City IG Witzburg discusses $50 bribes, office strategies at NW Side meeting

by BRIAN NADIG

Even Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg gets surprised as she investigates unethical behavior stemming from actions of city employees and elected officials.

“There are still (inspectors) out there soliciting $50 bribes,” Witzburg said, adding that when she took the job in 2022 she thought those crimes may be part of the city’s past and no longer a problem.

While no city employee will be prosecuted in Cook County for illegally soliciting such a small bribe, the crime can put a “tremendous” amount of pressure on victims, Witzburg said.

Witzburg and Deputy Inspector General of Public Safety Tobara Richardson were the guest speakers at the Oct. 14 meeting of the 16th (Jefferson Park) Police District Council. About 25 people attended the meeting at the Six Corners Chamber of Commerce office, 4054 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Witzburg is not seeking a second term as inspector general.

The IG’s office looks into thousands of complaints each year against employees, elected officials and city agencies and contractors.

The office also conducts audits, sometimes calling for greater transparency by a city department, and it also can make referrals to the appropriate law enforcement agency for possible criminal charges if an investigation warrants it.

In addition, the office can make recommendations on whether a city employee should be fired, but it lacks the authority to fire or prosecute.

The IG’s office is required to keep the names of those it is investigating private, making it difficult for those who file a complaint to receive updates. The IG’s office releases quarterly reports of its findings, but names are withheld, although there are occasionally high-profile cases in which the subject is widely known and whose name is reported in the media.

“I’m sympathetic to that frustration, (and) we’re in the business of transparency,” Witzburg said of the lack of detailed updates to those filing the complaint.

In some instances keeping details out of the public eyes can help protect the complainant, who may have “well-founded fears of retaliation.”

Also at the meeting, Witzburg was asked about an ethics board investigation into Alderman James Gardiner (45th) who initially was fined $20,000 by the board, which later dropped the fine and ruled that “no violations” by Gardiner occurred. The case involved an allegation that Gardiner knowingly had false tickets issued to a resident for overgrown weeds on his lawn.

Gardiner denied the allegation and appealed the fine. An appeals hearing officer later ruled that exculpatory evidence — favorable to Gardiner’s defense — was withheld from the ethics board.

The IG’s office had referred the case to the ethics board and reportedly did not turn over all key evidence to the board.

Ethics board executive director Steve Berlin said after the case was dropped that “we at the board do not know what potentially exculpatory evidence was referred to by the (appeals hearing officer), or why it was not” provided to the ethics board.

Records show the city spent as much as $200,000 on a law firm hired to fight Gardiner’s appeal.

At the district council meeting, Witzburg said she cannot comment specifically on the Gardiner case but that her office follows the standards and protocols set forth by an IG governing association.

The public safety section of the IG’s office oversees the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs, the Chicago Office of Police Accountability and the Police Board, according to Richardson.

This is just part of today’s coverage. Get the full story - every article, every ad, every page. Subscribe now.

The Latest From Our Community