Politics

Watchdog Urges City Council to Tighten Rules to Stop Mayor’s Office From Obstructing Probes

Chicago’s ethics ordinance should be tightened to stop the city’s top lawyer from intervening in ongoing probes that risk “embarrassment or political consequences” for city leaders, Chicago’s watchdog urged the Chicago City Council.

In a 17-page letter to Ethics and Government Oversight Chair Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward), Inspector General Deborah Witzburg blasted the city’s Law Department, led by Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson Lowry, for slowing her office’s work to root out waste, fraud and abuse at City Hall.

“The throughline of these concerns is the appearance – and at times the reality – that the DOL (Department of Law) selectively acts in opposition to the OIG’s (Office of the Inspector General) investigative work when OIG’s work may result in embarrassment or political consequences for city leaders,” Witzburg wrote.

A spokesperson for Richardson Lowry said in a statement that “the legal rights of City employees and the legal interests of the city rightfully justify our practices.”

“There is both legal precedent through case law as well as procedural juris prudence that dictates how we must conduct ourselves,” the statement said.

Witzburg’s blistering letter, which condemned conduct under both former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Mayor Brandon Johnson, comes after she released an audit that detailed repeated efforts by the mayor’s staff to hinder her probe into the mayor’s acceptance of gifts on behalf of the city.

Richardson Lowry, picked by Johnson and confirmed by the City Council in July 2023, “regularly withholds” documents from the inspector general she claims are privileged, Witzburg wrote. That practice, which Witzburg said violates federal law, “significantly” delays her office’s investigations.

The city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance should be amended to prevent city lawyers from preventing the city’s watchdog from obtaining records, Witzburg wrote.

In addition, Richardson Lowry has informed Witzburg that city lawyers have the right to attend any investigative interview Witzburg’s office conducts. Rather than allow that, Witzburg has declined to hold those interviews, “substantially compromising the meaningful investigation of allegations of serious misconduct,” she wrote.

“The presence of a city lawyer serving at the pleasure of the mayor – or their designees – in a confidential investigative interview should be expected to compromise the candor of witnesses and subjects, chill cooperation with OIG investigations and intimidate complainants and whistleblowers,” Witzburg wrote.

City lawyers have only demanded to be present during interviews of the mayor’s senior staff and appointees, Law Department employees and “individuals involved in matters that may result in embarrassment to city leaders,” not rank-and-file city workers, including police officers and plumbers, Witzburg wrote.

This “practice creates at a minimum the appearance that the city’s lawyers are working to protect certain individuals of their choosing,” Witzburg wrote.

City lawyers attended investigative interviews conducted during the tenure of former Inspector General Joseph Ferguson in three high profile cases: the probe of the improper raid of the home of Anjanette Young, the inquiry after disgraced former Supt. Eddie Johnson was discovered unconscious behind the wheel of a police cruiser and the examination of the botched implosion of a smokestack in Little Village.

The city’s ethics law should be changed to expressly ban city attorneys from confidential investigative interviews, Witzburg wrote.

Witzburg, appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and confirmed by the City Council in May 2022, said city lawyers have demanded to attend 10 interviews during her tenure, including in probes of the city’s decision to award a casino license to Bally’s and into allegations of wrongdoing by members of the mayor’s staff and an unnamed former elected official.

Lawyers for the city have asked to be present during investigative interviews sought by the inspector general as they probe allegations of bribery, retaliation by withholding city services and “multiple instances of alleged retaliation against individuals who made protected reports to OIG,” Witzburg wrote.

Those demands are “egregiously obstructive,” Witzburg wrote.

Finally, Witzburg wrote, Richardson Lowry has refused to enforce subpoenas issued by the inspector general’s office, until the watchdog provided additional information about the probe, including the identity of those being probed.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has the ability to issue subpoenas without the approval of the Law Department, and the city’s ethics law should be changed to give the inspector general’s office equivalent power, Witzburg argued.

Witzburg vowed to pursue enforcement of Chicago’s ethics rules with “greater frequency and rigor than ever before — paying down the deficit of legitimacy at which the city operates by ensuring that people who break the rules are held accountable, regardless of their positions.”

Since taking office, Witzburg has ramped up enforcement of the city’s ethics laws in an attempt to pay down what she calls the city’s “deficit of legitimacy” caused by Chicago’s deeply entrenched culture of political corruption.

Thirty-eight members of the Chicago City Council have been convicted of a crime since 1968.

“It is perhaps more important than ever that Chicagoans can trust their city government,” Witzburg wrote.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone| (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

---