Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday released new guidelines for reporting the gifts his office receives despite his prior public attempts to discredit the watchdog investigation that prompted the changes.
After the city Inspector General’s Office dinged the mayor’s office for blocking investigators from seeing the City Hall gift room, Johnson’s office called on members of the public interested in checking the contents of the room to view a “video log.” That 20-second video the Johnson administration posted Tuesday scans through a small closet with shelves full of trinkets, art, clothes and a giant Chicago flag.
The mayor’s office also announced updated protocols that require a 10-day deadline to log and report a gift on behalf of the city to the Board of Ethics and Comptroller; recording the donor’s name and affiliation, date received, gift description and location; quarterly posting of the logbook as well as a video recording of the gift room on the 5th floor of City Hall.
Last month, the Inspector General released a report saying Johnson’s office improperly blocked public access to the room where mayoral staff said they’ve stored Gucci bags, designer cufflinks and other gifts. The report says Johnson’s staff refused to hand over a log of gifts, which the city’s ethics rules require the mayor’s office to make publicly available, until investigators filed a Freedom of Information Act request.
After that, the investigators, no longer undercover, attempted an unannounced inspection of the gift room but were denied entry by the Law Department, which the report notes is a violation of the municipal code that requires all city employees to cooperate with OIG inquiries.
Johnson’s administration has pushed back on the notion that mayoral staffers must allow unannounced inspections but agreed with the report’s recommendations that his office comply with disclosure and public inspection requirements surrounding gifts.
The January OIG report details various examples of some of the gifts received under Johnson that were stored in the mayor’s gift room: Hugo Boss cufflinks, a personalized Mont Blanc pen, a 2023 U.S. national soccer team jersey, a Gucci tote bag and crossbody bag, a Givenchy bag, a Kate Spade red purse and a pair of Carucci size 14 burgundy men’s shoes.
Some other items were marked as stored in Room 507, believed to be the mayor’s private office, according to the report. Those include a bottle of Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Aged Whiskey from April 2022 and clothing from a boxing gear brand received last March.
Most gifts do not list an identity of the gift-giver, per the OIG. The updated log posted this week is as current as this week, though much of the entries still lack the donor’s identity.
Some names listed in the past two years, however, include: Maryum Ali, daughter of the boxer Muhammad Ali, donating a book about her father this month; Ald. Walter Burnett gifting a “Christmas Wreath, wreath hanger, supplies to store wreath” last December; Ald. Maria Hadden donating a “Superare ‘ONE OF ONE’ tshirts” in March 2024; Ald. Nick Sposato gifting a “Picture frame w/ MBJ” and Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch donating “Certificate of Recognition,” both in October 2023; and M.K. Pritzker, the governor’s wife, donating a “Framed photo of Mayor Johnson, Gov. Pritzker, and others” in August 2023.
A “NASCAR Track Suit” was also logged as an anonymous gift last July, after the blockbuster racing event returned to Grant Park with an appearance from the mayor in a racing suit.
Johnson, for his part, has questioned the motivations of the OIG investigators who sought access to this gift room and were rebuffed.
“Why did these particular individuals show up on this particular day, for the first time in the history of Chicago, to seek out this room that I have not even seen — I don’t know their motivations,” the mayor said in an unrelated news conference earlier this month. “I’m simply saying is that there is a process.”
The mayor then quipped: “I just want to state the most important part about that story is that people come up to me and tell me how much they love me. Just want that to be on the record.”
