A new panel of experts appointed by Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier to help her pick a new inspector general may be irrelevant before it even begins its work.

Whatever candidate the panel chooses for the job will need four votes from the council to be confirmed. Four members have said they will not confirm anyone except Madigan.

Republican Wade Kach was first, declaring at a community meeting last month that, “If anyone else is recommended by the county executive for that job, I will vote against that person.” His fellow council Republicans, David Marks and Todd Crandell, joined him in saying they would also only vote for Madigan.

Late last week, Democrat Izzy Patoka joined the Republicans in affirming he would reject all other nominees but Madigan.

Democrats Pat Young and Mike Ertel both said last month in phone interviews that they generally support keeping Madigan as inspector general but stopped short of a full commitment. Ertel did not respond to a request last week asking if his support meant he would vote only for Madigan. Young said he couldn’t promise he’d support only Madigan in advance, despite his strong support for her performance.

Young said he did not want to get into “a hypothetical situation where the council and the county executive are in a ridiculous game of chicken if she keeps attempting to appoint someone else but they can’t get confirmed.”

Only council member Julian Jones has demurred in offering full-throated support. Jones has been the target of two inspector general investigations. He did not return calls for comment.

Klausmeier handed Madigan a letter in a meeting last month saying she would not be automatically reappointed for her position — something the charter would allow Klausmeier to do if she wanted to reappoint her. Klausmeier’s staff then advertised the job within 48 hours of notifying Madigan, who reapplied for the position but is also looking for other work.

Madigan, the county’s first inspector general, came into office in 2020 and has proved popular with the public for her investigations of fraud and waste in corners large and small. Targets of her investigations have ranged from former County Executive Johnny Olszewski and former permits director Arnold Jablon to trash haulers gaming tipping fees and asphalt haulers who paved their own driveways on company time. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ Maryland chapter named Madigan “fraud fighter of the year” in 2025.

Olszewski could have reappointed Madigan before he left, but he left that decision to his successor. Despite trying to curtail the office’s powers in 2021 — a move that backfired and instead enshrined the position in the charter — Olszewski maintains he never talked to Klausmeier about Madigan and did not tell her what decision to make.

The Madigan matter is the first major controversy for Klausmeier, who served in the state legislature for three decades before being appointed county executive by the County Council. She is serving out Olszewski’s term after his election to Congress.

More than 260 residents signed a petition urging Klausmeier to keep Magidan and delivered it to Klausmeier last month. She was in Las Vegas at the time attending the Maryland Party at the International Council of Shopping Centers conference.

Klausmeier said she was shocked to see the support for Madigan, maintaining she only wanted to follow a process to make sure the right person was in the job.

In an interview with The Baltimore Banner, Klausmeier said Madigan never asked to be reappointed to her position, so she decided she would “go by the charter” and require her to reapply.

“She’s done a good job, from what I understand. She’s gotten different awards and everything,” Klausmeier said.

Madigan, however, has emails proving she’d been reaching out to Klausmeier’s office since January to discuss her interest in remaining, as well as her accomplishments. Klausmeier’s spokesperson later confirmed that was the case.

When Madigan met with Klausmeier on May 12, she thought it went well until the county executive handed her the letter.

“I have been telling everybody that asked me that I would like to stay,” Madigan said last week.

In an open letter Klausmeier posted late Friday announcing her panel, she said residents deserve “effective, efficient, honest and open government.”

“In my short time in this job, I hope — if nothing else — that will be an important part of how people remember me," she wrote. “And that is why finding the right person for the job of Baltimore County’s Inspector General is so important to me.”

It’s unclear how many résumés the county has received. The panel will review them and interview candidates, then make recommendations to the county executive this summer. The county did not provide a timeline, but the council must approve the candidate.

Panel members include former inspectors generals William Johnson of the Maryland Department of Human Services and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, retired Judge Kathleen Cox, attorney Dennis King and former state chief administrative law Judge Thomas Dewberry.