Last December, Margo Bruner-Settles, a division chief at Baltimore’s Human Resources Department, was posting photos of herself smiling broadly as she accepted the “Supervisor of the Year” award from Mayor Brandon Scott.

These days, Bruner-Settles is an ex-city employee, ousted from the $150,000-a-year position she occupied for 11 years.

Also out of a job: Liam F. Davis, who had logged a dozen years as a staffer for then-City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young and, more recently, as legislative affairs manager for the Department of Transportation.

Both ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in the May Democratic Party primary.

But more relevant to their demise as city employees, Bruner-Settles and Davis had accepted campaign contributions from critics of Mayor Brandon Scott and were perceived as allies of his primary opponent, former Mayor Sheila Dixon.

They were fired on Scott’s orders – legally permissible because as “at will” employees, they are not protected by civil service rules – according to six sources, including Dixon herself.

“When you have good, talented employees like Liam and Margo, who love what they do, you move on, whoever the mayor is,” Dixon told The Brew today.

“I never believed in being vindictive to people. I think you need to look at the long picture and try to get beyond it. To me, this undermines the kind of leader you are,” she said.

The mayor’s office has not responded to questions and a request for comment about the dismissals.

Others Firings

Two others let go on the mayor’s instructions, sources say, are:

• Kimberly Washington, a top aide to former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and ex-chief of staff for Baltimore Housing, who was serving as an operations manager for the fire department.

• Andrew C. (Andy) Freeman, vice president of East Baltimore Development Inc., a city-funded development corporation who was fired by EBDI board chair, Calvin A. Young, who happens to be Scott’s campaign treasurer.

Like Davis and Bruner-Settles, Washington and Freeman did not formally support Dixon. But both of them were associated with political actors who did and were openly critical of Scott.

A bad precedent? Or business as usual in a world where a premium is placed on loyalty?

“The friend of my enemy is my enemy,” mused a City Hall insider who requested anonymity to avoid a similar fate. “You’re judged by the company you keep.”

And judged by the standards of rough-and-tumble Baltimore politics, the ousters were viewed by some not as a purge so much as business as usual where a premium is placed, above all, on loyalty.

“Around here, there is no such thing as ‘neutral,’” the insider said. “If you don’t speak up for somebody, that’s seen as being against them.”

“A wealth of experience”

Asked about his termination, Davis declined to comment.

Freeman and Bruner-Settles reportedly are contemplating legal action against the city. (Even “at will” employees have a First Amendment right not to be fired for their personal political beliefs, including supporting or refusing to support a particular candidate.)

They did not return phone and email messages from The Brew.

Bruner-Settles also did not respond to a recent report by Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming faulting her management of the Employee Assistance Program.

Case workers sometimes entered client notes months after contact, Cumming found, but added, “It is worth noting that the OIG did not discover evidence of fraudulent documentation within the case notes.”

Meanwhile, Washington has re-emerged in a newly created position – director of external affairs – for Sheriff Sam Cogen, an elected official whose agency is independent of the mayor’s office.

“She has a wealth of experience and will help us immensely in dealing with the bureaucracy in the city that’s very stifling for someone like me in an independent office,” Cogen told The Brew.

He said Washington was hired three weeks ago at $145,583 a year, a small bump above the salary she was forced to relinquish at the fire department.

One of her first tasks will be to help win approval for body cameras for sheriffs, which Cogen says has been delayed for months by the city law department and at the Board of Estimates.

As a former housing official, Washington will also help the sheriff’s office with landlord-tenant evictions and other housing court matters.

“It’s not about loyalty,” Cogen explained. “She really is a perfect fit.”

During the campaign, the sheriff endorsed and campaigned for Dixon and, along with State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, blasted Scott’s first term in office, bluntly stating at a news conference held at Dixon campaign headquarters, “I do not have a partner with this mayor.”

Bad Blood

Another factor that played into the animosity that arose between the mayor and Dixon forces was the role of 11th District Councilman Eric Costello.

An early Dixon supporter whose barbed remarks about Scott reportedly got under the mayor’s skin, Costello handed over the maximum $6,000 contribution to the Bruner-Settles campaign, which launched a blistering attack on incumbent Councilman Ryan Dorsey, a Scott supporter.

With Eric Costello lame-ducked, Liam Davis was an easy target to punish for his political heresy.

Costello also actively backed Davis in the First District and helped grease the wheels for campaign contributions from Alex Smith, who heads the Atlas Restaurant Group that owns multiple venues in the district.

The Brew traced $25,000 in contributions to the Davis campaign from Smith, his brother and managing partner Eric Smith, and other persons and entities connected to the hospitality group.

Meanwhile, a super PAC organized by David Smith, the restaurateur’s uncle, poured more than $1 million into Dixon’s campaign before the primary, with $250,000 coming directly from David Smith, majority owner of the Baltimore Sun, and $150,000 from Alex Smith.

• The Smith family, seeking political influence at City Hall, gets a slapback from voters (5/16/24)

• Challengers are running strong against Costello and Stokes in the 11th and 12th Council districts (5/15/24)

So Davis, who insisted to reporters he was “neutral” in the mayor’s race, appeared a turncoat in the eyes of the Scott, his chief of staff (and former campaign manager) Marvin James and others.

With Costello sidelined in the 11th District by newcomer Zac Blanchard, Davis was an easy target to punish for his political heresy.

“Sorry you were let go by the Administration – you always were very dedicated to your job and the city of Baltimore,” commented former Mayor Young on X.

“I guess you pissed off Colleen Martin-Lauer and she direct[ed] that you had to go,” he continued, referencing the formidable political consultant who raised funds for the Scott campaign.

“Liam just bought a house. I feel sorry for him. It all looks so political” were the wistful words of Young, a man who knows a thing or two about Baltimore politics.

As for Davis, he penned the following after catching wind of his banishment: