The most expensive breakfast in Baltimore County may have taken place March 30, 2021, when county Inspector General Kelly Madigan met Patrick Murray at a Towson coffee shop.

Murray, chief of staff for then-County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., called the meeting because a county employee was uncomfortable with Madigan’s questioning during an investigation.

Murray didn’t know that investigation concerned a tennis barn that politically connected developer David Cordish was trying to build over his neighbors’ objections. But he thought Madigan’s approach was harming morale. He told her to wrap it up quickly.

The meeting lasted less than an hour. But the disagreement about what happened that morning at The Bun Shop has stretched over four years and cost county taxpayers $190,000 — roughly split between legal fees and a settlement paid to Murray that the county requested remain sealed.

The parties settled just weeks before new County Executive Kathy Klausmeier announced that Madigan would not be automatically reappointed as inspector general ― a decision that sparked protest from the public and all but one County Council member.

Klausmeier, Madigan, Murray, County Attorney James Benjamin and their representatives all declined to comment for this article.

The Banner compiled this account after conducting dozens of interviews with former county officials and reviewing public records and other documents not subject to the case’s sealing.

When Patrick met Kelly

Murray and Madigan are both attorneys in their late 40s and respected in their fields — he a longtime right-hand man to some of Maryland’s most powerful politicians, she a prosecutor specializing in public corruption. When Olszewski eked out a victory in the county executive primary, Murray was already by his side. When Olszewski fulfilled a campaign promise to hire an inspector general in early 2020, Murray was among those recommending Madigan.

But by early 2021, tensions simmered. A Madigan report showed Chris McCollum, the former director of the county’s agricultural center, squandered $1.1 million on equipment. At the time, both the council and Olszewski’s administration felt the investigation was flawed. McCollum was campaign treasurer for then-County Councilwoman Cathy Bevins and close to other officials.

Later, McCollum served time in prison for stealing more than $110,000 from Bevins’ campaign, and Madigan investigated Bevins for running for office while living outside her district.

Meanwhile, Madigan’s Cordish inquiry ensnared several zoning officials as Cordish sought a variance to build his tennis barn. Eventually, the multimillionaire developer — who is also The Banner’s landlord — abandoned his quest.

County officials often contradicted Madigan’s reports. Some saw her as aggressive and prosecutorial, Councilman Julian Jones said at the time. As the lone Black council member, Jones said Black employees complained to him that they felt singled out — a claim Madigan denied. Madigan also twice wrote reports about Jones’ activities as a councilman and both times he maintained he did nothing to warrant the investigations.

Murray later told investigators he did not know Madigan was looking into the tennis barn, according to correspondence from his attorney to the county. He acknowledged telling her to wrap up her investigation, but said he thought he did so in a collegial manner.

Madigan did not see it that way.

Leaks to the press

In early 2020, Madigan became executive director for the county’s Office of Ethics and Accountability, not inspector general, though that’s how she was working and what she wanted to be called. She eventually would be.

She oversaw ethics complaints, so employees had nowhere to turn with a complaint about Madigan. Her position had no oversight board; inspectors general consider unfettered access and independence necessary for the job.

Then in 2021, Murray began working with County Administrative Officer Stacy Rodgers to define the job and limit Madigan’s powers, particularly regarding employee emails. In an email, obtained by WYPR, Murray instructed Madigan to ask for records in writing and justify why she needed them. Madigan refused.

Administration officials were preparing a bill to rein the IG in when a draft was leaked to Baltimore Brew. Amid public outrage, officials tabled it.

Murray’s lawyers allege in their letters to the county that Madigan tipped off those news outlets to derail Murray’s attempts to bridle her authority.

Eventually, the conflict led Olszewski to appoint a blue-ribbon commission that recommended expanding the office and granted Madigan’s request to hire an independent lawyer when conflicts arise.

The panel also recommended further separating the IG from the ethics commission and decided that, if those being investigated wanted attorneys, the county would not pay for them.

Voters later supported a ballot measure backed by Madigan to enshrine the IG’s office in the county charter.

In June 2022, Madigan’s investigator Steve Quisenberry emailed Murray: “the [Office of the Inspector General] is currently investigating actions taken by employees during the 2021 time frame while the Office was investigating the Cordish tennis barn. The OIG believes you have information that is relevant to our investigation.”

The information was related to Murray’s breakfast meeting with Madigan. Murray filed an ethics complaint, asserting that Madigan was a witness and could not investigate him objectively. Madigan oversaw the ethics office at the time; his complaint was dismissed.

Murray, according to his lawyers’ correspondence, tried multiple times to lower the temperature, including recusing himself from dealings with Madigan and suggesting both sides walk away.

Three months after he got Quisenberry’s email, Murray resigned with no public explanation.

‘No additional action’

To assuage Murray’s concerns about Madigan‘s conflict of interest, Quisenberry informed Murray’s attorney Andrew Levy that Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming would handle the investigation. Levy declined. Madigan and Cumming are close friends, and Cumming had publicly criticized Murray’s attempts to rein in Madigan’s investigative powers.

Quisenberry suggested Levy and Murray find a firm who would do the investigation for free because the county could not pay. Levy shot back that hiring a firm was not Murray’s responsibility.

Quisenberry did not respond to a request for comment.

In April 2023, more than six months after Murray quit, Levy wrote to Benjamin: “This is the only unfinished business Mr. Murray has from his time in Baltimore County. He has otherwise put his service to the County behind him many months ago, and I trust you appreciate his desire to put these matters behind him as well.”

Benjamin subsequently hired Saul Ewing, paying the law firm $24,998 to investigate the Madigan/Murray conflict — just below the $25,000 threshold for needing council approval.

In November 2023, Saul Ewing delivered its report to county officials. Madigan wanted it made public. Levy argued in letters to the county that the report was a personnel matter and not subject to disclosure under the Maryland Public Information Act.

The report remains unreleased. The attorney who prepared it declined to speak about it.

Rodgers, the former county administrative officer, reviewed the report and told Madigan the county should drop the matter.

“In this case there is no additional action for the Administration to take as the employee who is the subject of the independent investigation is no longer employed with Baltimore County,” she wrote to Madigan in December 2023.

But in March 2024, Rodgers — at Madigan’s request — sought council approval for a five-year contract with the Baltimore law firm Karpinski, Cornbrooks & Karp to assist the inspector general with research and in areas where she had a conflict of interest with the county. The council approved the $150,000-a-year contract with no discussion, unaware of the Saul Ewing report.

In April, Karpinski sued Murray in the county’s name on Madigan’s behalf — unbeknownst to the council. As the matter dragged on, Murray finished running Sarah Elfreth’s successful congressional campaign, then became chief of staff for Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater.

What happened over the next 11 months in the case remains unknown.

What is clear: Four years after the breakfast at the now-closed coffee shop, Murray and Madigan do not agree about what happened. And that disagreement wound up costing the county $100,000 for Murray’s attorney’s fees when it settled in March 2025. The county also racked up at least $65,000 in Madigan’s legal fees. That, plus the $24,998 for Saul Ewing, comes to $190,000.

Despite the inspector general’s mandate for transparency and accountability, most people in Baltimore County, including the council, have no idea why she — through the county — sued Murray, or why the county paid him.

“How did it come to be that we ended up spending $100,000?” Jones asked. “I think the public has a right to know and the council has a right to know.”

A photo caption on this article has been updated to correct that Kelly Madigan is Baltimore County's inspector general.