Transparency was at the center of a City Hall debate last week, as Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and other city leaders squabbled over notifications about alleged police misconduct.
As the city spending board prepared to vote on a $150,000 settlement in a lawsuit against a police officer, City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and Comptroller Joan Pratt complained that they had not been told about a previous $100,000 settlement involving the same officer.
Rawlings-Blake hit back, saying Young and Pratt should have asked more questions if they wanted the information. The mayor said that earlier payouts had no relevance to a current settlement proposal.
Previous statements by the mayor and other administration officials make clear that they promised transparency on the issue of alleged brutality. Their assertions came after a Baltimore Sun investigation found that city officials and taxpayers often were left in the dark about officers who were sued repeatedly over allegations of misconduct.
Responding to community anger about the investigation's findings, Rawlings-Blake said she is committed to being as transparent as possible to improve the Police Department's relationship with residents. "This is not something I take lightly," she said in September.
Weeks later, City Solicitor George Nilson vowed to provide more detailed records to the Board of Estimates.
On Nov. 13, Rawlings-Blake said in announcing that the city would put the outcomes of police lawsuits online: "I want to make sure the public and elected officials have this information." The information became available in January.
The following month, mayoral spokesman Kevin Harris said about the possibility of eliminating a confidentiality clause that limited disclosures about settlements: "The mayor looks forward to getting the law department's report to see if there are additional ways to bring more transparency to the process."
When asked in October why the administration didn't tell Board of Estimates members that one officer had been the subject of five payouts, Rawlings-Blake said "the complaint is public [record]," noting that a reporter had found the information.
"The public has more information than they ever had," Rawlings-Blake told WYPR-FM "Midday" listeners last week.