It’s not uncommon for the mayor of Chicago to be presented with a t-shirt or a trinket when he visits a school or a neighborhood event.
Normally, the mayor accepts those gifts on behalf of the city’s residents, but a new report from the Office of the Inspector General raises questions about some of the pricier items presented to the city and who is keeping track of them.
“These items don’t belong to the mayor or the mayor’s office, these items belong to Chicagoans, they shouldn’t be hidden from Chicagoans,” said Deborah Witzburg, Chicago’s Inspector General.
The Advisory Concerning Gifts Accepted by the City report, released this week, also questions the reporting standards used by the administration of Mayor Brandon Jonson and his predecessors.
According to the OIG report, the unwritten arrangement held that gifts were to be logged in a book which would be available for public viewing on the fifth floor at City Hall.
The OIG’s office first sent a covert employee to the mayor’s office to ask to see the room. The report says they were turned away and told to file a freedom of information request, or FOIA. That too, Witzburg said was denied because it was not answered in a timely manner.
“We were only able to get this information when we sent them an official, compelled OIG document request,” she said.
What’s in the mayor’s gift room? Eventually the OIG’s office was given a spreadsheet listing Gucci and Kate Spade handbags, Hugo Boss cuff links and a personalized Mount Blanc pen among other luxury items.
Johnson also admitted that there are a number of hats as well.
“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,” Witzburg said. “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.”
The Mayor said Wednesday that he’s never even been in the so-called “gift room,” and disputed the OIG report’s findings.
“It’s a mischaracterization. This book has been in place for multiple administrations and those want to access those logs can access them,” he said.
Johnson said his communications staff will provide reporters with a list of what is in the gift room. He said he has received no benefit from anything in the room.
In a formal response to the Inspector General’s office, the administration said it would allow OIG access to the Gift Room, but only with “a properly scheduled appointment.”
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