In a report, entitled Advisory Concerning Gifts Accepted on Behalf of the City, an investigation has discovered Johnson has not been properly reporting the hundreds of expensive gifts he has been given, some of which was placed in what city hall staffers have called the “gift room,” an area they tried to prevent the IG from accessing, according to Austin Berg, a member of the Illinois Policy Institute.
Current city laws require the mayor to get permission from the city council to accept certain gifts, and it appears Johnson has skipped this step on multiple occasions. But under an “unwritten rule,” the Board of Ethics has allowed mayors to accept gifts without approval from the city council if the office assembles a “log book” of the gifts that is available to the public upon request.
However, the IG’s office sent representatives posing as regular citizens to the mayor’s office to ask for access to this log book, but were denied. Then the IG filed and FOIA request for access to the books as a regular person and was again denied. The IG finally had to make an official demand for the log book before the mayor’s office allowed access to the log.
The official records showed some of these secret gifts were stored in the mayor’s office while others were hidden away in a “gift room.”
Next the IG’s office appeared at city hall and asked to see this “gift room,” but the mayor’s staffers refused them entry. The city’s law office became involved and also refused the IG is legal right to access the so-called “gift room.”
City rules demand these records be made available to the Inspector General’s office upon demand.
According to Berg, the rule states, “Each department’s premises, equipment, personnel, books, records and papers shall be made available as soon as practicable to the inspector general.”
Ultimately, the IG did finally get access, and the number of gifts was eyebrow-raising.
Some of the expensive freebies given to the mayor include such things as Hugo Boss cuff links, a personalized Mont Blanc pen, Gucci Tote bag and crossbody bag, Givenchy bag, Kate Spade Red Purse, Carrucci Size 14 burgundy men’s shoes, along with electronics, and other collectible items.
The IG’s report reveals the shocking situation, saying, “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.’”
Berg added the exchanges of gifts hidden away from the prying eyes of the people is typical of the backroom dealing that infests Chicago.
“This story is about so much more than just Johnson and these gifts,” Berg wrote. “This entire episode—the unwritten arrangement, the secret logs, the stonewalling from city lawyers—isn’t a fluke. It’s how Chicago operates.”
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