Gov. Wes Moore laid blame at leaders before him for some of the details included in two scathing audits published recently as pressure mounts for him and his administration to take action to ensure the issues within the Department of Transportation and Department of Health don’t persist.
The Social Services Administration audit revealed the agency lacked criminal background check protocols to ensure foster care children weren’t around people on the state’s sex offender’s registry.
The audit of the State Highway Administration revealed the agency “knowingly charged” more than $350 million in unauthorized projects. The audit alleges the agency attempted to shield how much money was actually in the Transportation Trust fund.
“What the audits laid out were some of the challenges that did not begin with this administration. They began under my predecessor,” Moore said. “We believe in accountability, we believe in getting to the bottom of it, and we believe in having systems that are actually serving the people of this state.”
The SSA audit looked at the time period of May 1, 2020, through May 31, 2024. The SHA audit reviewed activity from Nov. 1, 2020, through Oct. 31, 2024.
Moore said following the twin audits, he has since “instructed all of our agencies to not just be in full compliance but in full cooperation.”
But some of the details in the reports indicated the activity did take place – or at least continue – under Moore’s leadership. For example, the SHA audit revealed that unauthorized spending increased more than 3,500% between June 2024 and August 2025.
Moore won election in November 2022 and was sworn in in January 2023.
Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore City Democrat, said the key for him is to fix the problems revealed in the audits, noting he’s an “enormous believer in audits.”
“When I see repeated audit findings, that’s a problem. That’s when we know that there hasn’t been the effort made at the administrative level to really fix the problem,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said that he believes the General Assembly has a “duty to taxpayers” and all Marylanders to ensure “their money is spent wisely and repeat audit findings will not be tolerated by the legislature.”
The SSA audit, however, indicated some of the issues have been going on for years. The audit found the agency didn’t fully resolve six of the eight findings from a prior report, noting again that SSA’s “accountability and compliance level remains unsatisfactory for the third consecutive audit.”
“We use our audits in our budget making process every year. They are crucial tools for us to analyze and question how agencies are functioning,” Ferguson said when asked to explain what he meant by the legislature won’t tolerate repeat audit findings. “It is probably the number one tool that we have to look from the prior year and impact how an agency functions for the next year. That’s what we will be doing this upcoming session.”
Meanwhile, Republicans have called for more transparency surrounding the findings of the audit and other personnel issues. In July, Moore announced DOT Secretary Paul Wiedefeld would be stepping down, effective Aug. 1. The seemingly sudden announcement marked the fifth cabinet secretary to leave Moore’s administration since January and raised questions.
“I mean, the Secretary of Transportation was let go quietly and randomly, but now maybe it wasn’t so random,” said House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy. “Maybe they knew about this and he’s the fall guy. I’m not sure. But what we’re hoping for is transparency.”
Moore’s office did not respond to repeated questions about the possible connection between the findings in the SHA audit and Wiedefeld’s departure. When asked in-person Monday, Moore said the two were unrelated.
“No, the findings of the audit have no correlation,” the governor said. “Secretary Wiedefeld has had decades of service to the state. As the secretary laid out when he announced he was retiring that he was coming up on his 70th birthday and he wants to spend more time with his grandchildren.”
In an interview with Maryland Matters, Wiedefeld said he would soon be assuming the role as president of the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials, but did say running the state’s transportation department was a “24/7 job.”