Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Today’s must-read
Next Post: Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)
Posted in:
* Tribune…
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office improperly blocked public access to a City Hall room where they said they store Gucci bags, designer cufflinks and other gifts, according to an investigation by the city’s Office of the Inspector General.
A report released Wednesday by Inspector General Deborah Witzburg found Johnson’s office violated the city’s ethics policy that requires mayors to record gifts above $50 and “accepted on behalf of the City” in a publicly available log maintained on the 5th floor of City Hall. Covert OIG investigators visited the mayor’s office last June but were denied access to the log.
The report says Johnson’s staff refused to hand over the list of gifts and directed the undercover investigators to make a Freedom of Information Act request instead. The mayor’s office then allegedly blew past the deadline to respond and only produced an incomplete list of gifts over a month later after the OIG made an official document request.
* Sun-Times…
Perhaps most troubling to the inspector general was how difficult it was to secure the information, which is supposed to be “promptly” reported to the Chicago Board of Ethics and the city comptroller so the items can be added to “an inventory of the city’s properly.”
Witzburg found every mayor since Eugene Sawyer in the late 1980’s has been exempt from those rules, based on an informal agreement with the Board of Ethics that has never been put into law.
Wait. What?
* From the Office of Inspector General’s report…
OIG has been informed by [the Chicago Board of Ethics] of a 1989 arrangement made between BOE and Mayor’s Office during the administration of Mayor Eugene Sawyer. This arrangement, never codified in the text of the [Governmental Ethics Ordinance] as a further exception to the general rule prohibiting accepting gifts and never adopted in a formal BOE advisory opinion, allows the Mayor to disregard provisions of the GEO that require gift disclosures to BOE. Instead, pursuant to this unwritten agreement, successive mayors have been advised by BOE that they may keep a publicly available log of gifts instead of making statutorily required gift disclosures to BOE. This unwritten arrangement purported to relieve successive mayors from their responsibility of obtaining approvals from BOE and making disclosures to BOE that are expressly required of all City employees and officials by the GEO. According to BOE, this informal arrangement has continued until the present day and is communicated by BOE to mayoral staff during ethics trainings and in informal ethics opinions. BOE’s website does not clarify that gifts to a mayor would not be disclosed on BOE’s website due to the arrangement between BOE and the Mayor’s Office.
The arrangement between BOE and the Mayor’s Office, which excuses mayors from making statutorily required disclosures to BOE, is contrary to the plain language of the GEO and undermines requirements of the GEO that promote accountability and public transparency. BOE communicated to OIG that, pursuant to the arrangement, the mayor should log gifts “in a publicly available log book” which is “kept in the 5th floor suite of offices in City Hall.”
Yeah, maybe they should codify that.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 1:43 pm
Previous Post: Today’s must-read
Next Post: Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
If I’m reading this write, not only was the law not followed, but MBJ couldn’t even obey the handshake agreement that “exempted” the Mayor?
Comment by ArchPundit Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 1:54 pm
Can’t wait to see if some of those gifts are now categorized as “lightly used” once the IG gets access to the gift room.
Comment by uialum Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:01 pm
Wait, if you don’t put gifts in the gift room, they don’t count right? Like cashing checks? Big nothingburger here.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:08 pm
–
blocked public access to a City Hall room where they said they store Gucci bags, designer cufflinks and other gifts
–
There’s an entire room set aside - for hiding all of this stuff.
It is going to take a lot of convincing for me to believe most politicians are not operating at the developmental level of adolescents.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:11 pm
How did BOE ever explain that arrangement to Lori “former Federal prosecutor” Lightfoot and get a “cool, cool, sounds good”?
Comment by ChicagoBars Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:12 pm
===explain that arrangement to Lori “former Federal prosecutor” Lightfoot and===
She didn’t follow it either, apparently.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:14 pm
If these are just gifts for a job well done or a simple thank you I thought the Supreme Court said ok? Why should the city be so picky /S
Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:14 pm
So he basically ruined this sweet deal for all future mayors. He can’t even do shady gift-deals right.
Comment by NIU Grad Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:17 pm
==Yeah, maybe they should codify that.==
Or, hear me out here - enforce the disclosure required by statute
Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:21 pm
===Or, hear me out here===
Either way is fine by me.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:29 pm
Every time someone in this state discovers an ethics violation by elected officials, the only people who face consequences are the rank and file. Same as it ever was.
Comment by Homebody Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:33 pm
Seems like somebody might want to see how many size 14 red shoes were listed on E-Bay recently.
OTOH, maybe cleaning out the prize closet and having an auction of this stuff could add a dollar or two to some of the city pension funds?
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:40 pm
For anyone who remembers the movie Putney Swope - Johnson could star in the remake
Comment by Sue Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:42 pm
Quite a handshake. Ethics for you, but not for me.
Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 2:57 pm
This is hilarious. I’d like it if a curious reporter asked Lori and Rahm if they knew about this “agreement”, and how they handled it during their administrations. Seems awfully convenient to go all the back to Sawyer when he is not alive to even own it or defend it. Also note the use of the words ” purported to relieve the successors” in the OIG’s report. Throwing a little shade, maybe?
Comment by Responsa Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 3:04 pm
This BGA questionnaire that Johnson answered during the campaign did not age well at all.
https://www.bettergov.org/2023/04/10/brandon-johnson-mayor-transparency-ethics/
1. Do you agree that FOIA violations are a threat to democracy and to the proper functioning of City government?
“Yes. Open access to information and open government are essential to our democracy. The role of the press, in particular, is “to serve the governed, not the governors,” and FOIA requests by media outlets are key to providing access to information for the general public. Many requests, however, are made by non-journalists, which makes engaging in the process an act of engaging in democracy. FOIA violations threaten democracy and erode trust between government and individuals who have elected “governors” to serve. And as we have seen in Chicago, with more than 100 lawsuits filed against the Lightfoot administration, the pursuit of information becomes more of a story than the information itself.”
Yikes.
Comment by Shytown Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 3:32 pm
Sounds like the gift room is a known thing.
Top comment from the Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/1icwnzp/comment/m9ue9k7/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Comment by ChrisB Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 3:53 pm
I think the shade is directed at BoE, for instituting and continuing this practice, and the current MO administration, for stonewalling the OIG.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 3:56 pm
I would gladly accept the booze and drink it on behalf of the city of Chicago.
Comment by Scott l Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 4:04 pm
A diligent search for the owner of the glass slipper revealed Cinderella. Now let’s find out Who fits the size 14 shoes.
Comment by Responsa Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 4:15 pm
How does an ethics board make a handshake agreement that allows someone to break the law.
Why would you gift a Gucci bag to the Mayor?
Comment by Bud Grant Wednesday, Jan 29, 25 @ 4:49 pm