By announcing her pick for inspector general via news release, Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier left the public with more questions and so far has provided few answers.
Just after 4 p.m. Thursday, Klausmeier announced Khadija Walker as her nominee to be the next Baltimore County inspector general, deciding not to reappoint the current watchdog, Kelly Madigan.
Walker has more than 20 years of experience working at the federal level, though the experience is in audits — rather than investigations. Walker worked as an auditor for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and, most recently, worked as the deputy assistant inspector general for audits at U.S. Agency for International Development. She was hired at the foreign aid agency in September 2024, just months before the Trump administration began cutting jobs at USAID.
“She has only audit experience,” said Isabel Mercedes Cumming, Baltimore City inspector general. “An auditor goes after looking at regulations to see if they comply in that type of stuff, where an investigator responds to hotline complaints, responds to the people. That’s why inspector general is called the people’s watchdog — because their job changes all the time.”
The skill set between an auditor and an investigator is completely different, Cumming added.
“You’re doing an audit, you’re just targeting on a process,” she explained. “Investigations hold people accountable. Audits don’t.”
Touting her pick, Klausmeier said, “Khadija has more than 22 years of high-level inspector general experience.” However, Cumming said that’s not an accurate description of Walker’s résumé.
“That’s just not true. She was a supervisor,” she said. “It’s completely different, and she was never an inspector general, whereas you had a candidate that was an inspector general and has been inspector general and is certified as such.”
FOX45 News asked Klausmeier’s office if she believed Walker’s experience conducting audits would provide her with the necessary skills to conduct investigations, given her apparent lack of work history in that area of expertise.
While Klausmeier’s office acknowledged that much of Walker’s work at both USAID and the EPA was in auditing, they defended her work history as well, claiming that Walker “has led teams with investigators on staff and assisted in ongoing investigations throughout her career.”
“OIG audits and investigations are closely related: both rely on data analysis and information gathering, they often occur in tandem and have the same goal of identifying and preventing fraud, waste and abuse in government,” a spokesperson for Klausmeier said. “Ms. Walker has been intimately involved in both.”
Meanwhile, there have been other questions about the selection process overall. Once Klausmeier told Madigan she would not be renewing her contract — by handing her a letter during the first meeting the two had on May 12 — Klausmeier posted the job and formed a selection committee.
Arthur Elkins Jr. was one of the five members of the panel. After the first round of interviews, which included Madigan, it was revealed Klausmeier would be participating in the second round of interviews. Elkins was not available for the first round of interviews due to scheduling conflicts, according to a spokesperson for the Baltimore County Executive’s Office.
Klausmeier’s office said the selection panel made its recommendations to her following interviews, which had been the plan. Klausmeier wanted to have Elkins’ “expertise and input from his years of serving as inspector general during the interview process, so he was invited to be part of the final interviews,” according to a spokesperson.
After Walker was named Klausmeier’s pick, FOX45 learned she worked under Elkins’ leadership during his time as inspector general for the EPA. He left the agency in 2018, according to an EPA news release.
When asked about a potential conflict of interest in having Elkins involved in the interview with Walker, a spokesperson for Klausmeier said Walker “may have interacted with him three or four times on case work but never on a one-on-one basis.”
“She hasn’t seen or spoken with Mr. Elkins in nearly a decade,” the spokesperson added.
There were more than 300 employees of the EPA’s Office of Inspector General in 12 locations at the time, according to Klausmeier’s office.
The translation of experience appears to be a concern for at least one member of the Baltimore County Council, which will ultimately have to decide whether to confirm Walker’s nomination.
When Councilman Izzy Patoka learned of Walker’s nomination over Madigan, he said he believed her federal experience is “very different” from work done at the local level.
“I think that Kelly Madigan has done an outstanding job in a tough environment and should be reappointed,” Patoka said. “She established the inspector general’s office here in Baltimore County, so she is well beyond the learning curve needed to be an effective IG.”
“If confirmed, Walker would have to start at the very beginning here at the local level,” Patoka added.
Cumming also pointed out the differences between Walker and Madigan’s work histories, noting Madigan is an attorney and knows Maryland law.
“This person does not have the certifications necessary to be inspector general, and she actually has never been an inspector general,” Cumming said.
While acknowledging that Walker could potentially learn the necessary skills on the job and “anything is possible,” Cumming said, “experience is probably the great equalizer of anybody.”
While acknowledging that Walker could potentially learn the necessary skills on the job and “anything is possible,” Cumming said, “Experience is probably the great equalizer of anybody.”
Walker’s nomination is expected to be discussed Tuesday during the Baltimore County Council’s 4 p.m. work session. A rally to support Kelly Madigan is also scheduled for that day; that’s set to begin at 3 p.m. It’s not clear when a confirmation vote for Walker will be scheduled, and until she is confirmed, Madigan will stay in place as Baltimore County’s watchdog as a holdover.
Have a news tip? Contact Mikenzie Frost at mbfrost@sbgtv.com.
