Crime & Law
Ald. Jim Gardiner Sues City After He Was Accused by Inspector General of Slapping Critic With Unfounded Tickets
Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) on the floor of the Chicago City Council. (WTTW News)
Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) sued the city of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Ethics and former Inspector General Deborah Witzburg on Monday, alleging they “maliciously” conspired to charge him with violating the city’s ethics ordinance by directing a city employee to issue “unfounded citations” that could have forced a frequent critic and political foe to pay more than $600 in fines.
The two-term Far Northwest Side alderperson’s lawsuit indicates he plans to ask a Cook County jury to find the city, the Ethics Board and Witzburg conspired “to harass, punish, and drive him out of elected office” and award him at least $1 million in damages.
Both Gardiner and “his family has suffered severe emotional distress” as a result of the probe, according to the lawsuit.
Any verdict or settlement in this case would be paid by Chicago taxpayers, who will also foot the bill to defend Gardiner’s claims.
A spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Law declined to comment, saying the city has not yet been served with the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation.
Gardiner referred questions about the lawsuit to his attorney, Craig Tobin. Gardiner did not respond to an inquiry about whether he plans to run for a third term in February 2027.
“The evidence is clear: the city, the (Chicago Board of Ethics), the Office of the Inspector General and Inspector General Witzburg acted with profound malice, fabricating a case, suppressing evidence, and intentionally using false testimony in a concerted effort to destroy Alderman Gardiner’s career,” Tobin said in a statement. “This lawsuit is about holding those in power accountable for weaponizing city agencies and violating due process to attack a political critic. We look forward to presenting this damning evidence to a jury.”
One of the most conservative members of the City Council, Gardiner frequently opposes Mayor Brandon Johnson’s policies and initiatives. At least two 45th Ward residents have announced plans to challenger Gardiner: S Gronkiewicz-Doran and Leah Cunningham Pouw.
Witzburg, who concluded her term as inspector general last month, is now the chief of staff to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. Witzburg did not respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.
Gardiner had been accused of targeting Jefferson Park resident Pete Czosnyka, who has frequently criticized the alderperson and his ally Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) both on social media and by filing complaints with the inspector general and the Board of Ethics.
“Narcissists like Gardiner habitually claim they are the real victim,” Czosnyka said in a statement to WTTW News.
Czosnyka transformed the front yard of his Jefferson Park home with insect- and environmentally friendly native plants he purchased in 2011 from the city, including black-eyed Susans, hollyhocks, lemon balm and goldenrod.
In September 2019, the city slapped Czosnyka with fines totaling more than $600, alleging he had failed to maintain the parkway, causing rodent problems, and had weeds taller than 10 inches. Czosnyka challenged the tickets, and they were tossed out by a judge.
The inspector general’s probe found that Gardiner “conceived the idea to issue citations” with two employees of the Department of Streets and Sanitation “at the alderman’s ward office and proceeded with the plan even after being informed that plants at the critic’s property were legal.”
Gardiner in his lawsuit denies targeting Czosnyka or directing city employees to target him.
In October 2023, the Chicago Board of Ethics fined Gardiner $20,000, finding the alderperson committed 10 total violations of Chicago’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance: five violations of his fiduciary duty to the city and five violations for unauthorized use of city property.
An administrative hearing officer overturned that ruling after Gardiner appealed. The city moved to dismiss the action against Gardiner after the inspector general’s office disclosed an additional interview with a witness in 2020.
The city concluded “it could not meet its obligation to serve exculpatory evidence from the OIG investigation ‘because additional potentially relevant material has been identified by the OIG and we cannot meet discovery requirement,’” according to the judge’s ruling.
Gardiner’s lawsuit accuses the inspector general of withholding “GPS tracking information for a city vehicle” used by the city employee Gardiner was accused of directing to ticket Czosnyka.
That data shows the employee “made his usual rounds in connection with his duties” when he ticketed Czosnyka. However, the employee was assigned to work in the 39th Ward, not the 45th Ward, where Czosnyka lives, at the time the tickets were issued.
In addition, Gardiner accused the inspector general of withholding evidence that the pictures of Czosnyka’s yard that triggered the tickets were not taken by Gardiner’s former aide, who testified against him, but another neighbor of Czosnyka, according to the lawsuit.
Witzburg’s determination that Gardiner violated the ethics ordinance was the “first-ever finding of probable cause in an inspector general ethics investigation of a sitting member of City Council,” Witzburg said in a statement at the time that called the Board of Ethics’ now overturned ruling a “landmark.”
That report was “riddled with unverified accusations and outright false statements, while concealing evidence,” according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by Nadig Newspapers.
Chicago taxpayers paid $87,500 in 2025 to resolve a lawsuit that claimed Gardiner violated the First Amendment by blocking six critics, including Czosnyka, from his official Facebook page in June 2021.
Gardiner paid an additional $70,000 to resolve claims he violated the free speech rights of Chicagoans.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, Gardiner said the Board of Ethics’ “bad advice” led to him being forced to settle that lawsuit.
Gardiner spent $122,028 in campaign cash to pay five law firms in 2023 and 2024, according to records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Gardiner has frequently accused former Mayor Lori Lightfoot of retaliating against him by refusing to foot the bill to defend him in that lawsuit. Gardiner was a frequent foe of Lightfoot.
The lawsuit filed Monday by Gardiner also accuses Lightfoot of refusing to promote him to the rank of lieutenant in the Chicago Fire Department while serving as alderperson. Gardiner is on leave from the fire department, records show.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled in September 2023 that the evidence showing Gardiner violated the First Amendment was overwhelming and ruled for the plaintiffs without a trial.
Chicago taxpayers paid $100,000 in 2023 to resolve a separate lawsuit filed by a man who claimed he was wrongfully arrested at the request of Gardiner, records show.
The man was arrested after finding a cellphone that belonged to former 45th Ward superintendent Charles Sikanich, a close associate of Gardiner.
Sikanich pleaded guilty to a felony gun charge in December 2024 after being charged with possessing a machine gun, attempting to sell a machine gun and official misconduct for trying to sell an MP-40 fully automatic machine gun, which is illegal to possess in Illinois, to an undercover ATF agent, while being paid by the city of Chicago, records show.
Czosnyka spent a night in jail in November 2018 after being subjected to “an improper campaign of harassment” after criticizing a Far Northwest Side business group on Facebook for their response to the conviction of a White Chicago police officer for the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald, according to a probe conducted by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Gardiner was not investigated by the agency better known as COPA in connection with Czosnyka’s arrest, although COPA investigators reviewed a deposition Gardiner gave in a civil lawsuit. Czosnyka was a plaintiff in that case.
Gardiner apologized in September 2021 on the floor of the City Council for using “misogynistic, homophobic and obscene language” and verbally harassing another alderperson, a city staff member and his own constituents. He was reelected in 2023.
Note: This article was updated with comment from Gardiner's attorney.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
