Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has drawn renewed criticism after joking that his government email inbox is empty, suggesting that keeping messages out of the account is the surest way to stop anyone from reading them.
The 42-year-old Democrat is already locked in a contentious legal dispute over access to public records. That backdrop has amplified concerns about whether his comment hinted at an effort to avoid creating an electronic trail of official communications.
Scott made the remark during an October 21 meeting of Baltimore’s Board of Estimates, where officials were examining the security of city computer systems and determining who should be able to view sensitive information.
What began as a lighthearted exchange quickly attracted greater attention because of the mayor’s ongoing court battle with the city’s independent watchdog, whose investigators have been seeking access to government records.
‘You can have my email because there are no emails there,’ Scott told City Council President Zeke Cohen during the public session.
‘The only way to protect your email is to not email.’
The comments immediately raised questions over whether Scott was intentionally limiting the number of official messages that could later be subject to public scrutiny.
Scott said Thursday that the exchange was merely a joke among colleagues and maintained that he does use his city email account.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is facing renewed scrutiny after making the remark during a meeting focused on government technology security
Scott says he prefers talking directly with city workers and residents instead of relying heavily on email, while denying that he uses a personal account for official business
‘What you saw at the BOE [meeting] is me saying something in jest to the council president,’ Scott said at a news conference.
‘As you know, there’s a lot of banter between myself and [Comptroller Bill Henry]. But more importantly, this is the reality of it: Yes, when appropriate, I use email.’
The issue gained momentum after local outlet The Baltimore Brew reported on the exchange, highlighting questions about the mayor’s communication habits as tensions between his administration and Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming’s office continue to grow.
Scott rejected the suggestion that his comments reflected anything improper.
‘This is just ridiculous,’ he said. ‘Because clearly, if you guys constantly get my emails I use email.’
The mayor’s office routinely sends notices about his public appearances and releases updates on city matters. However, those communications do not show how often Scott personally writes messages from his official account.
Scott said his preference is to communicate face-to-face with city employees and residents rather than depend primarily on written exchanges.
‘I like to communicate with people directly, be that my agencies, be that the folks that work in our departments, be that our residents,’ he said.
The Democratic mayor has called the backlash ‘ridiculous,’ saying his comments were humorous and defending his use of official email
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‘But we’re talking about using the appropriate communication at the appropriate time.’
He added that it is common for senior elected officials to have staff members help manage their government inboxes.
‘Every mayor, at least since 1996 when they had the internet, has had other folks manning their e-mail account because too many emails come in for one person to manage.’
Scott also denied conducting city business through a personal email address. He did acknowledge that he updates a private calendar so his wife, Hana Scott, can keep track of his schedule.
The mayor’s comments have received added scrutiny because his administration has spent months in a legal confrontation with Cumming’s Office of Inspector General over access to municipal computer systems.
The dispute began when city officials cut off the watchdog’s access to government records. Cumming’s office then went to court in an effort to have that access restored.
Court filings later showed that documents sought by investigators had been extensively redacted, while the administration repeatedly pursued additional judicial guidance and appeals, contributing to delays in releasing the records.
Scott has defended the city’s position, arguing that unrestricted access could expose confidential government communications without sufficient protections.
Scott’s administration is already involved in a bitter legal dispute with Baltimore’s inspector general over access to sensitive government records
In September, Scott accused the inspector general’s office of exceeding its authority.
‘The IG was misusing that unfettered access to surveil people’s emails, to secretly look through draft budget documents while advocating for her own budget to be doubled and snooping in on privileged legal advice that the law department was providing to agencies and other members of city government,’ Scott claimed.
Those claims have been disputed as the broader legal case has continued.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Pamela White later ordered the watchdog’s access to be restored. The systems were reopened to the office at the end of September.
Scott’s email joke came just weeks later, during a separate conversation about the city’s Information Technology Department.
Officials were reviewing whether certain employees held elevated computer privileges that could allow them to access colleagues’ files and electronic communications.
Chief Information Officer T.J. Mayotte acknowledged that someone with sufficiently broad permissions could potentially view sensitive material without leaving a trace that even IT administrators could detect.
Comptroller Bill Henry then asked whether anyone outside the IT department, including staff members working for senior city officials, had access to other employees’ records.
Mayotte answered no.
While Cumming and her investigators were not specifically named during the audit, the discussion took place only weeks after a court order restored their access to Baltimore’s computer systems.
