\n<\/p>\n
A Department of Streets and Sanitation truck driver who brought a firearm into a city building and left it in a bathroom.<\/p>\n
A construction laborer with an expired firearms owners identification card and no concealed carry license found with an \u201cillegal firearm\u201d in his or her personal vehicle.<\/p>\n
A Chicago police lieutenant with an \u201cunlawful interest\u201d in a company awarded an O\u2019Hare Airport construction contract.<\/p>\n
Those are the highlights of Inspector General Deborah Witzburg\u2019s latest quarterly report detailing her ongoing efforts to clean up city government and root out waste, abuse and fraud.<\/p>\n
As always, names of accused offenders are withheld. But the report includes a synopsis of cases that underscores Witzburg\u2019s uphill battle to as she put it, \u201cpay down\u201d Chicago\u2019s \u201cdeficit of legitimacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver many decades, City government in Chicago has earned its reputation as broken and corrupt, and has given Chicagoans no reason to afford the benefit of any doubt to decisions made in dark corners of City Hall,\u201d Witzburg wrote in the report. \u201cWe are holding people accountable when they abuse positions of public trust, and we are shining a light into those dark corners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witzburg said she \u201cidentified and effected the return of more than $50,000 in improper campaign contributions to city officials \u201cbecause we cannot have a For Sale sign hanging on the door to City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is also working closely with the Department of Human Resources to make certain that all city jobs \u2014 including the \u201chighest ranking\u201d positions \u2014 have job descriptions that include \u201cminimum qualifications.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s required by the city\u2019s employment plan to ensure that \u201ctaxpayer dollars are going to people qualified and equipped to work and succeed in positions of public trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
The truck driver accused of leaving the gun in the bathroom of a city building retired during the course of the investigation. The Water Management construction laborer who had an illegal firearm in a personal vehicle was recommended for discharge, but got off with a written reprimand instead.<\/p>\n
Other highlights include:<\/p>\n
Witzburg\u2019s report also mentioned her efforts to convince Johnson to stop withholding documents, selectively enforcing subpoenas and demanding to have the Law Department sit in on interviews that \u201crisk embarrassment\u201d to the fifth floor of City Hall.<\/p>\n
Witzburg has been at loggerheads with the Johnson administration over a proposed ordinance to remove those impediments to internal investigations. Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry has argued those stalled rules would \u201cdismantle guardrails so that the person charged with looking at fraud, waste and abuse would become an abuser.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are\u2026working to protect OIG\u2019s independence and ensure the long-term stability and viability of effective oversight in Chicago,\u201d Witzburg wrote. \u201cWe have proposed changes to the Municipal Code of Chicago to prevent interference with OIG\u2019s work and safeguard its independence. Those proposed changes are pending before Chicago\u2019s City Council, and I hope to see action taken on them soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n