Tea at Trianon: Maryland Needs a Real Watchdog: A Statewide Inspector General With Subpoena Power

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Maryland Needs a Real Watchdog: A Statewide Inspector General With Subpoena Power

From Direct Line News:

Marylanders are tired of being told, year after year, that “the system is working” while audit after audit shows the system is bleeding money. At the opening of the 2026 legislative session, we’re again confronted with a simple question: who, exactly, is empowered to protect taxpayers when state agencies fail? Right now, Maryland’s answer is fragmented oversight, scattered audits, and a whole lot of finger-pointing after the damage is done.
That’s why Maryland needs an independent statewide Inspector General (IG), not another “task force,” not a glossy performance dashboard, and not a politically appointed office that answers to the same people it’s supposed to police. We need a true watchdog with one essential tool: subpoena power.
Let’s be blunt. The difference between an Inspector General and a press release is authority. An IG can compel the production of documents and testimony, put witnesses under oath, and refer evidence to prosecutors. Audits can spotlight problems; they usually can’t force accountability. That’s the heart of the debate unfolding in Annapolis right now: Maryland has identified enormous financial exposure across agencies, but its far less clear what consequences follow or whether anyone is ever held responsible. (Read more.)