Chicago’s Inspector General, Deborah Witzburg, has released a damning report detailing a covert stash of luxury gifts, including jewelry, whiskey, and high-end accessories, secretly hoarded by Mayor Brandon Johnson in a City Hall “Gift Room.”
Mayor Johnson and his office have systematically blocked investigators from accessing this trove, blatantly disregarding city laws designed to maintain ethical governance.
According to the report, this secretive cache was uncovered following an undercover operation by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) last June.
The investigators, who were initially denied access to the mayoral gift log, were forced to resort to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which the Mayor’s office also stonewalled.
It was only through an official document request that the Mayor’s Office grudgingly disclosed the existence of the “Gift Room.”
According to the report reviewed by The Gateway Pundit:
On July 9, 2024, OIG—again in an undercover capacity as a member of the public—filed a FOIA request with the Mayor’s Office in which OIG requested a log, list, or records sufficient to show all disclosures filed by or on behalf of Mayor Johnson or former Mayor Lori Lightfoot from February 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024 regarding receipt or reimbursement of: travel expenses for meetings related to a public or governmental educational purpose; gifts given to or accepted on behalf of the City; or hosting, including travel and expenses, entertainment, meals or refreshments furnished in connection with meetings, appearances or public events or ceremonies related to official City business.
OIG also issued a similar request to the City Comptroller for disclosures made by the Mayor’s Office regarding gifts to be added to the City inventory; the Comptroller informed OIG that it held no responsive records.
The Mayor’s Office did not timely respond to OIG’s FOIA request which, pursuant to applicable law, constitutes a denial of the request. On August 14, 2024—over a month after submitting the FOIA request–OIG received a response from the Mayor’s Office in the form of a spreadsheet that detailed gifts accepted on behalf of the City.
The log included, for some but not all gifts: the date received, a brief description, where the gifts were stored, and information about the source of the gift. Notably, a response to the FOIA request OIG submitted as a member of the public came only after OIG also issued a compelled document request to the Mayor’s Office seeking the same information.
OIG received in response to its document request records that matched the records it received in response to its undercover FOIA. Notably, neither log received by OIG lists any reimbursed travel-related expenses.
Of the 380 logged gifts, many are listed with a location designation of “Gift Room.” Those gifts reportedly being stored in the Mayor’s “Gift Room” include:
- “Hugo Boss cuff links” from June 12, 2023
- “Personalized Mont Blanc pen” from June 12, 2023
- “2023 U.S. National Soccer Team Jersey” from June 16, 2023
- “Airpods, tote bag, notepad” from October 3, 2023
- “Gucci Tote bag and crossbody bag” from March 18, 2024
- “Givenchy Bag, Kate Spade Red Purse, Carrucci Size 14 Burgandy Men’s Shoes” from March 19, 2024
The concealment does not stop at denying physical access. The Mayor’s Office, advised by the City’s Department of Law (DOL), persisted in obstructing the OIG from performing an unannounced inspection of the Gift Room.
This action stands in stark violation of the Municipal Code of Chicago, which mandates full cooperation with OIG inquiries.
Block Club Chicago reported:
The report from the Chicago Office of Inspector General, published Wednesday morning, takes aim at an “unwritten arrangement” dating back to 1989 allowing city mayors to skip reporting gifts to the Board of Ethics and instead simply jot them in a public logbook on the fifth floor of City Hall.
But in June a city inspector undercover as a member of the public was denied the gift log and told to file a public records request, which was not fulfilled for over a month, eventually coming back as an incomplete spreadsheet “for some but not all gifts.” The records request was completed only after the inspector general’s office asked for the same information, according to the report.
[…]
In November, city inspectors went up to the fifth floor of City Hall again and asked to go to the gift room, but were met by Chicago police officers and told to wait in the elevator lobby while “multiple senior members of the Mayor’s Office” spoke with the inspector general’s office about the request, according to the report. The inspectors were ultimately denied access that day and told they had to make an appointment.
Eventually, the Department of Law communicated that the Inspector General’s office would not be granted access to the gift room, according to the report.
You can read the report below:
The post Chicago’s Inspector General Drops Bombshell Report on Far-left Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Hidden ‘Gift Room’ Full of Jewelry, Whiskey, and Luxury Goods — Blocked Investigators From Looking At It appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
