Mayor Brandon Johnson’s former communications director, Ronnie Reese, was accused of sexual harassment, misogyny, racism and other abusive behavior before he was terminated late last month, according to three internal complaints City Hall staffers filed against him.
The alleged behavior ranged from unwanted physical contact to making disparaging comments about marginalized groups and intimidation tactics, according to the complaints, which were included in personnel records the Tribune obtained this week via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Reese indicated to staffers that “he was ‘untouchable’ and couldn’t be fired,” one of the complaints stated. The records show that Reese kept his job for months even after a city human resources investigator notified the mayor’s Chief of Staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, of the formal complaints about Reese’s alleged behavior.
The accusations came one year after three press office staffers were fired and then placed on the city’s do-not-hire list, an unusually contentious and punitive move, after they complained about how Reese and another top Johnson staffer treated them.
The most recent issue appeared to come to a head this summer when one female staffer, who is unnamed in the personnel records, filed a written complaint to City Hall human resources officials about Reese’s behavior with her and several staffers.
“I’d like to begin by stating that I was extremely reluctant to bring forward this complaint due to the hostile and retaliatory environment created by … Reese,” the female staffer wrote in one complaint, which referenced a one-on-one meeting in which she shared her concerns with Pacione-Zayas. “I have personally experienced mistreatment by Reese in the form of sexual harassment, misogyny, exclusion, and unfair treatment. The increasing hostility in this environment has left me in constant fear for my job and well-being.”
The wave of grievances sparked a July 31 meeting between members of Reese’s team in the mayor’s communications office and Pacione-Zayas, who was notified of the complaints beforehand. According to one of the complaints, Reese did not attend the meeting, which began with Pacione-Zayas trying to assure the staffers they didn’t need to worry about retaliation because she said “all firing and hiring goes through me.”
But the records also show frustration with how Pacione-Zayas handled the meeting and their concerns.
The chief of staff began the discussion “with blaming the previous administration for parking meters, for a lack of infrastructure, and no updated personnel handbooks,” a complainant wrote, adding she felt the comments were unrelated to the group’s concerns and a way to shift accountability. Pacione-Zayas also “repeatedly advocated for Reese’s inclusion in meetings about this matter and referenced ‘peace circles,’ but the team was unanimously against his inclusion due to the shared fear of retaliation,” according to the complaint.
She “brought up restorative justice” as a way of dealing with the staffers’ concerns.
“But one member of the team pointed out that in order for restorative justice to work, there has to be an ability and willingness for change which the team does not see in Reese,” the staffer wrote. “The meeting did not result in any additional clarity or changes.”
Instead, Pacione-Zayas agreed to requests from the city Department of Human Resources to “hold a coaching meeting” with Reese to discuss the allegations as well as enroll him in two online training courses in August. Reese was notified in late October that he was being terminated, which took effect on Nov. 5. He helmed the mayor’s press office for a year-and-a-half as it saw significant staff turnover and had difficulty managing media relations.
In a statement he released on Tuesday, Reese denied all the accusations and said he never mistreated any staffers.
“I strongly and unequivocally deny any allegations of wrongdoing,” Reese wrote. “Throughout my career, I have carried myself with the utmost professionalism and respect for all of my peers, something to which many of my former colleagues at the City of Chicago and previous employers can attest. There are many, many others who know my character, and who know the truth. I stand confident in that truth as I continue to prioritize my wife, my children and the health of my family in the next chapter of my career.”
Long a close friend of the mayor’s, Reese previously worked as a deputy press secretary for the Chicago Teachers Union before serving as press secretary for Johnson’s winning 2023 mayoral campaign. Mayoral spokesperson Erin Connelly declined to comment when asked about Reese’s firing and the administration’s handling of the complaints, citing a policy of not commenting on personnel issues.
The most wide-ranging complaint came from a staffer who accused Reese of making unwanted, inappropriate physical contact at an after-work party. Reese wrapped his arm around the woman and pressed his thigh and knee against hers, the complainant wrote.
“I was severely uncomfortable and tried to make eye contact with those in the group so that they would see the look of horror on my face and help,” she wrote.
After Reese received “questioning looks” from others, he moved his arm and the woman slid away, though Reese spread his legs further to make contact again, according to the complaint.
Reese pulled the woman in for a hug as she left, told her “love you” and later texted her compliments on her outfit, the complaint said.
Reese also would regularly walk out of his way to ask for the woman’s photo ID to access the bathroom, a move that made her “deeply uncomfortable,” the complaint stated. He also referred to her one-on-one meetings with colleagues as “dates,” the complaint said. In regular late night calls, he would call without a professional purpose to “check in,” once adding that he was “in bed with my wife,” it continued.
In another allegation, the same female staffer detailed Reese’s treatment of women as “especially harsh and incredibly misogynistic.” Reese regularly disparaged female staffers in meetings and in messages, she wrote, and she began circumventing his disapproval by having male colleagues present the ideas to receive Reese’s signoff, which she said “highlights Reese’s deeply misogynistic behavior.”
“It’s funny how you talk like a boss when you’re not,” he texted her after she suggested he attend an event, records show.
The complainant’s section on the former communications director’s misogynistic behavior also references a rant that a “visibly riled up” Reese made referring to a Tribune reporter as “so f- – – – – stupid … just so dumb.”
The complaint also alleged Reese made offensive comments that demonstrated homophobia, anti-Semitism, fatphobia and a general disregard for his staff. Large portions of the complaint are redacted.
The staffer describes one “disturbing incident” in which Reese allegedly walked into her office, closed the door, sat down and, without context said, “Jews…” She wrote, “His inappropriate and antisemitic remarks left me feeling deeply uncomfortable.” A different complaint alleged Reese asked an unspecific person, “So the Jews?” and also demonstrated a pattern of “anti-latine” behavior.
One complaint included a controversy from May in which Reese posted on X in 2010: “i brake for gay pride. reluctantly.” Reese later said he was only commenting on traffic caused by the parade in his then-neighborhood of Uptown and has participated in the parade as a DJ in the past, according to the Windy City Times.
But the staffer alleged that behind the scenes, as news of his past post spread, Reese told another employee, ‘I don’t need to defend myself.’”
Other manners in which Reese is accused of contributing to a hostile workplace included making “fatphobic comments about staff and their eating habits” and other demeaning nicknames such as “Scary Smurf,” as captured in a text screenshot attached to the complaint.
That complaint also accused Reese of “exclusion and unfair treatment.” The former communications director picked favorites while “arbitrarily” taking other staffers off important assignments, the complaint said, and when he perceived someone in the workplace was working against him he would label them an “opp,” slang for “opposition.”
“Those labeled as “opps” are systematically left out of crucial emails and meetings, treated coldly, and have their role reduced by Reese. Attempts by staffers to address these concerns would only make things worse,” the complaint said.
Ahead of the July 31 meeting between Pacione-Zayas and Reese’s staffers, he was accused of calling most of his employees to ask “if they complained,” one report alleged. After the meeting, one of the complaints said, Reese expressed to a coworker: “Can’t trust anyone.”
“Reese should be informed that he needs to treat all staff equally and not engage in misogynistic behavior, avoid physical contact (including hugs) with staff, refrain from telling employees how to style themselves and avoid referring to protected categories such as sexual orientation, race, national origin, and ancestry unless required as part of an official assignment,” an equal employment opportunity officer with the city’s human resources department wrote to Pacione-Zayas on July 30, a day before her meeting with Ronnie’s staffers.
Following the meeting, Pacione-Zayas informed the EEO officer on Aug. 16 that “I am continuing to carry out steps to address the complaints” that include the online courses assigned by the investigator and “a series of performance goals and outputs.”
The three recent complaints against Reese came a little under a year after the Tribune first reported on City Hall cultural problems tied to the former communications director.
In summer 2023, three press office staffers who had worked under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot were fired and placed on the city’s do-not-hire list in an unusually contentious move after filing a report against Reese and Jason Lee, Johnson’s top advisor. Reese accused the staffers in a meeting of not working hard enough and laughing too much but did not provide “measurable feedback,” according to a complaint one later made.
“In contrast, Ronnie would joke with male colleagues,” it continued.
Other human resources issues surfaced earlier this summer after press office staffer Tiernan Gordon was fired in June.
According to emails obtained via a public records request, Gordon informed Reese that his house flooded and he would not be able to come into the office. After a second flood that week, Gordon said he had to take the day off to clean up the mess. He was fired by Pacione-Zayas days later, with records citing “job abandonment” as the reason.
“My apt started to flood again last night and now again this morning with this rain,” Gordon had texted Reese, records obtained by the Tribune show. “I’m going to take the day off to deal with this mess and clean up. I will have my phone nearby if you need anything.”
Gordon also shared a photo showing several inches of dirty water apparently inside his home. Gordon wrote that Reese did not reply and that he heard from colleagues — not Reese — that he had been fired, according to the records.
One of the complaints included in the most recent public records response appears to allude to Gordon’s flooding troubles as well. Through redactions, the complainant wrote that Reese complained about an employee not coming to work. When staff told Reese the employee’s house was “severely flooded,” Reese told them he was “aware,” the records stated.
“As far as I’m concerned, this is the team right here,” he told them.
