As if there weren’t enough drama swirling around City Hall and Chicago Public Schools these days, here’s more: The ethics questions raised by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s continued ties to CPS and the financial benefit he could gain from it.
Plenty of Chicagoans are already giving the mayor the side-eye because of his previous ties to the Chicago Teachers Union, where he worked before becoming mayor. But Johnson, who took a leave of absence from CPS to work for the union, still remains on leave — which means Johnson would benefit from any pay raises negotiated by CTU if he should decide someday to return to the classroom.
The issue was raised in a legal filing by CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was fired by the mayor’s appointed board last week but remains in his post for the next six months. The filing by Martinez notes that the mayor “stands to gain credit for his time on leave and as Mayor when calculating salary increases and pension benefits from CPS.” And in a 2023 memo attached to the filing, (first reported by the Chicago Tribune) the district’s chief talent officer raised concerns about the leave arrangement and suggested the mayor resign from CPS, as he had from CTU.
If the tangled web here makes your head spin, you’re not alone. City Council members can, and should, ask the Chicago Board of Ethics to issue an advisory opinion on the matter to clear up any ambiguity — and, if needed, show where ethics guidelines should be strengthened.
Is Johnson in the clear, despite appearances? It’s not unusual, as one expert explained to us, for someone who works in city government or at a sister city agency to be put on leave when he or she goes to work for a labor union, as Johnson did, or to hold elective office.
Or has the mayor crossed a line, since his fiduciary duties as mayor stand to conflict with any involvement he has in the ongoing CPS-CTU contract negotiations? The mayor quit CTU, but he still has an incentive, in the eyes of Chicagoans, to get the best deal he can for the union.
It’s not enough that former Deputy Mayor Jen Johnson (not related to the mayor) said the matter had been discussed with the city’s ethics adviser, who “did not have concerns.” What role is Johnson playing in contract talks, including with his appointed Board of Education members, some of whom tried to attend a CPS-CTU bargaining session but were rebuffed when Martinez obtained a restraining order barring them from contract talks without his approval?
The mayor could wait for the ethics board to weigh in. Better yet, he can answer the question himself — by resigning from CPS right now.
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