Baltimore's inspector general, the city's watchdog for fraud, waste, and abuse, is outraged over being blocked from access to documents that she said are essential to her job.
Isabel Mercedes Cumming also told WJZ Investigates her team can no longer monitor who is looking at sensitive online data, including whistleblower complaints.
In response, the communications director for Mayor Brandon Scott has accused the inspector general's office of misleading the public.
"It's shocking," Cumming told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren as she held up some heavily redacted documents. "Cash app $102. I can't tell you who paid it. $500 here. I can't tell you where the money went, just pages that I don't even know what it is."
Cumming referred to some of the hundreds of pages of redacted documents she received while looking into Slack communications connected to the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, or MONSE, Mayor Scott's signature violence reduction program.
"How could I possibly do my job?" the longtime inspector general asked. "My job is to protect taxpayer dollars. I can't follow the money anymore because it's redacted."
While Cumming has subpoena power, she said the city is treating her like any general member of the public who requests documents through the Freedom of Information Act.
"My office is based on transparency, accountability and integrity, so I've been kind of backed into a corner where transparency is what I have, so...
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