Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is involved in an escalating battle with the city’s inspector general, Isabel Mercedes Cumming, over government transparency and allegations of fraud within city programs.

The conflict began after Cumming’s office flagged concerns related to Baltimore’s youth diversion program, a city-run initiative she criticized for having poor data collection. Cumming’s office later referred two potentially fraudulent invoices tied to the program to law enforcement.

The dispute expanded after Baltimore officials provided Cumming’s office with heavily redacted invoices in January. In response, the inspector general issued a subpoena seeking unredacted documents. The city declined to comply, and officials then announced they had discovered the inspector general’s office had “unapproved and unfettered access” to confidential work. Cumming called the move “an attempt to stop transparency,” per The Wall Street Journal.

In February, Cumming released a report detailing about $167,000 in spending by the mayor’s office over roughly three years. The report claimed that much of the spending involved food purchases made without required waivers, including expenses for “birthday celebrations, employee appreciations, baby showers, and flowers for a selective few, including executive leadership.” 

Cumming’s office found that about $50,000 alone was spent on food items, including crab cakes and Old Bay wings in stadium boxes owned by the city at Orioles and Ravens games.

The inspector general was appointed in 2018 by former mayor Catherine Pugh, who was sentenced to prison for illegally profiting from self-published children’s books. According to The Wall Street Journal, public backlash has grown against the current mayor’s office, as residents who feel they are struggling with affordability are angered by the alleged fraud.

Cumming further fueled anger from the mayor’s office for posting an AI-generated image of Scott smoking a cigar while surrounded by piles of cash. She later apologized, but called the image a distraction, telling the Journal, “My motivation is for the public.”