Hours after Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier announced her pick for inspector general, a majority of Baltimore County’s council said they would not confirm the nominee.

Council members are concerned about both the process Klausmeier undertook to choose former federal official Khadija E. Walker over popular Inspector General Kelly Madigan, as well as Walker’s qualifications.

Unlike Madigan, who was a state prosecutor investigating public corruption and fraud before becoming the county’s first inspector general in 2020, Walker does not have a law degree. Her experience is primarily as an auditor, which the county already has.

“Miss Walker seems to be more versed in auditing. Not sure what kind of auditing, but we do not need an auditor. We need an inspector general,” said Councilman Mike Ertel, a Towson Democrat.

Izzy Patoka, a Pikesville Democrat, said he was still searching for information about Walker’s credentials, but it appeared from what the county provided him that her experience was mostly federal. Local investigations are “very different,” he said.

Ertel said he looked up Walker’s LinkedIn page prior to Klausmeier’s announcement Thursday afternoon. But by the time Patoka tried to access it, the page was private. An older version of her page indicates a master’s degree in international development and a bachelor’s degree in global policy studies and political science.

A law degree is not required to be an inspector general, though most do have one. Three of the four inspectors general in the state have law degrees. The fourth, Richard Henry, is a Johns Hopkins University graduate with a long career as an investigator with the U.S. Marshals Service.

Familiarity with the criminal statutes in Maryland is crucial, Ertel said. Madigan refers many of her fraud investigations to state, county and federal prosecutors.

According to the older LinkedIn page, Walker was a program analyst with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago for two decades. In that position, she evaluated environmental programs to ensure they were using taxpayer money responsibly.

Isabel Mercedes Cumming was an auditor before attending law school and becoming inspector general for Baltimore City. She said the jobs are so different that, when auditors and investigators are both in an IG office, they operate by two different rule books.

“When you’re an auditor, you send a letter, it’s very organized. You’re looking at processes,” Cumming said. “When you’re an investigator, you don’t tell anyone what you’re doing. You’re targeting misconduct, as opposed to targeting a regulation process.”

Klausmeier’s news release said Walker “has more than 22 years of high-level Inspector General experience.” The release mostly focuses on her audit work. It mentions she worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Inspector General, but it does not say what position she held or how long she was there.

Patoka and all three Republicans on the council — Wade Kach of North County, David Marks of Upper Falls, and Todd Crandell of Dundalk — reiterated they would not support anyone except Madigan for the inspector general position.

Ertel said he was leaning that way, too. Pat Young, a Catonsville Democrat, was on vacation and declined to comment, but has said in the past he supports Madigan.

Only Julian Jones, of Woodstock, has not voiced full-throated support for Madigan. He could not be reached for comment Friday. Madigan had investigated Jones during her tenure; still, Jones said in May that “Kelly Madigan took the role seriously and dug into tough issues.”

Walker needs four votes; the vote will be in August.

Klausmeier’s staff said she was not available for an interview. Madigan declined to comment on the decision, but said previously that she wanted to remain in the role and thought her interview went well. Madigan was one of three finalists; the county declined to release the name of the third.

Patoka, Ertel and Crandell all said in the hours after the announcement that they had serious concerns about the selection process.

In May, after trying for months to schedule a meeting with Klausmeier, Madigan got to sit down with her — only to get a letter at the end of the meeting saying she would not be reappointed. That was two days after Madigan sent the county a copy of a report that detailed an investigation of Robert Olszewski, a former a crew chief with the county’s Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability, for using a county vehicle to campaign for his nephew and then-County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., who was running and ultimately won a seat in Congress.

Klausmeier first announced she would appoint a five-member panel to choose finalists for the IG post, and then she would make the final call. That changed, according to panel chairman Dennis King, when one panel member, Arthur Elkins, could not make the meeting.

Klausmeier then decided that the four panelists would make recommendations to a second panel that would include Elkins, Klausmeier and Ethics Commission Executive Director Tracey Paliath. She then replaced Paliath with ethics commission member Mandee Heinl, an attorney who represents developers primarily and is not a county employee.

People familiar with the change said that because the Inspector General theoretically could investigate county employees, the panel would be better served with only one county employee.

Elkins has close ties to Klausmeier’s Chief of Staff Amanda Conn; the two worked together at the Washington Suburban Sanitation Authority. Elkins also worked at the EPA’s Office of Inspector General. Memos and news accounts indicate Elkins and Walker worked together at the EPA. Elkins left the EPA in 2018.

County spokeswoman Erica Palmisano said Walker told her that she “may have interacted with Mr. Elkins three or four times on case work, but never on a one-one basis. She hasn’t seen or spoken with him in nearly a decade.”

County officials have said the Olszewski matter had nothing to do with the Madigan decision. Olszewski, who appointed Madigan as the first inspector general to fulfill a campaign promise and then tried to curtail her powers a year later, has said repeatedly that he has had nothing to do with Klausmeier’s decision.

Upon learning Thursday night that Klausmeier did not reappoint Madigan, Olszewski said: “While this is not the decision I would have made, I respect County Executive Klausmeier’s authority to make the choice she feels is in the best interest of the people of Baltimore County.”

Olszewski, though, could have just reappointed Madigan before he left his office for Congress.

If he had, Cumming said, “That would have made things a lot easier.”