Nick Mosby is the CEO and sole owner of a consulting firm whose headquarters address is the same as the offices of one of his major campaign contributors.

The Democratic Party nominee for City Council president, who has skirted around several controversies as he coasts to victory in the general election, has received $12,750 from Samuel K. Himmelrich Jr. and his LLCs – all originating from the developer’s office in Mount Washington, according to a records search by The Brew.

The same address – 1340 Smith Avenue, Suite 200 – is listed as the “head quarters” [sic] of Monumental Squared LLC, a company founded by Mosby that purports to offer “best-in-class supplier management, business consulting and strategic communications.”

Public officeholders are allowed to own private businesses, but they are required to follow ethics rules, such as paying rent to a third party.

If rent was not paid to Himmelrich for space used by Mosby’s company, that would constitute a “gift” from the developer, which needs to be publicly reported. In his sworn ethics statements, Mosby declares no gifts.

Himmelrich was reported “out of the office” and did not respond to an interview request yesterday. Members of his staff would not say if Monumental Squared rents space at his office.

Unanswered Questions

Even before he assumes office as City Council president (as the Democratic Party nominee in deeply blue Baltimore, he has an overwhelming electoral advantage), Mosby has come under scrutiny.

Last week, The Brew disclosed that he is in line for a 33% increase in staff as Council president, despite other departments laying off employees and the city facing an unprecedented financial crunch because of the Covid pandemic.

At this morning’s Board of Estimates meeting, outgoing Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young and his two appointees are expected to rubberstamp the office’s expansion from 27 to 36 full-time employees, costing $715,000 in additional annual salaries.

Mosby has also been embarrassed by the recent disclosure that the IRS has an outstanding $45,000 lien against him and his wife for unpaid taxes. The tax liabilities cover three years and go back to 2014.

Despite these budding scandals, Mosby won the endorsement of the Baltimore Afro last Friday. He has yet to be criticized publicly by any other Democratic candidate running for local office.

Meanwhile, his wife, Baltimore state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby, is the subject of investigations by the Baltimore Inspector General and the state prosecutor.

They center on her own consulting business, Mahogany Elite Enterprises and two subsidiaries, Mahogany Elite Travel and Mahogany Elite Consulting, which were belatedly disclosed on her state ethics form, and for workshops and conferences that took her out of the office for 67 days last year.

Nick Mosby has been unreachable to this and other media outlets for several weeks.

Attempts by The Brew to reach him by phone, Facebook, Twitter and through his consulting company have failed.

He has not made any public statements about why he needs added staff as Council president and effectively stopped campaigning after the June primary.

Run for Mayor

Himmelrich’s financial support for Mosby began in 2016 when the then-City Councilman made an abortive run for mayor.

Through two LLCs, Eutaw Property Enterprise and IDAC Tailgate, Himmelrich gave Mosby $5,000 not long before he gave up the race and threw his support behind Catherine Pugh.

Mosby returned to elective politics in January 2017. He was named a state delegate in January 2017 as a result of Mayor Pugh vacating her job as state senator and her aide, Gary Brown Jr., being indicted on campaign finance charges before he could assume the delegate post.

Delegate Mosby entered the race for City Council president on December 3, 2019. Two days later, Himmelrich made a $500 donation.

Overall, Himmelrich contributed nearly $7,000 to Mosby’s  campaign for Council president, the bulk coming a month before he won the primary. (See chart below.)

A specialist in converting former factories into commercial space, Himmelrich owns a number of prime properties around Baltimore.

They include Meadow Mill in Woodberry, Parker Metal Building in Sharp-Leadenhall, Mount Washington Mill (home of a Whole Foods outlet), and Montgomery Park, where the Maryland Department of the Environment rents 270,000 square feet.

Among other projects, he is redeveloping the sprawling ex-Pepsi plant in Woodberry as a mixed-use community, which will need various approvals from the next City Council that Mosby is expected to head.

While the Monumental website lists Himmelrich’s Mount Washington office as its headquarters, Mosby has consistently reported a different address in his ethics reports.

To the State Ethics Commission as well as to Baltimore City Ethics Board, Mosby lists the company’s address as a small space in an Owings Mills business park.

This space is occupied by Micah “G-Stew” Wainwright, who owns a tax accounting company, but who more broadly describes himself on Facebook as a “serial entrepreneur, award-winning author, Fox News contributor and Kingdom Leader.”

While the Monumental website lists Himmelrich’s office as its headquarters, Mosby has consistently reported a different address in his ethics reports.

Wainwright incorporated Monumental Squared in January 2017, just weeks after Mosby became a state legislator.

The company has since failed to file personal property tax returns. It was declared “not in good standing” and “forfeited” on October 11, 2019 by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation.

Nevertheless, Mosby lists the company as active in his latest city and state ethics filings.

Mosby also lists himself in state records as sole owner and CEO of a second company, M Squared Group LLC.

Also incorporated by Wainwright in 2017, the company has suffered the same fate as Monumental Squared – not in good standing with the state and forfeited for not filing property tax returns.

Wainwright did not respond to phone calls to his office.

“Creating new intersections”

Mosby reported the “value” of Monumental Squared as less than $25,000 in his latest state disclosure form.

But on the company’s website, Mosby brags that Monumental has a well-established nationwide network “as a prime construction supply vendor” and possesses “a track record of successfully leading people, projects and processes to achieve aggressive milestones with complex solutions.”

The company further claims expertise in public affairs and strategic communications, noting that “it’s important to stay ahead of messaging by strategically developing [a] comprehensive communications approach.”

The website goes on to explain:

“Leveraging social media, developing message arcs, identifying natural audiences and surrogates, and executing plans are simple but effective steps to drive a message. Our firm specializes in bridging the gaps and creating new intersections.”

The company is not listed on the contractor directory maintained by the Baltimore Department of Public Works and does not appear to currently hold any city contracts.

• To reach this reporter: reuttermark@yahoo.com