{"id":11579961,"date":"2025-07-25T18:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11579961"},"modified":"2025-07-26T15:19:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T19:19:58","slug":"klausmeiers-pick-for-ig-audit-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/25\/klausmeiers-pick-for-ig-audit-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"FOX45: Baltimore County IG nominee questioned over investigative experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Walker has more than 20 years of experience working at the federal level, though the experience is in audits \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has only audit experience,\u201d said Isabel Mercedes Cumming, Baltimore City inspector general. \u201cAn 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 \u2014 because their job changes all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The skill set between an auditor and an investigator is completely different, Cumming added.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cYou’re doing an audit, you’re just targeting on a process,\u201d she explained. \u201cInvestigations hold people accountable. Audits don’t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touting her pick, Klausmeier said, \u201cKhadija has more than 22 years of high-level inspector general experience.\u201d However, Cumming said that\u2019s not an accurate description of Walker\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s just not true. She was a supervisor,\u201d she said. \u201cIt’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.\u201d<\/p>\n

FOX45 News\u00a0asked Klausmeier\u2019s office if she believed Walker\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

While Klausmeier\u2019s office acknowledged that much of Walker\u2019s work at both USAID and the EPA was in auditing, they defended her work history as well, claiming that Walker \u201chas led teams with investigators on staff and assisted in ongoing investigations throughout her career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOIG 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,\u201d a spokesperson for Klausmeier said. \u201cMs. Walker has been intimately involved in both.\u201d<\/p>\n