Chicago inspector general accuses Mayor Johnson and former Mayor Lightfoot of interfering with investigations
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The city's top watchdog has accused Mayor Brandon Johnson and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot of blocking or slowing investigations into allegations of misconduct by withholding documents, selectively enforcing subpoenas, and insisting on having city lawyers attend investigative interviews "may result in embarrassment" to top city leaders.
In a memo to the chairman of the City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight, Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said those efforts "significantly delay investigative work" and "have blocked critical avenues of investigation into matters of public concern."
Witzburg, who has been the city's inspector general since April 2022, said the mayor's office has demanded that attorneys with the city's Department of Law (DOL) sit in on interviews "in at least 10 investigations during my tenure."
"The vast majority of recent investigations in which DOL sought to attend an OIG investigative interview involved conduct of senior members of the Mayor's Office or high-ranking Mayoral appointees," Witzburg wrote.
Her memo outlines three specific concerns with how the mayor's office has frequently interfered with investigations. Witzburg accused the city's Law Department of selectively enforcing subpoenas issued by her office, which can lead to delays in investigations "and may allow DOL to disempower OIG to investigate certain subjects of its choosing."
Despite a requirement for every elected city official or city employee to cooperate with the inspector general's investigations, Witzburg said the Law Department also has frequently asserted attorney-client privilege in order to withhold city records from her office "in a practice which has been prohibited on the federal level."
"In effect, DOL has taken the position that it may unilaterally choose what City records and communications are subject to oversight by OIG, and DOL's privilege reviews prior to the production of records to OIG significantly delay investigative work," Witzburg wrote.
City attorneys also have insisted on attending investigative interviews conducted by Wittzburg's office, demands she has refused out of concern it could intimidate witnesses and whistleblowers that investigators plan to question.
The Law Department's demands to sit in on interviews "have caused the delay and cancellation of numerous interviews in OIG investigations, substantially compromising the meaningful investigation of allegations of serious misconduct."
Notably, Witzburg said the Law Department does not insist on sitting in on interviews of rank-and-file city workers, such as police officers, laborers, truck drivers, or plumbers; but only interviews of senior staffers in the mayor's office, senior mayoral appointees, Law Department staffers, or "individuals involved in matters that may result in embarrassment to City leaders."
"The throughline of these concerns is the appearance—and at times reality—that DOL selectively acts in opposition to OIG's investigative work when OIG's work may result in embarrassment or political consequences to City leaders," Witzburg wrote.
While Witzburg did not name any specific city employees her office has sought to question, or identified specific investigations, her memo describes in general terms four investigations in which the Law Department has interfered with her office.
Based on the description in the memo, one of those investigations appears to involve the Lightfoot administration's selection of Bally's to build a $1.7 casino complex in the River West neighborhood.
Witzburg said her office opened an investigation into a "prominent Host Community Agreement" to determine if the decision to award the agreement "was tainted by any improper influences," whether the city followed the proper laws and regulations in reaching the agreement, and whether the city directed the awardee of the agreement "to enter into a lucrative lease with a third party based on improper influences."
City attorneys repeatedly interfered in the investigation by insisting the Law Department attend interviews of "multiple high-ranking Mayor's Office employees, multiple current and former City department heads, and a City Council employee."
Three other investigations cited by Witzburg included a probe into whether a "now-former elected official" misused city property and sought campaign contributions from city workers; whether a cabinet-level employee in the mayor's office misused city time and resources; and whether a mayor or other city employee "improperly directed the removal of an individual from a City Council meeting."
In each case, the Law Department insisted on sitting in on inspector general interviews, causing them to be canceled.
"DOL's demands to attend these interviews—including in cases in which individuals had identified fears of retaliation for protected reporting—is, put simply, egregiously obstructive," Witzburg wrote.
Representatives for Johnson's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Law Department spokeswoman Kristen Cabanban released a statement effectively denying Witzburg's allegations that city attorneys interfered with her investigations.
""For the past three decades, previous City inspector generals have properly accepted that the legal rights of City employees and the legal interests of the City rightfully justify our practices. There is both legal precedent through case law as well as procedural juris prudence that dictates how we must conduct ourselves," Cabanban wrote in an email.
Ald. Matt Martin (47th), who chairs the City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Witzburg's memo.
A spokesperson for Lightfoot could not be reached for comment.
