Politics

Key City Council Panel Agrees to Tighten Chicago’s Ethics Law After ‘Problematic Incidents’

A key Chicago City Council committee agreed on Tuesday to tighten Chicago’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance, advancing a slate of changes that includes a requirement that candidates explicitly stand by their advertisements.

The Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight unanimously voted to advance a revised package of reforms first introduced in May 2024, sending it to the full City Council for a final vote on Sept. 23.

The proposed changes to Chicago’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance were crafted by the Chicago Board of Ethics “in response to multiple incidents of problematic behavior.”

The new rules would require candidates to include a statement, either read by the candidate or clearly printed, that the candidate has approved the advertisement.

Candidates for federal office have had to include similar statements in their advertisements since 2002, as part of an effort intended to discourage negative attack ads by making candidates claim personal responsibility for the content of their campaign ads.

However, the amount of negative political ads has only increased since that claim of responsibility became a routine, and much-mocked, part of campaign advertising.

The proposed changes also include a provision that will subject contractors who perform work for members of the City Council or City Council committees to the same ethics rules that apply to city employees, including limits on gifts as well as requirements designed to prevent conflicts of interest.

In addition, the ethics ordinance would be revised to specifically prohibit city employees or elected officials from pressuring their employees to make or solicit contributions to political fundraising committees in addition to candidates. 

The revised ordinance would also expand the prohibition on the use of city property for political purposes by explicitly banning candidates from using “any uniform, badge or other insignia that identifies or purports to identify an individual as a city official or employee” as part of their campaign.

Former Chicago Board of Ethics Chair William Conlon specifically warned all candidates running in the 2023 mayoral election not to use images of uniformed Chicago police officers, firefighters or city personnel in campaign advertisements.

Mayoral hopeful John Kelly has continued to campaign in Chicago Fire Department stations, even as the Chicago Board of Ethics continues to probe him for violating the city’s ethics laws.

Kelly’s campaign deleted three campaign videos that showed uniformed members of the Chicago Fire Department as well as city owned fire trucks and other equipment.

If approved by the City Council, those changes would take effect in 30 days, records show.

A separate measure would allow the Ethics Board to levy fines against politicians whose campaign committees violate the ordinance, but then become insolvent or are closed. If those politicians go on to launch a new bid for office and create a new campaign committee, the Ethics Board could seek to levy the fine against the new committee, according to the proposed change.

That proposed change comes after the Ethics Board fined former mayoral candidate Paul Vallas $214,000 for accepting $202,000 in excessive contributions from firms doing business with the city, in violation of city law.

Vallas’ campaign committee, Vallas for Mayor, had $23,600 in debt when it was closed on Aug. 19, according to records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

That makes it impossible for the Ethics Board to force Vallas to pay the fine.

However, the proposed change to the Ethics Ordinance would only apply to fines levied by the board after Jan. 1, 2027, meaning it would not apply to Vallas if he launches another run for office.

Bijan Terani, associate director of Reform for Illinois, a group that tracks campaign contributions and lobbies for increased transparency in government, told the committee none of the changes were controversial.

“They are matters of common sense,” Terani said. “But the deeper problems remain.”

A provision that would have expanded city-imposed limits on campaign contributions was removed from the package of changes before Tuesday’s meeting, much to the dismay of Bryan Zarou, vice president of the Better Government Association. 

Current law limits companies doing business with the city to contributing $1,500 annually to candidates for elected office in Chicago. 

The original version of the proposed changes, crafted by the Ethics Board and backed by its former Executive Director Steve Berlin and Ethics Committee Chair Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward), would have applied the same limits to individuals who own 1% or more of firms that hold city contracts.

Similar limits are in place in New York and Los Angeles and would be “a reasonable step toward ensuring the level playing field and strengthening public confidence” in local elections, Zarou said.

Passing the proposed package of changes to the city’s ethics ordinance without closing that “loophole” will leave a “significant gap in our ethics framework,” Zarou said.

The Ethics Board has been without a permanent leader for 14 months, and is being led by acting Executive Director Klarisa Flores after Berlin’s retirement nearly two weeks ago.

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

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