Articles Responding To:
“Potentially billions of dollars could be wasted and there’s no oversight because of what Mayor Scott has started,” taxpayer advocate David Williams said.
A new report from Baltimore’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is offering taxpayers a detailed look at how the city financed Artscape, including the use of more than a half-million dollars in federal COVID relief money for entertainment and related events.
Promises of transparency but Moore won’t answer questions about wrongdoing in his admin.
by TESSA BENTULAN | Spotlight on Maryland
Spotlight on Maryland, working with media partner The Baltimore Sun, reviewed more than 60 public statements in which Moore promised openness and accountability. Those statements include his signing of the Transparent Government Act, to promising to modernize government by fixing systems “that are clearly broken but haven’t been touched,” to saying in a 2025 Baltimore Sun article that “people know and realize the administration believes in full transparency.”
When he launched his Substack account in July, he said to readers, “You deserve transparency and accessibility. Those are pillars of my administration, and I want to bring them here.”
Some lawmakers say that commitment has not been upheld since Moore took office in January 2023.
“I don’t think it is doing well, and we need to be more transparent,” said Del. Matt Morgan, R-St. Mary’s County.
Morgan cited the state’s projected $1.4 billion budget shortfall following roughly $2 billion in tax increases enacted less than a year earlier.
“They push out these ideas, and then they’re just not accountable,” he said.
House Speaker Joseline Pena-Melnyk, a Democrat, said she remains focused on addressing challenges within the legislature’s control.
“We are taking it on,” Pena-Melnyk said in an interview. “I can only control us, and I can tell you that we are on it.”
Spotlight began reporting on alleged wrongdoing within state government last year. Since then, Moore’s administration has stopped responding to questions related to multiple investigations.
In one case, whistleblowers alleged that Maryland officials crafted a “scheme” to avoid federal penalties tied to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), raising questions about whether state leaders manipulated data to shield Maryland from financial consequences.
Moore denied the allegations and said an investigation would be conducted and made public. However, his office has not responded to repeated requests from Spotlight for details about the status, scope or findings of that investigation.
In a separate Spotlight investigation, we discovered a Department of Human Services employee billed taxpayers $400 for massages – an expense the department later explained procurement procedures were not followed.
Response:
What we are seeing in States like Minnesota with national headlines about alleged “Somali Fraud” ripping off the State of Billions of Dollars.
Right here in Maryland there are is “alleged” scandal in the Department of Human Services, where whistle blowers have come forward where there was an alleged plan to “avoid penalties” on a federal SNAP scheme…
Where in Baltimore City you have money going to “Non Profits” some of them are not in “good standing” with the City or State, even one linked to Mayor Scott’s wife.
Now just yesterday, the Secretary of Human Services Raphael Lopez announced his resignation, a department under security over the Potential SNAP benefit scandal, and the tragic death of a 16 year foster child Kanaiyah Ward
who was living in a hotel and “overdosed”..
Last year the Moore Administration was repeatedly asked how much money does the State give to “Non Profits” and couldn’t answer the question, and in mid 2025 the Sates Budget Secretary announced she was leaving the Administration.
With all of this should it be surprising, that by January 8th 2025, that the State of Maryland was $3 Billion Dollars in the hole?
2 things should happen the Legislature and the Governor need to pass and sign Delegate Ryan Nawrocki’s, LD 7A bill to create a Statewide “inspector general’s Office” and the other is a federal investigation into these matters. Will either happen? Only time will tell….
Governor Moore likes to blame “President Trump” for most of Marylands challenges these days, maybe he needs to start looking at his own Administration..