Chicago Council Panel Backs Deal Limiting Law Department Role in IG Probes

Chicago aldermen advanced a compromise ordinance that curtails the city Law Department’s ability to oversee investigations by the Office of Inspector General, ending months of friction between Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration and ethics advocates. The measure, approved unanimously in the City Council’s Ethics and Government Oversight Committee on Monday, restricts when city attorneys may attend investigative interviews and requires the Law Department to provide logs of any documents withheld under attorney-client privilege. Key concessions smoothed the path to agreement. Sponsor Ald. Matt Martin dropped an earlier bid to eliminate Law Department discretion over subpoenas and clarified that attorneys may sit in on interviews only when an interviewee requests counsel, litigation is pending or the inspector general grants permission. Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry, who had denounced the original proposal as “legally deficient,” endorsed the revised version after negotiations over the weekend. Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said the redrafted ordinance meets her two principal objectives: protecting the integrity of interviews and expanding access to city records. The proposal also requires the inspector general to be a licensed Illinois attorney with at least seven years’ experience and obliges the office to follow professional standards. The full City Council is scheduled to vote on the measure Wednesday. Separately on Monday, a bid to require greater aldermanic support before the city issues new debt failed to advance, preserving the mayor’s existing borrowing authority.