A Chicago Inspector General is accusing Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office of stonewalling an investigation into his alleged secret stash of thousands of dollars in free gifts received from special interest groups.
In a report titled Advisory Concerning Gifts Accepted on Behalf of the City, an investigation discovered that Johnson has not properly reported the hundreds of expensive gifts he has been given, some of which were placed in what city hall staffers have called the “gift room,” an area they allegedly tried to prevent the Inspector General (IG) from accessing, according to Austin Berg, a member of the Illinois Policy Institute.
Current city laws require the mayor to obtain permission from the city council to accept certain gifts, a step Johnson appears to have skipped multiple times. Under an “unwritten rule,” the Board of Ethics has permitted mayors to accept gifts without council approval if the office maintains a publicly accessible “log book” of the gifts.
However, the IG’s office sent representatives posing as regular citizens to the mayor’s office to request access to this log book and were denied. The IG then filed a FOIA request for the book and was again denied. An official demand finally granted access, revealing that some gifts were stored in the mayor’s office while others were hidden in a designated “gift room.”
When the IG’s office requested access to the “gift room,” the mayor’s staffers refused entry. The city’s law office also denied the IG’s legal right to access the area, despite city rules mandating that all 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 gain access, uncovering an eyebrow-raising number of expensive gifts. These included Hugo Boss cuff links, a personalized Mont Blanc pen, a Gucci tote bag and crossbody bag, a Givenchy bag, a Kate Spade red purse, Carrucci size 14 burgundy men’s shoes, as well as electronics and other collectible items.
The IG’s report expressed concern over the secrecy surrounding these transactions, stating, “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 concluded that the secrecy and backroom dealings are emblematic of the way Chicago politics operates. “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.”
