Season 3 of OPEN AGENDA is here! In our season premiere (S3 E1) we address the County Executive's unexpected veto of legislation authorizing the Internal Auditor to conduct audits of the County Council—a function that was previously prohibited under the County Code. Her veto came as quite a surprise since one would expect the Executive to be in favor of subjecting the Council to internal audits, and particularly since her own Director of Administration and County Attorney were central to drafting this legislation. We reveal the Executive's false claims about this bill that she used to justify her veto, including her assertion that the standards do not apply equally. The veto is expected to be overturned at the January 6 Council meeting.
It must also be noted that the Executive's Dec. 30th press release announcing her veto was not made available through official county media outlets until six days later. In fact, it was only available on a for-profit blog site with a history of contributing substantial sums to the Executive's campaign, and which frequently blocks selected individuals from accessing official county information. Has the Executive committed an ethical or even a legal violation by this action?
In other news, a public hearing for the 2027-2031 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) will take place at the 1/6/26 Council meeting. Will the Executive satisfactorily address the many questions that will arise, such as the prioritization of projects, project details, accuracy of cost estimates, and adequacy of funding?
0:31 Giordano’s Christmas Veto
2:04 What does the Auditing Bill actually do?
6:39 Flip-Flopping caught on Tape
8:06 James Winn Supports FULL Auditing
10:35 A pint of blood?
12:15 Other agenda items for Tuesday’s meeting
15:33 Water and Sewer Advisory committee Concerns
20:00 Paul Wilber
21:52 Is the County Executive hiding anything?
25:31 Another Problem is created
26:16 Dueling Press Releases
