Mayor Brandon Johnson releases video of gift room, new rules for reporting gifts at City Hall
Last week, a report from Inspector General Deborah Witzburg's office said the mayor's office had improperly denied investigators access to the gift room, refused to hand over a log of gifts as required by the city's ethics rules until investigators filed a Freedom of Information Act Request, and had accepted some gifts without properly reporting them.
In response to the report, the mayor's office on Wednesday released a short video showing the gifts stored inside the gift room, and announced new guidelines for reporting the gifts the city has received.
Every gift received by the mayor's office now must be logged within 10 days, and reported to the Chicago Board of Ethics and the City Comptroller. Each gift logged must be categorized by date, description, the donor's name, and the location where it's stored.
The gift log is also posted on the city's website.
Perishable food items may be placed in a publicly accessible area for consumption by city staff members and guests at City Hall.
If any other gifts are put on display rather than placed in the gift room, the city's logbook must indicate where it is being displayed.
The city's logbook of gifts must be updated quarterly, and the city will post a quarterly video recording of the gift room on the 5th floor of City Hall.
The mayor's office also said some gifts received by the city might be better suited for use by its sister agencies or Chicago nonprofits, and can be donated to them if appropriate. For example, gifts of books might be donated to the Chicago Public Library, and gifts of clothing might be donated to homeless shelters or other nonprofits.
Any gifts donated to a sister agency or nonprofit must be logged in the logbook.
Gifts currently being stored in the gift room include designer cufflinks, a Chicago Teachers Union strike poster from the 2019 teachers' strike, a custom Chicago Cubs jacket and two custom Cubs jerseys, a 2023 U.S. National Soccer Team jersey, a personalized Mont Blanc pen, a Superman doll, a non-functional pen from the inventory of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, several designer handbags and purses, a handmade quilt, a bag of Girl Scout cookies, and more.
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