If the revised measure is approved, it would change the way Ethics Board decides whether there is probable cause to believe the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance has been violated, the first step to levy fines, which would spike from $5,000 to $20,000. Lightfoot's remarks on Monday indicate a deep schism between her and the appointed Board of Ethics. However, the issue of ethics reform fell nearly completely off the mayor’s agenda amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and a public safety crisis that sent violent crime to the highest levels in nearly 25 years.Īlthough Lightfoot could have supported the election-year ethics reform proposal and burnished her credentials as a reformer, it has instead become a point of conflict between the mayor and Smith, whom she handpicked to lead the City Council's Ethics Committee.
Lightfoot ran for mayor in 2019 on a platform promising to root out corruption at City Hall and toughen the city’s ethics regulations. His remarks came at the board’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting, which took place hours after Lightfoot’s remarks.Ĭonlon said during the meeting that the board’s processes are “straightforward” and “fair” and “offer due process.”Īfter the meeting, Conlon told WTTW News that Lightfoot’s remarks were “very unfortunate.” William Conlon, the chair of the Board of Ethics, said the board was “committed to enforcing the ordinance with vigor and integrity.”Ĭonlon was initially appointed to lead the Board of Ethics by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and re-appointed by Lightfoot in September 2021 to another four-year term. And I want to make sure that the board is viewed with legitimacy, not as judge, jury and executioner before they even get the other facts from the person who's the target of the complaint.” “What the Board of Ethics does now is becomes judge and jury before they even give the target of the complaint an opportunity to respond,” Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot said her demand that the reform package include a provision that would have benefitted several of her allies who have found themselves in the crosshairs of the Chicago Board of Ethics would ensure “due process” for those facing sanctions.
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In her first public remarks on the revised measure - which had been stalled since April after it ran into a brick wall of opposition from the mayor - Lightfoot said she “totally disagreed” with the determination by civic watchdog group Better Government Association, known as the BGA, that the revised measure is weaker than the original proposal.ĭespite the changes, the BGA endorsed the reworked proposal and said it was still “a valuable update to the city’s good-government laws” despite the revisions made at the mayor’s request.īryan Zarou, the director of policy for the BGA, told WTTW News the group’s statement “speaks for itself.” The BGA did not criticize the provision the mayor defended on Monday. Michele Smith (43rd Ward), and the Chicago Board of Ethics. The reworked proposal unanimously cleared the Ethics and Government Oversight Committee on Friday, with the support of the panel’s chair, Ald.
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A final vote on the reworked measure is scheduled for Wednesday’s full City Council meeting.
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