Baltimore City Hall Phone System Upgrade Plagued by Conflicts of Interest, Wasteful Spending, Secrecy

Business as usual for government!

An investigation by the city's inspector general into the Rawlings-Blake administration's purchase of nearly $675,000 in phone and computer equipment found possible conflicts of interest and missed opportunities for "significant cost savings."

Inspector General David N. McClintock also found that the Mayor's Office of Information Technology withheld information from other city officials about the project. For example, a former deputy mayor directed another city employee to mislead City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young by denying that the mayor's office was taking steps to upgrade the city's phone system.