Chicago officials investigate ex-mayoral employee, drinking by city workers

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The Chicago Board of Ethics is looking into allegations that a former high-level employee in the mayor’s office solicited a job for his or her child from a city contractor, allowed the contractor to perform unsolicited work for the city and attempted to facilitate $9.6 million in payments to the contractor, even though the contractor was not entitled to the funds.

The Chicago Office of Inspector General revealed the findings in its latest quarterly report. The OIG also found that city aviation department employees drank alcohol on the clock, falsified time records, stole city property and lied to investigators. Among other things, the report also detailed investigations of Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud and a “substandard” police investigation after a fatal collision involving a Chicago Fire Department vehicle.

In a statement provided to The Center Square, a spokesperson from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s press office said the high-level employee referenced in the OIG report was a member of a previous administration and is not actively employed by the city.

“That being said, Mayor Johnson takes allegations such as these very seriously and remains committed to transparency and ethical governance. Referenced City Departments and agencies have responded in a manner necessary to uphold the highest ethical standards,” the spokesperson said.

The inspector’s report said some of the investigative work reported this quarter was hampered by the city’s withholding of information.

“The City’s compliance with its obligations to cooperate with OIG should be an area of ongoing concern; we have improved and clarified the law around OIG’s access to City records, but that law is only as good as the City’s compliance with it,” the report said.

The contractor, along with counsel, and the former employee met with the Chicago Board of Ethics at its meeting on April 13. After the meeting, the board voted 6-0 to dismiss the matter with regard to the contractor, citing “insufficient evidence” that the employee’s actions were influenced by the contractor’s offer to the employee’s child.

The board also dismissed the charge against the former employee but agreed to continue the matter at its next meeting in May of whether the former employee violated his or her fiduciary duty to the city or engaged in the unauthorized use of city property.

The OIG quarterly report outlined 10 sustained investigations into Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud. Witzburg said her office prioritized the Chicago Police Department, with nine of the 10 probes involving current or former CPD members.

Witzburg said police work involves writing reports and landing on the witness stand.

“If people are lying to the government, then they have no business writing police reports and landing on the witness stand,” Witzburg told The Center Square.

The inspector general also reported a substandard investigation by police after a person was fatally struck by a vehicle driven by a Chicago Fire Department member.

“There were all kinds of problems with that death investigation. There were body-worn cameras that were turned off prematurely. There were reports that didn’t get written statements, that didn’t get captured witnesses that didn’t get interviewed, etc. And what that left us and everybody else with was a world where we really can’t get to the bottom of what actually happened in this underlying incident because critical information never got collected,” Witzburg said.

Witzburg said police officers’ credibility is a vital concern and one of constitutional proportions. The department preliminarily agreed to discharge the individuals involved and designate them as ineligible to be rehired.

The Chicago Department of Aviation and the Chicago Department of Transportation agreed to terminate workers found by the inspector’s office to be drinking at bars while they were on the clock at O’Hare International Airport.

Witzburg said it was a sprawling investigation involving city aviation employees and some from the departments of transportation and water management.

“We had people drinking alcohol on the clock. We had supervisors drinking and sometimes buying drinks for their subordinates. We had many people who knew this was going on and didn’t take appropriate steps to report the misconduct. We had people who lied to us in the course of our investigation,” Witzburg said.

The inspector general said the aviation department agreed to discharge seven workers and impose discipline against four others. CDOT agreed to discharge two employees.

Witzburg told The Center Square the investigation did not involve any federal workers at O’Hare.