Politics
Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin Agrees to Pay $30K for Firing Whistleblowers, Misusing City Resources
Melissa Conyears-Ervin is pictured in a campaign photo. (Credit: Campaign photo)
Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin will pay a $30,000 fine to resolve charges brought by the Chicago Board of Ethics alleging she violated the city’s government ethics ordinance by firing whistleblowers and improperly using city resources, according to records released Thursday.
Conyears-Ervin, who is running to represent Illinois’ 7th Congressional District and replace retiring U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, had been fined a total of $70,000 by the Board of Ethics in two separate probes.
Conyears-Ervin, who is married to Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward), the chair of the City Council’s powerful Budget Committee and a close ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, did not acknowledge wrongdoing as part of the settlement agreement she reached with the Board of Ethics and the city’s top lawyer, Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson Lowry.
Conyears-Ervin said in a statement that her conduct was not unethical, and denied misusing city resources
“I am a woman who believes in the healing power of prayer and the bonds our communities build through our churches,” Conyears-Ervin said. “During an extremely difficult time in many people’s lives, I sought to use my platform to bring comfort to anyone I could."
Conyears-Ervin said she does not have the resources to “spend endlessly on lawyers against the government.”
“This settlement ends this ridiculous witch hunt and allows us all to get to focusing on what matters: supporting working families who need their government more than ever in these difficult times,” Conyears-Ervin said.
Conyears-Ervin signed the settlement agreement on Sept. 26, and it was published by the Ethics Board on Thursday in keeping with its rules.
The Ethics Board determined that Conyears-Ervin fired an assistant city treasurer and a deputy city treasurer because they warned her not to use city resources and city employees to organize recurring Christian-themed prayer events on Facebook because that conduct violated the city’s ethics ordinance, the Illinois Constitution and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to the settlement agreement.
Conyears-Ervin was fined $10,000 for that conduct by the Ethics Board in May 2024.
In a separate probe, the board found Conyears-Ervin directed a city employee to use city time and city resources to plan her appearance at four churches on Jan. 26, 2020, to further Conyears-Ervin’s “personal and political objectives, including but not limited to, promoting the candidacy of two individuals for state office,” according to the settlement agreement.
Conyears-Ervin was fined $60,000 for that conduct by the Ethics Board in April 2024.
Chicago taxpayers paid $100,000 in 2021 to resolve a lawsuit filed by two employees alleging they were wrongfully terminated by Conyears-Ervin.
Had the settlement been even one dollar more, it would have required City Council approval under city rules. That would have required Conyears-Ervin’s colleagues to approve — or reject — city lawyers’ recommendation to resolve the case before a trial.
The Ethics Board ratified Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s determination that Conyears-Ervin violated the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance. It is the first time an official elected citywide has been found in violation of the city’s main ethics law by both the Ethics Board and inspector general.
Conyears-Ervin, a Democrat, unsuccessfully tried to unseat Davis in 2024. First elected as city treasurer in 2019, Conyears-Ervin was unopposed in her bid for reelection in 2023.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
