Fitzgerald faces some doubts on City Council

Joel Fitzgerald, the candidate selected as the next Baltimore police commissioner, needs to win a majority of 15 votes on the City Council to secure the job, but after a round of meetings with council members in late November, his confirmation is facing some initial opposition.

What’s next? Fitzgerald said he plans to continue in his job as chief of the Fort Worth Police Department in Texas until he’s confirmed. But he’s expected to spend time in Baltimore getting to know the city and its residents.

Mayor Catherine Pugh plans to start the nomination process Thursday, when she formally submits his name to the council. Under the city charter, that gives the council until Jan. 28 to hold a final vote, although one could come at the council’s Jan. 14 meeting.

If the council doesn’t vote, Fitzgerald’s nomination would automatically be approved.

A delegation of senior council members is to travel Sunday to Fort Worth to learn more about Fitzgerald’s work. In early January, the council’s executive appointments committee will hold two days of hearings on the nomination.

The five-member committee will issue a recommendation on the nomination — favorable or unfavorable. An unfavorable report wouldn’t doom Fitzgerald, but would likely be a significant obstacle.

The council confirmed the past three nominated commissioners with overwhelming support.

Where members stand: Brandon Scott, chairman of the council’s public safety committee, said he will vote against Fitzgerald unless he’s given the opportunity to see the results of a contractor’s background investigation of the nominee.

Ryan Dorsey, vice chairman of the public safety committee, is also demanding to see the background report and said he has sent other conditions for considering the nomination in writing to Pugh’s team.

“Under no circumstances will I vote in favor of any candidate for this position without the mayor’s complete background report and file being provided to me,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey described his initial meeting with Fitzgerald as casual.

“The first impression was not positive,” he said, but he declined to comment further.

Zeke Cohen, a member of the executive appointments committee, announced that he wouldn’t be able to support Fitzgerald without seeing the results of the mayor’s vetting.

Cohen said he asked Fitzgerald personally to release the information but was rebuffed and told to file a Freedom of Information request.

Issac “Yitzy” Schleifer, a member of the executive appointments committee, also pushed for access to the complete background file. He said he would vote “no” unless he can see “everything that they saw.”

Mary Pat Clarke, a member of the executive appointments committee, called Fitzgerald a “fine contender.”

Clarke said she wanted to talk to her colleagues who have concerns about background materials being withheld.

“If there’s information that they want, and that’s an issue with them, I’ll certainly want to see that information myself,” she said.

Clarke said Fitzgerald told her he hoped to receive strong support from the council. At a news conference Nov. 26, he noted that he had been unanimously confirmed in the three other cities where he has served as chief.

“It matters to him that he would be approved, but also that he would be approved not reluctantly,” Clarke said.

Bill Henry said he had a wide-ranging conversation with Fitzgerald, but planned to set the question of the nomination aside for a week or two and won’t decide how to vote until after the committee hearings.

Henry said he expected the council would ultimately receive the background information it needs and said he doubted the mayor would nominate someone with a skeleton in his closet.

“I am confident that the background information will be very much like the foreground information,” he said.

Ed Reisinger said he wanted the regular council process with committee hearings to play out and would not withhold his vote over questions about access to Fitzgerald’s background investigation.

“What’s missing here with some of my colleagues here is that the City Council is an institution and there’s a process,” Reisinger said.

Reisinger said he hadn’t made up his mind, but was impressed by his conversation with Fitzgerald.

“He wants to come to Baltimore and he strongly believes that he can turn it around,” he said.

Shannon Sneedsaid Nov. 29 that Fitzgerald seemed like “a very nice guy,” but she needed more information and time to decide.

“It’s such, to me, a big position that needs to be filled, and we can’t throw anybody in there,” she said.

Sneed said Nov. 26 that she trusted that the mayor’s vetting of him was thorough.

John Bullock said he got a positive first impression of Fitzgerald after meeting him, but wanted to gather more information.

“It was a good conversation,” Bullock said. Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young could not be reached for comment Nov. 29.

He reviewed the resumes of candidates for that police commissioner job and Fitzgerald topped his list. But his spokesman said in the week of Nov. 19 that he had not reached a final conclusion.

Robert Stokes, the chairman of the executive appointments committee, said Monday that he was waiting to see what information the mayor turns over as part of Fitzgerald’s formal nomination.

“I haven’t asked for anything,” he said. “I want to see it first. Then, I’ll see if I want some additional information.”

Kristerfer Burnett, a member of the executive appointments committee, declined Monday to comment on Fitzgerald.

Council members Sharon Middleton, Leon Pinkett and Eric Costello did not return messages last week seeking comment on Fitzgerald.