Mayor Brandon Johnson's office improperly denied access to gift room with designer items, inspector general finds
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Brandon Johnson's office improperly declined to provide public access to a room at City Hall where gifts to the city are stored, including designer handbags, cufflinks, and a personalized Mont Blanc pen, according to an investigation by the city's inspector general.
A report from Inspector General Deborah Witzburg's office said Johnson's office violated a city ethics policy requiring that any gifts valued at more than $50 and "accepted on behalf of the city" be logged in a book that is publicly available on the 5th floor of City Hall.
Investigators from the inspector general's office visited the mayor's office last June while undercover, but were denied access to the log, and were told to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to see the log.
The mayor's office then failed to respond to a FOIA request on time, and more than a month after the request was filed, provided only an incomplete spreadsheet of the gifts.
"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," the report stated.
Some of the 380 gifts listed included Hugo Boss cufflinks; Givenchy, Gucci, and Kate Spade handbags; a personalized Mont Blanc pen; a 2003 U.S. National Soccer Team jersey; size 14 Carrucci men's shoes; and even whiskey—as being stored in a "Gift Room," and others in the Mayor's personal office in City Hall.
"That's certainly concerning to me," said Witzburg. "Where there's anything of value being exchanged, we would absolutely want to know whether those gifts are coming from people looking for influence in some way — whether those are lobbyists, or people doing business with the city."
The inspector general's office then made an official unannounced request for the gift log, but staffers with the mayor's office said they were told by the city's Law Department that the inspector general must make an appointment to access the gift room.
The report notes that the city's municipal code requires all city employees to cooperate with investigations by the inspector general's office, including making any records available "as soon as practicable."
After discussing the investigation further with the Law Department, the inspector general's office said they were told they "would not be granted access to the Gift Room" to conduct a full inspection of the log of gifts.
As part of its report, the inspector general's office recommended the mayor's office comply with rules to publicly report gifts accepted on behalf of the city. The OIG also urged the mayor's office to make the gift room available for announced or unannounced inspections.
"Is it possible that there are a bunch of Gucci handbags neatly on a shelf in a gift room at City Hall, and no one's using them, and nothing has gone wrong, and everything's fine? Yes, that is possible," said Witzburg. "But we're not in a position for a lot of benefit of the doubt here."
In response to the report, the Mayor's office argued that the city's municipal code and ethics ordinance do not require it to make the gift room available for unannounced inspections.
"Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Mayor's Office remains fully committed to ensuring that gifts are available for inspection through a properly scheduled appointment at the earliest practicable time," mayoral chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas wrote in response to the inspector general's report. "This administration has and will continue to comply with all guidance from the Board of Ethics … Our duty to do so is without objection."
Johnson's team specifically said they will transition to new policies on how gifts are accepted and will make the gift room available to the Inspector General. But as of Wednesday, this still had not happened.
"When things happen behind closed doors, people have every reason to assume the worst," Witzburg said.
Meanwhile, despite his team saying the gift room is where the gifts are kept — and that the IG will get eventual access — the mayor claimed unfamiliarity with the room Wednesday.
"I've never even seen this room that they're talking about," Mayor Johnson said. "I don't mean to make light of, you know, this so-called investigation, but quite frankly, it bears very little. If people want a tour of this room, I'll sign up, because I've never been to it myself."
Mayor Johnson was asked if Witzburg was lying when she says she was denied access multiple times to the room. He did not answer the question, but called the report a mischaracterization.
The spreadsheet the OIG was given spanned the last 15 months of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration, where she received 144 gifts, and the first 10 months of the Johnson administration, where he received 236 gifts.
In 70% of all gifts, the gift-giver is not identified.
A spokesperson for former Mayor Lightfoot on Wednesday said of the gifts received, "Per guidance provided by the City of Chicago Board of Ethics, the Lightfoot administration complied with standard gift reporting procedures, as followed by mayoral administrations over several previous decades."