Four months ago, a number of allegations of misconduct swirled around Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr., most of them stemming from his friendship with the Tirabassi family including Philip Tirabassi, a retired county firefighter whose pension benefits have been disputed. Questions have also been raised about a $4.2 million county contract to supply dump trucks from Peterbilt of Baltimore, a company that happens to employ John Tirabassi, Philip’s brother. Given that these claims of special treatment arose in the middle of an election campaign (with Olszewski running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives), there was appropriate consternation.

Enter Kelly Madigan, Baltimore County’s inspector general, who could independently look into the claims and judge their validity and quickly agreed to do so. Last Wednesday, she released her much-anticipated report. It generally sides with Olszewski, finding that the $83,675 retirement settlement given to Philip Tirabassi was neither improper nor hidden from the Baltimore County Council and that there were no improprieties in the purchase of the trucks. She did, however, find the county acted improperly when it initially refused to provide information about the Tirabassi pension settlement under a Maryland Public Information Act request.

Olszewski hailed the findings as an “affirmation of my integrity” although he might have added “belatedly.” The results came too late to have any impact on the Nov. 5 general election which, of course, Olszewski won handily.

Had the Democrat faced a tougher Republican challenger than political commentator Kimberly Klacik, the ethical concerns raised might have proven a difference-maker. As it is, they simply make his harshest critics including Maryland Republican Party Chairwoman Nicole Beus Harris, who called for Olszewski to immediately resign from office last August, look extremely partisan.

Still, the findings are important because Madigan’s integrity is above reproach. The report took time because the former prosecutor was seeking the truth, not simply a summary of claims and counter-claims. And Olszewski, to his credit, was willing to sit down and discuss the details with her. Such is the proper role of an inspector general — advocating for the people of Baltimore County, not for any elected official or political party. Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming has over the last six years proven an invaluable asset in sniffing out waste, fraud and abuse in City Hall and beyond — sometimes much to the chagrin of Baltimore’s elected officials.

An IG’s work isn’t easy, of course. In her fiscal year 2024 year-end report, Cumming noted that her office fielded more than 800 complaints from Baltimoreans over the previous 12 months alone. That’s a lot to investigate on a modest budget. But the better question is why doesn’t every county in Maryland have an inspector general? Last month, voters in Howard County approved such a post and an IG (along with a seven-member citizen advisory board) must now be selected to fulfill those duties.

Of course, the pursuit of accountability and transparency wouldn’t be necessary if local government always acted above board and in the public interest. Good luck with that. In the meantime, we’ll stick to having independent investigators like Madigan and Cumming around to set the record straight (and do so as soon as they can).