. Meanwhile, the election is less than 100 days away and Olszewski is the prohibitive favorite to be elected to Congress.

In our opinion, this is a job that cries out for Kelly Madigan, the veteran prosecutor who has served as Baltimore County’s inspector general since the post was created four years ago. The whole point of the IG’s office is to sniff out cases of public corruption, waste, fraud and abuse in county government. Did the firefighter get a sweetheart deal? Has the county been paying big bucks to keep it secret because they are legally obligated to do so in personnel matters or to protect the county executive?

And did Olszewski somehow steer that dump truck contract despite legal protections that were supposed to prevent that sort of thing since the bad old days of Dale Anderson, who in 1974 was sentenced to five years in prison for taking kickbacks from contractors. Longtime county residents will recall that Anderson’s predecessor was a fellow named Spiro Agnew, who had his own problems with public corruption.

It is not customary for Madigan to comment about possible investigations before their conclusion or, if she finds no evidence of wrongdoing, to issue public statements about that. But in this case, we hope she might consider making an exception.

The matter has gotten considerable attention (not to mention that ongoing litigation) and voters would surely benefit from an independent look at what’s been going on. Unlike news reporters, employees of the IG’s office have access to pertinent records, including personnel records. It’s one thing to see a lot of smoke in the air, it’s quite another to peer beyond that cloud to see if there’s an actual fire.

We are believers in inspectors general. Just as Madigan has helped keep watch over Baltimore County, Isabel Mercedes Cumming has been indispensable in reviewing matters in Baltimore City. For this reason, we are also happy to hear that voters in Howard County will soon get a chance to join the anti-corruption crowd. The Howard County Council recently approved an independent Office of Inspector General, and the charter amendment will appear on the November ballot for voter ratification.

It comes down to this. As much as voters should not be promoting politicians associated with corruption, elected officials should not be stymied by whisper campaigns that seek to impugn their character while hiding behind legal protections. Madigan is in the best place to inform the public about what may be going on here. We hope she will in the interests of transparency and sunlight, which is always an effective disinfectant.