Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley expressed his support for the City Council lead investigation of travel by Employee?s Retirement Systems, calling on the board to revise its travel policies.
“The board would be well advised to tighten up there rules,” O?Malley said Wednesday, speaking on the board?s recent travel. “We will work with the City Council on it?s investigation,” he said.
O?Malley?s comments come after a series of stories by The Examiner looked at questionable trips board members recently took.
O?Malley said if the trips were paid for in part by financial advisers as has been alleged, then the board should disclose the trips as is required by the city ethics code. “One would think they would disclose the travel,” he said.
Recent ethics filings by board members did not list any of the overseas trips as gifts.
The travel of individual members of the ERS board, first reported in The Examiner, featured 10 trips in the 16 months. Several of the trips were to foreign destinations including Paris, Monte Carlo, Vancouver, B.C., and Bangalore, India. The trips, which were criticized by several council members, and featured discounts for registration fees, prompting Council member Ken Harris to ask for the council?s Judiciary and Legislative Investigation Committee to look into the travel.
“I received phone calls about the issue,” Harris said.
“As member of the council it is my responsibility to make sure this practice is warranted,” Harris said. “We have to do due diligence on this one.”
