Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday followed through on his promise to shine the light on the gifts he has accepted “on behalf of the city” and the log and “gift room” video included no smoking gun.
The 22-second video pans a room full of items, most of which look like they belong in someone’s closet or basement storage space.
The shelves are filled with hats, T-shirts, sweaters and jackets. There are books, flags, photographs and art work, along with shoes, boots, scarves — even a NASCAR track suit.
The gift log since Johnson took office is pretty much as descriped by Inspector General Deborah Witzburg in a recent report.
It includes jewelry, alcohol, AirPods, designer handbags and Size-14 men’s shoes, with most donors listed as “not provided.”
Other gifts listed include: wine, chocolates and coffee; cowboy boots and a cowboy hat; a framed Brandon Johnson caricature and a painting of the mayor; four 10-hole harmonicas and a pair of necklaces, one Native American necklace, the other crystal.
The log also includes: a Newbridge Silverware pen and holder from the consul general of Ireland; a bottle of wine from the consul general of the Czech Republic; a $105 gift certificate to the Next Man Up Spa; a Black Lives Matter fist sculpture; a crystal necklace and an “authentic pen” — described as “non-functional” — from the inventory of former President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Witzburg has accused the mayor of accepting valuable gifts and failing to report those gifts while denying internal investigators access to the room where items are purportedly stored.
Perhaps most troubling to the inspector general was how difficult it was to secure the information, which is supposed to be promptly reported to the Chicago Board of Ethics and the city comptroller so the items can be added to the inventory of city property.
Witzburg found every mayor since Eugene Sawyer in the late 1980s has been exempt from those rules, based on an informal agreement with the Board of Ethics that has never been put into law. And her undercover investigators were denied access to the official gift log.
Johnson has accused Witzburg of a “mischaracterization” while insisting he has never personally benefited from any gifts. But he was apparently determined to put to rest the unflattering image the inspector general’s investigation created.
The new gift-handling policy was aimed at doing just that.
Johnson has defended his decision to deny internal investigators access to the gift room.
“You can’t just come to the fifth floor demanding to roam the fifth floor. The FBI can’t do that,” the mayor said last week.
Witzburg strongly disagreed.
“I read the law to be very clear on the obligation of city and elected officials to cooperate with” the Office of Inspector General, she said.
Witzburg called the new gift handling procedure a marked “improvement in transparency and accountability” but said it won’t eliminate the need for oversight.
“We cannot expect people to take City Hall at its word. I will continue to consider unannounced inspections under appropriate conditions an important [aspect of] accountability,” she said.
Earlier this week, the Chicago Board of Ethics revoked the unwritten rule covering gifts accepted by the mayor “on behalf of the city.”
On Wednesday, the mayor’s office obliged by announcing new “protocols” that require gifts accepted on the city’s behalf to be “properly logged and reported” to the Ethics Board and the comptroller “within ten days” of receipt. The gift log will be updated on a quarterly basis.
See the gift room
The city has posted this video of the room where gifts to the mayor are stored.