Gardiner’s office has no Ethics Officer
It was revealed on August 4, 2020 that the Ethics Officer still on file with the Chicago Board of Ethics for Alderman Gardiner’s office was his former staffer, Tanya King. King’s last official day with the office November 29, 2019. That’s over 35 weeks without any staff in the office specifically trained to advise the Alderman and staff on ethics questions.
What do ethics officers do? As described by the City website:
“As provided in the City’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance, every City department and aldermanic office shall have an ethics officer, who is appointed by the department head or alderman. Ethics officers serve as valuable resources for all City employees and officials. They assist the Board of Ethics in ensuring that City personnel file their annual Statements of Financial Interests and complete the required trainings on time, direct questions to the Board, help the Board spread the word about new developments, and help identify City personnel who can be outstanding ethics models for all of us.”
The Ethics Officer could advise the office on things like:
It’s illegal to accept donations on government property, like your Aldermanic office, or
Make sure that your Ward Superintendent gets his ethics disclosures in on time.
After follow-ups from the Chicago Board of Ethics, Gardiner named Rita Howard as the new Ethics officer. As of September 1, Rita had been out of the office for at least five to six weeks and had still not returned - so effectively Gardiner still has no Ethics Officer.
