Mayor Lori Lightfoot got a step closer Wednesday to delivering a signature early win on City Council ethics, as aldermen advanced a package to give the city watchdog more oversight of the body and tighten rules on outside jobs and lobbying.
The council Ethics Committee passed the plan after aldermen raised concerns about new lobbyist registration guidelines that some said are confusing or needlessly restrictive. Ethics Committee Chairman Ald. Michele Smith, 43rd, said the vote “demonstrates that there are members of City Council committed to good government and reform.”
In a late change to the proposal, people acting on behalf of nonprofits won’t need to register as lobbyists if they’re unpaid or if they’re providing technical assistance to the agencies.
“The definition of a lobbyist carries a lot of connotations to it, but the truth is that a lot of people lobby,” Smith said. “So this is trying to make the lobbying regulations consistent.”
The full City Council will consider the mayor’s package next Wednesday.
With the ethics package, Lightfoot keeps the spotlight on the City Council, which she promised to clean up during her mayoral campaign and then claimed her overwhelming victory gave her a mandate to follow through on that promise.
Aldermen have provided a foil for the former federal prosecutor, who as a newcomer to elected office can talk tough about the need for them to reform as federal investigators press forward with an ongoing investigation into City Hall corruption.
Powerful Southwest Side Ald. Edward Burke pleaded not guilty in federal court in June to 14 counts in a sweeping corruption case. And federal investigators earlier this month raided the ward office of Far South Side Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th. Austin has not been charged.
Authorities have also raided the home of former Southwest Side Ald. Michael Zalewski, who has also not been charged.
The mayor this week said more ethics reforms are coming.
“I think that it’s important to bring people along on the journey,” Lightfoot said when asked whether her ordinances go far enough. “I’m confident there will be other things we propose. But doing things incrementally with an eye toward the endgame is kind of the vision that we have for the ethics reform.”
Giving city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson the ability to audit the council’s 18 committees has been a particular sticking point, and something aldermen have fought against for years. Lightfoot on Tuesday called it “a big step forward, and it’s a lot for people to digest.”
When then-Mayor Richard M. Daley created the Office of Inspector General in 1989, aldermen exempted themselves from its oversight.
In 2010, the City Council created its own inspector general position rather than caving to further pressure to give the city IG broader authority. The City Council Inspector General’s Office was saddled with inadequate funding and limitations on its authority.
And aldermen watered down a 2016 ordinance to give Ferguson greater reach into their business. They allowed him to investigate specific allegations made against them and their staffs, but not audit their programs.
Lightfoot’s ethics ordinances also include measures to tighten the rules for aldermen holding outside jobs and increase fines for ethics violations, from the current $500 to $2,000 up to $1,000 to $5,000.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
