Chapter 1: Gardiner Deletes Twitter After Ethics Board Gives Constituents Advice
On January 19, 2020, Alderman Gardiner deleted his Twitter account. It is unclear why, however, this was the sequence of events that preceded the account deletion:
On January 18, 2020, Alderman Gardiner tweeted about an upcoming street closure on portions of Irving Park Road.
Several constituents responded to him with links to this website. Some raised concerns about the Ward Superintendent’s past criminal charges.
The Chicago Board of Ethics responded to constituents, stating “Please file a complaint with the Inspector General. If there is a beach [sic] of City law or policy here, that office can dig into it.” along with a link to contact the Inspector General.
In response to additional concerns from constituents concerned about reprisals from the Alderman in response to complaints, the Chicago Board of Ethics responded, “The IG is authorized to accept and investigate anonymous complaints.”
Less than 24 hours later, Alderman Gardiner deleted his Twitter account.
