Inspector General report details hidden City Hall 'gift room,' accuses mayor of improper reporting

Craig Wall Image
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Gifts improperly reported, kept in hidden room at City Hall: IG report
Mayor Brandon Johnson is facing questions about transparency and accountability after the city's Inspector General said valuable gifts have been improperly reported and kept in a s

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is facing questions of transparency and accountability over gifts given to the city that he keeps in a special room at City Hall.

The Chicago Inspector General issued a critical report Wednesday, raising concerns after covert efforts by her office to gain access to the gift log and the so-called "gift room" kept at the mayor's office were rebuffed. Her report calls for changes in how those gifts are reported.

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At issue is who is giving the gifts, and why the mayor's office is fighting to keep the information from the public. The mayor called the report a mischaracterization.

Somewhere in the Mayor Johnson's office at City Hall there is a special room filled with gifts that have been given to the city of Chicago which are, by law, supposed to be reported to the Board of Ethics. But for decades they have only been tallied in a log kept in the mayor's office.

Bryan Zarou from the Better Government Association joined ABC7 to discuss the Chicago Inspector General's report.

"For many decades, this city has given people no reason to trust things that happen behind closed doors, and what we have here is gifts being exchanged, perhaps literally, in a windowless room in City Hall with no public accountability, no transparency," said Inspector general Debrah Witzburg.

According to Witzburg's report, for which she had to compel the mayor's office to provide a list of the gifts, they include Hugo Boss cuff links, a personalized pen, several designer handbags, size 14 Italian-made shoes and a bottle of whiskey.

All told, Witzburg said there were more than 300 gifts listed in a log kept in the mayor's office, some dating back to previous administrations.

"Something like 70% of all the gifts," she said. "There's no information about the identity of the gift giver."

Mayor Johnson blasted the report.

"These gifts that are made to the city, in some instances, t-shirts and things that occur at different events. But again, the characterization of how this report came out is misguided," the mayor said.

The inspector general said it's a matter of transparency.

"If gifts were coming from people who were doing business with the city or seeking city contracts, or had matters pending before the mayor, or whatever the case may be, you worry about the influence that came with those," Witzburg said.

But Johnson downplayed the nature of the gifts, and said he's never seen the "gift room."

"There's a log. It's there. It's been there for years. The only benefit that I get of being mayor of the city of Chicago is I get to see the full breadth of what the greatest freaking city in the world looks like," he said.

The mayor promised more transparency around the gifts and gift room, saying reporters could arrange to see it. But that was not possible Wednesday.

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