Patrick H. Murray, the former chief of staff to ex-Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, “abused his position” when he tried to put his thumb on a 2021 inspector general investigation into favored treatment for developer David Cordish, who was then seeking permission to build an oversized tennis barn on his Green Spring Valley property.

So says the Saul Ewing law firm in a November 2023 report hidden from public view for the last 2½ years.

“It is undisputed that Employee A [Murray] admitted that he requested IG [Kelly] Madigan conclude an ongoing investigation,” the report says.

The original Ewing report was released on Friday by Baltimore County Circuit Court after The Brew reported that it was still under wraps, under a Notice of Restricted Information, despite a judge’s May 29 ruling that all case files be unsealed.

The case has drawn considerable attention after it was revealed that the Klausmeier administration paid $100,000 to Murray and his attorneys last June to settle the case. (Kathy Klausmeier was appointed county executive in January 2025 after Olszewski was elected to Congress.)

The settlement took place while the case was still under court seal, with Murray’s identity hidden as “Employee A.”

Ewing’s chief investigator, attorney Mark Simanowith, rejected Murray’s argument that he did nothing wrong when he told Madigan at a breakfast meeting on March 30, 2021 that “the investigation must come to a conclusion expeditiously.”

“Saul Ewing was unable to substantiate that Employee A was specifically endeavoring to shut down the Cordish tennis barn investigation,” the attorney wrote, but his actions were still improper.

Murray said that “senior county officials directed him” to schedule the meeting because they were “concerned about IG Madigan’s tactics having a chilling effect on county employee’s execution of their duties.”

Under the county’s chain of command, no one other than CE Olszewski could direct a chief of staff.

“When a senior-level member of the county government instructs the inspector general to prematurely conclude an ongoing investigation,” Simanowith wrote, “it directly undermines [their] independence and is contrary to the purpose of [an] office” established in 2019 to root out waste, fraud and abuse in county government.

“In fact, if IG Madigan agreed to conclude the investigation in March 2021 as requested by Employee A [Murray], it would have hindered a thorough and complete investigation into whether the construction of the tennis barn bypassed the need for approval at a public hearing.”

Madigan said she left the March 2021 breakfast meeting in shock, telling her deputy, Steve Quisenberry, that Olszewski’s top aide had just faulted her for being “on a ‘witch hunt’ and told her that she needs to ‘wrap [the investigation] the f*** up,’” Simanowith continued.

Madigan left county government last December to become the inspector general for Howard County, while Murray currently serves as chief of staff for Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater.

More Hostile Acts

Within days, the IG faced more pushback from Murray.

In an email dated April 8, 2021, Murray instructed Madigan that she must ask the administration for all records in writing. She must explain why she needs the information and “how the request is necessary and related to the work of the Office of Inspector General.”

His demand ran counter to county law giving the inspector general the right to obtain full and unrestricted access to all county records. Madigan refused, telling Murray that she did not need the county executive’s approval to get records.

Two months later, at a budget hearing, Madigan was berated by Cathy Bevins and Julian E. Jones Jr., council members with close Olszewski ties, for having a “chilling effect” on the morale of county employees.

Bevins especially tore into Madigan for her April 2021 report that disclosed $30,000 in unauthorized purchases by former county Ag Center Director William “Chris” McCollum, who was Bevins campaign treasurer. In July 2023, McCollum was sentenced to six months in jail for embezzling $111,000 from the Bevins campaign committee and other financial crimes.

“I think that you need to just get more comfortable with some of the policies and procedures that happen here in the county,” Bevins told Madigan at the budget hearing. “And if you disagree, I have a problem with that.”

What followed was draft legislation, reportedly written by Murray, to limit the IG’s investigative powers through the appointment of an oversight board packed with political appointees.

The legislation was withdrawn after residents and the Association of Inspectors General said the bill would “gag and shackle” Madigan’s office. Olszewski staved off a public relations nightmare by appointing a Blue Ribbon Commission that recommended various safeguards to protect the inspector general from interference from the administration.

Off to the Courts, then Settlement

The Saul Ewing report was completed on November 21, 2023.

Murray had resigned a year earlier, weeks after Madigan’s release of a scathing report that the tennis barn was given priority zoning status because Cordish was, in the words of one county official, a “unique person” who contributed heavily to the local economy.

“Thank you again for working with the Administration to have the independent investigation [on Murray] conducted and bringing this matter to closure,” Stacy L. Rodgers, then county administrative officer, wrote to Madigan in December 2023. Madigan wanted the Ewing report released on “Employee A,” but Murray’s attorney, Andrew D. Levy, argued that the report constituted “personnel records” that were exempt from public disclosure by the Maryland Public Information Act.

To resolve matters, Karpinski, Cornbrooks & Karp was hired by the county, at Madigan’s request, to file a lawsuit to have a judge decide whether the Ewing report could be released under the law.

Levy filed a countersuit that heaped praise on Murray as the former chief of staff for the late Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and senior policy analyst to former House Speaker Michael E. Busch.

“Employee A’s professional conduct has never been subject to investigation, and Employee A had never been disciplined or threatened with discipline. To the contrary, Employee A cultivated a reputation of strong professionalism, effective service and ethical behavior,” Levy wrote.

Madigan was accused in the countersuit of many things. They included “bare-knuckled efforts to expand the power and authority of her office,” “interfering with the day-to-day operations of county government,” and seiz[ing] upon an innocuous conversation between two colleagues over breakfast to open a frivolous, pretextual ‘investigation’ into the conversation in which she and Employee A were the sole witnesses.”

The countersuit further argued the Saul Ewing report had to be revised because the original version held Murray responsible for violating policies that had not been formulated by the IG at the time of their breakfast meeting.

At issue was the absence of a specific definition for “abuse” in the IG’s policies at the time. In two amended reports filed in 2024, Simanowith relied on what he called the plain meaning of the word “abuse” in Black’s Law Dictionary as well as the definitions set forth by Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.

The dispute over definitions did not change the conclusion of the original and revised Ewing reports. They all concluded that Murray had “abused his position within Baltimore County government” at the March 30, 2021 meeting.

Given that finding by an independent investigator, why did CE Klausmeier and County Attorney James R. Benjamin agree to settle the lawsuit last June 25, one month after Klausmeier informed Madigan that her first term as inspector general had expired and she would not be reappointed?

County spokesman Dakarai Turner answered the question this way:

“The county executive sought to resolve this matter to avoid the additional costs and uncertainty associated with continued litigation. After carefully evaluating the circumstances, Baltimore County determined that reaching a settlement was the most fiscally responsible course of action, allowing the matter to be brought to a conclusion and in so doing, protect further expenditure of tax dollars on this matter.

Saul Ewing’s Unsealed 11/21/23 Report

Note: “Employee A” is Pat Murray. The report cost the county $25,000.