Last week, a report from Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s office said the mayor’s office had improperly denied investigators access to the gift room, refused to hand over a log of gifts as required by the city’s ethics rules until investigators filed a Freedom of Information Act Request, and had accepted some gifts without properly reporting them (CBS Chicago). YouTube Tips ⓘ
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told WTTW News that a 21-second video released Wednesday, February 12, 2025 by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office that showed a City Hall room with shelved gifts raises “more questions than answers.” The video doesn’t show details, and at least one bottom shelf is not captured in the video. Smaller items on shelves are not identifiable.
In January 2025, the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released an advisory with recommendations to the Mayor’s Office to improve transparency and accountability around gifts accepted “on behalf of the City.” As a general rule, gifts accepted on behalf of the City must be reported to the Board of Ethics (BOE) and the City’s Comptroller, and those reports are publicly available. Pursuant to a long-running, unwritten arrangement dating back to the administration of Mayor Eugene Sawyer, gifts accepted by the Mayor’s Office on behalf of the City were not reported in this way, but rather were to be logged in a book which would be available for public viewing on the Fifth Floor of City Hall.
OIG visited the Fifth Floor in a covert capacity and asked to see this logbook; that request was denied and undercover OIG personnel were directed to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the log. OIG did so, again in a covert capacity; the Mayor’s Office failed to timely respond, constituting a denial of the FOIA request. Thereafter, OIG sent an official document request for the log, and received a spreadsheet detailing gifts accepted by the Mayor’s Office on behalf of the City. The log identified many of those gifts—including Hugo Boss cufflinks; Givenchy, Gucci, and Kate Spade handbags; a personalized Mont Blanc pen; and size 14 men’s shoes—as being stored in a “Gift Room,” and others in the Mayor’s personal office in City Hall. OIG subsequently visited the Fifth Floor to conduct an unannounced inspection of the Gift Room, and was denied access.
“When gifts are changing hands—perhaps literally—in a windowless room in City Hall, there is no opportunity for oversight and public scrutiny of the propriety of such gifts, the identities or intentions of the gift-givers, or what it means for gifts like whiskey, jewelry, handbags, and size 14 men’s shoes to be accepted ‘on behalf of the City,’” says Deborah Witzburg, Inspector General for the City of Chicago. “It is perhaps more important than ever that Chicagoans can trust their City government, and for decades we have given people no reason at all to trust what goes on in the dark. These gifts are, by definition, City property; if they are squirreled away and hidden from view, people are only left to assume the worst about how they are being handled. If we do not govern responsibly on the small things, we cannot ask people to trust the government on the big ones.””
OIG recommended that the Mayor’s Office comply with the generally applicable rules for public reporting of gifts accepted on behalf of the City, and that the Gift Room be made available for announced or unannounced inspection by OIG. In its response, the Mayor’s Office indicates that it would allow OIG access to the Gift Room, but only with “a properly scheduled appointment.” Their response further attaches a letter from BOE in which BOE “concurs” with OIG’s recommendation on public reporting; the Mayor’s Office says it will “work closely with [BOE] to transition to this new guidance.”
Under the GEO (Governmental Ethics Ordinance), City officials-including the Mayor-are generally prohibited from accepting gifts with a value exceeding $50, except in a few circumstances expressly enumerated in the GEO itself. One such circumstance is that a City official may accept gifts that are “given to” or “accepted on behalf of the City.” Municipal Code of Chicago (MCC) § 2-156-142(d)(8). However, the GEO mandates that such accepted gifts must be “promptly” reported “to the Board [of Ethics] and to the Comptroller, who shall add such gifts to an inventory of the City’s property.” Another circumstance in which City officials may accept gifts is when they accept “material or travel expense[s] for meetings related to a public or governmental educational purpose.” MCC § 2-156-142(d)(10). In this case, the GEO requires both reporting and approval by the BOE “in advance” and then additional reporting to BOE “within 10 days of completion.” Id. As discussed below, a third circumstance where City officials may accept gifts is in the form of “travel and expenses, entertainment, meals or refreshments furnished in connection with meetings, appearances or public events or ceremonies related to official City business” when “furnished by the sponsor of” the event. Id. § 2-156-142(d)(12). However, these must also be “approved in advance by the [B]oard” and “reported to the [B]oard within 10 days of acceptance thereof.” Id. § 2-156-142(d)(12). BOE publicly posts on its website all gift disclosures that it receives from City employees and officials.
OIG has been informed by BOE of a 1989 arrangement made between BOE and Mayor’s Office during the administration of Mayor Eugene Sawyer.2 This arrangement, never codified in the text of the GEO as a further exception to the general rule prohibiting accepting gifts and never adopted in a formal BOE advisory opinion, allows the Mayor to disregard provisions of the GEO that require gift disclosures to BOE. Instead, pursuant to this unwritten agreement, successive mayors have been advised by BOE that they may keep a publicly available log of gifts instead of making statutorily required gift disclosures to BOE. This unwritten arrangement purported to relieve successive mayors from their responsibility of obtaining approvals from BOE and making disclosures to BOE that are expressly required of all City employees and officials by the GEO. According to BOE, this informal arrangement has continued until the present day and is communicated by BOE to mayoral staff during ethics trainings and in informal ethics opinions. BOE’s website does not clarify that gifts to a mayor would not be disclosed on BOE’s website due to the arrangement between BOE and the Mayor’s Office.
The arrangement between BOE and the Mayor’s Office, which excuses mayors from making statutorily required disclosures to BOE, is contrary to the plain language of the GEO and undermines requirements of the GEO that promote accountability and public transparency. BOE communicated to OIG that, pursuant to the arrangement, the mayor should log gifts “in a publicly available log book” which is “kept in the 5th floor suite of offices in City Hall.”
On June 28, 2024, OIG appeared at City Hall in an undercover capacity-that is, as a member of the public-to request access to the mayoral gift log. OIG appeared in an undercover capacity because it sought to assess the actual public accessibility of the mayoral gift log. OIG, in this undercover capacity, was denied access to the gift log and was instead directed to send a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
On July 9, 2024, OIG-again in an undercover capacity as a member of the public-filed a FOIA request with the Mayor’s Office in which OIG requested a log, list, or records sufficient to show all disclosures filed by or on behalf of Mayor Johnson or former Mayor Lori Lightfoot from February 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024 regarding receipt or reimbursement of: travel expenses for meetings related to a public or governmental educational purpose; gifts given to or accepted on behalf of the City; or hosting, including travel and expenses, entertainment, meals or refreshments furnished in connection with meetings, appearances or public events or ceremonies related to official City business. OIG also issued a similar request to the City Comptroller for disclosures made by the Mayor’s Office regarding gifts to be added to the City inventory; the Comptroller informed OIG that it held no responsive records.
The Mayor’s Office did not timely respond to OIG’s FOIA request which, pursuant to applicable law, constitutes a denial of the request.3 On August 14, 2024-over a month after submitting the FOIA request–OIG received a response from the Mayor’s Office in the form of a spreadsheet that detailed gifts accepted on behalf of the City. The log included, for some but not all gifts: the date received, a brief description, where the gifts were stored, and information about the source of the gift. Notably, a response to the FOIA request OIG submitted as a member of the public came only after OIG also issued a compelled document request to the Mayor’s Office seeking the same information. OIG received in response to its document request records that matched the records it received in response to its undercover FOIA. Notably, neither log received by OIG lists any reimbursed travel-related expenses.
Gifts Accepted by the Mayor’s Office The logs provided to OIG list gifts received by the Mayor’s Office during a period from February 2, 2022 to March 20, 2024. The logs include space to record information about each gift received, including: date the gift was received, gift description, location of the gift, information about the gift giver (including name, associated organization, and address), and whether a thank you note has been written and sent. For the time period that OIG requested, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s logs include entries for 144 gifts received. The logs OIG received contain 236 entries for gifts received by Mayor Johnson. All but 15 of the entries from both logs have a date listed.
Of the 380 logged gifts, many are listed with a location designation of “Gift Room.” Those gifts reportedly being stored in the Mayor’s “Gift Room” include:
• “Hugo Boss cuff links” from June 12, 2023
• “Personalized Mont Blanc pen” from June 12, 2023
• “2023 U.S. National Soccer Team Jersey” from June 16, 2023
• “Airpods, tote bag, notepad” from October 3, 2023
• “Gucci Tote bag and crossbody bag” from March 18, 2024
• “Givenchy Bag, Kate Spade Red Purse, Carrucci Size 14 Burgandy Men’s Shoes” from March 19, 2024
Other items, such as “Bottle of Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Aged Whiskey” from April 22, 2022, and “Superare ‘ONE OF ONE’ TSHIRTS” from March 1, 2024, are marked as being located in Room 507, which OIG believes to be the Mayor’s private office. Additionally, some items are marked as being located in “kitchen” or “upstairs.” For many items, including “Always 24Kt Idols Pearl and Gold Elephant,” the storage location is unclear. Nearly 75% of the gifts on former Mayor Lightfoot’s logs do not list a location where they are stored, while only 12% of gifts received by Mayor Johnson do not list a location.
Almost 70% of the 380 logged gifts received from February 2, 2022 to March 20, 2024, do not list the identity of the gift giver. The log indicates that the “2023 U.S. National Soccer Team Jersey” from June 16, 2023, was gifted by a representative of Nike, and the “Airpods, tote bag, notepad” from October 3, 2023, were from an executive with the United States Conference of Mayors. However, the entries for the “Hugo Boss cuff links” and “Personalized Mont Blanc pen” received on June 12, 2023, “Gucci Tote bag and crossbody bag” from March 18, 2024, and “Givenchy Bag, Kate Spade Red Purse, Carrucci Size 14 Burgandy Men’s Shoes” from March 19, 2024, all fail to include information regarding the identity of the gift giver.
Denial of Access to the Gift Room
On November 8, 2024, OIG personnel appeared at the 5th floor of City Hall and requested access to the Gift Room. OIG sought to conduct an unannounced inspection of the manner in which gifts are stored, to audit the presence of gifts that were purportedly stored in the Gift Room as stated in the gift log, and to review controls around access to the Gift Room. OIG was met by Chicago Police Department officers and, following an explanation of OIG’s request to view the Gift Room, told to wait in the elevator lobby. Eventually, while continuing to wait in the elevator lobby of the 5th floor, OIG spoke with multiple senior members of the Mayor’s Office regarding the request to access the Gift Room. OIG presented a written request for access to the Gift Room and stated that it sought to access the Gift Room. Following further delay, Mayor’s Office personnel approached OIG and stated that they had spoken to the Corporation Counsel and relayed a message, reportedly from the Corporation Counsel, that OIG would not be granted access to the Gift Room that day and that OIG must make an appointment to access the Gift Room.
MCC § 2-56-090 makes it the duty of every elected or appointed officer, employee, department, and agency of the City to cooperate in OIG inquiries. Furthermore, pursuant to that section, “[e]ach department’s premises, equipment, personnel, books, records and papers shall be made available as soon as practicable to the inspector general.”
Following that denial, OIG engaged in further conversations with the Department of Law (DOL) regarding access to the gift room. Ultimately, DOL-apparently representing the Mayor in opposition to OIG-communicated that OIG would not be granted access to the Gift Room. OIG was therefore unable to inspect the manner in which gifts are stored, audit the presence of gifts that were purportedly stored in the Gift Room as stated in the gift log, or to review controls around access to the Gift Room.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The gift disclosures required by the GEO promote transparency and accountability. In contrast, the unwritten arrangement between the Mayor’s Office and BOE contradicts GEO disclosure requirements and has undermined public transparency and accountability around decades of gifts received by successive mayors. When gifts are changing hands-perhaps literally-in a windowless room in City Hall, there is no opportunity for oversight and public scrutiny of the propriety of such gifts, the identities and intentions of the gift-givers, or what it means for gifts like whiskey, jewelry, handbags, and size 14 men’s shoes to be accepted “on behalf of the City.”
OIG recommends that the Mayor’s Office:
1. comply with the plain language of the GEO gift disclosure requirements, including at sections 2-156-142(d)(8), d(10), and d(12); and
2. make any gifts accepted on behalf of the City available for inspection, announced or unannounced, by OIG.
OIG invited the Mayor’s Office to respond in writing before January 10, 2025. Any such response will be made public together with this advisory.
The gift log was posted on the official City of Chicago website.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s fast-moving, fast-panning, short video, lacking details, entitled “City of Chicago Gift Inventory Room 2.11.2025 (SOURCE: Mayor Brandon Johnson/City of Chicago).” YouTube Tips ⓘ
Deborah Witzburg is a Certified Inspector General by the Association of Inspectors General and a Certified Practitioner of Oversight by the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. Witzburg earned a BA in anthropology from Brown University and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law.
SOURCE:
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