Over the past 45 years, I have attended more judicial and legislative hearings than I care to remember. But I never witnessed a hearing more embarrassing to â or revealing about â a local government than the budget hearing held by the Baltimore County Council last Wednesday.
The FY 2022 budget for the countyâs Office of Inspector General (OIG) was on the agenda. Councilwoman Cathy Bevins (D-Middle River) used the opportunity to excoriate Inspector General Kelly Madigan for her investigation of William âChrisâ McCollum, a county employee.
In my opinion it was a jaw-dropping abuse of authority for Bevins to grill the IG on the investigation of a specific individual under the guise of a budget hearing. It was made much worse by the fact that that McCollum is a personal friend and political ally of Bevins â a bit of information that the councilwoman somehow never disclosed at the hearing.
Several Baltimore County Council members slam inspector general for intimidating investigation practices, call to create oversight board capitalgazette.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from capitalgazette.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Three Democrats Baltimore County Council members lambasted the county’s corruption watchdog during a Wednesday budget hearing over her “intimidating” investigation tactics and “serious weaknesses” within the Office of the Inspector General.
Conversations about police accountability must continue, because this injustice to our people can’t go on.
Judith Sayers (Kekinusuqs) is from the Hupacasath First Nation in Port Alberni, B.C. She is president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. SHARES Chantel Moore was shot and killed by a city police officer during a wellness check on June 4, 2020 in New Brunswick. She was the first of three Nuu-chah-nulth people to be shot by police in the last 11 months.
Photo via Facebook.
The unthinkable happened again on Sunday, when another Tla-o-qui-aht/Nuu-chah-nulth person was shot by police on Hitacu, one of Ucluelet Nation’s reserves near Ucluelet, B.C. Thankfully, it was not a fatality. This is the third shooting by police of Tla-oqui-aht members in 11 months.
Indigenous leaders call for clarity, investigation into RCMP after B.C. shooting
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The RCMP logo is seen outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police E Division Headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., on Friday April 13, 2018. Indigenous leaders are calling for an investigation into the conduct of Mounties on Vancouver Island after two police shootings of members of a small First Nations community in three months. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
PORT ALBION, B.C. – Indigenous leaders are calling for an investigation into the conduct of Mounties on Vancouver Island after two members of a small First Nation were shot by police in the last three months.