The campaign contribution limits have been lifted for candidates in the Chicago mayoral race. Under state law, the limits are lifted for all candidates in a local race once a candidate in said race exceeds $100,000 in contributions to his own campaign within a year of the election.

Conservative candidate William J. Kelly reached the $100,000 threshold on Monday. This is seemingly good news for Rahm Emanuel, who will now be able to go back to wealthy supporters to add to his campaign war chest.

Kelly argues lifting the caps does not help his opponent, however, as Emanuel already has all the money he needs. Kelly contends the playing field has been leveled as anti-Emanuel groups are now free to contribute to him as much as they want.

The Board of Ethics formally submitted its revised Rules & Regulations to the City Council on August 19. The rules govern board activities in conformation with the provisions of the Governmental Ethics Ordinance.

Unless the City Council, by majority vote, votes to disapprove them, the rules will become effective 45 days after submission.

The City of Chicago Board of Ethics recently released new ethics bulletins. Two revised brochures provide up-to-date guides for the public as well as for city employees and elected officials. Both include new provisions covering whistleblower protection and the duty of officials, employees, and city contractors to report corrupt or unlawful activity.

A third brochure is also available pertaining to outside employment for city employees.

All new or revised bulletins are available for public viewing on the Ethics Department website.

On March 21, the Chicago Board of Ethics posted a summary of its reverse revolving door ruling on the city’s website. The ruling comes from a case brought before the board for the purpose of reviewing the conduct of a department director.

Chicago’s reverse revolving door ordinance prohibits employees or officials from personally participating in a decision-making capacity as to their immediate pre-city employers or clients for a period of two years after joining the city.

The board ruled an employee involved in a procurement process for the city violated the reverse revolving door provision even though he consistently avoided extraneous contact with personnel from his pre-city employer and from its umbrella organization. Simply scoring RFP responses in addition to training or meeting with employees from a pre-city employer or affiliate in the ordinary course of employment constitutes a minor violation.

The Chicago City Council approved an ordinance introduced by Mayor Emanuel requiring every city contractor to report corrupt activity.

The ordinance requires city contractors to notify the city’s inspector general of bribery, theft, forgery, perjury, and fraud they are aware were committed against the city. Knowingly failing to report such activity is a violation of the ordinance.

The ordinance becomes effective on March 5, 2014.

The Chicago Board of Ethics recently posted two new publications on its website, both of which outline ethics restrictions for city officials.

The first addresses, among other things, general conflicts of interest, lobbying on behalf of others, financial interests in city contracts, financial disclosure requirements, gifts, revolving door provisions, and penalties for ethics violations.

The second addition is a publication delineating what city employees and officials may or may not do in terms of contracting with the city.

Both documents are intended to provide a basic understanding of ethics rules and are not deemed legal advice.

Voters in the Chicago area are heading to the polls this morning to choose a new representative to the United States Congress, as well as other local offices. Voters on the south side of the city must pick a successor to former Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. Jackson resigned from Congress earlier this year for personal reasons and has since pleaded guilty to illegally using campaign funds for personal expenses.

The Democratic nominee, Robin Kelly, is the favorite in the heavily Democratic district. Kelly is a former state lawmaker who hails from Matteson, a village in the south suburbs.

Her opponent is the Republican nominee, Paul McKinley. McKinley, who served almost 20 years in prison for armed robbery, burglary, and aggravated battery, is running on a promise to stop the Chicago political machine and put ex-offenders back to work to help turn their lives around.

In another high profile race, former Chicago Bears defensive lineman Steve McMichael will take on incumbent John Noak for Romeoville mayor. Romeoville is about 30 miles southwest of Chicago and has a population of almost 40,000.

Towns throughout the area will also be deciding whether to allow video poker machines and whether to approve multiple bond requests. Polls close at 7 p.m. local time and the weather looks promising for a good turnout.

The Chicago City Council approved phase two of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ethics reform. This time, however, it didn’t come easy and the mayor is not completely satisfied with its outcome. The set of reforms focused mainly on public officials.

Mayor Emanuel’s proposal included a two year ban on lobbying after leaving city council office and allowing citizens to make anonymous complaints against aldermen. The city council was against both of these provisions and eventually passed a watered-down version of the proposal.

The ban on lobbying will only last for one year and does not take effect until January 1, 2014. The idea of anonymous complaints was completely tossed out; as the aldermen were afraid the tactic would be used by political enemies to gain an advantage. Emanuel was not pleased with the changes. He vowed to continue to fight for the anonymous complaints and mentioned the aldermen are just playing into the hands of the cynics.

Following the council’s vote Emanuel said, “I believe all of you work really hard. You don’t get credit for how hard you work. You get an unfair rap. But when you take an action like you just took, it reinforces a cynicism about you.” He added, “I want you all to know that is not the end of the process. I’m going to continue to do it.”

Photo of the Daley Plaza and Chicago City Hall by JeremyA on Wikipedia.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is continuing to overhaul the city’s ethics code by introducing another ordinance based on his ethics task force’s recommendations. While this proposed ordinance deals mostly with governmental employees and elected officials, it would also bring some changes to lobbyist registration and reporting.

The ordinance, if approved, will change the definition of a lobbyist. Currently, volunteers, employees, officers, and directors of a not-for-profit entity are exempted from registering as a lobbyist. However, the proposed ordinance will eliminate that exemption and require those members of a not-for-profit entity who seek to influence legislative or administrative action to register as a lobbyist. The proposal does allow the ethics board to create objective criteria allowing for a reduction or a waiver of the registration fees for not-for-profits lobbyists.

Finally, under the proposal, lobbyists would be required to disclose the actual amount of compensation received from employers. Currently, the compensation needs only to be rounded to the nearest $1,000.

Photo of the Daley Plaza and Chicago City Hall by JeremyA on Wikipedia.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced an ethics reform amendment to the city council on June 8. The amendment, based on the recommendations given to him by the Ethics Reform Task Force, would strengthen the gift ban, add a reverse revolving door provision, and increase the penalties for PACs who accept illegal contributions. The amendment also includes a code of conduct for city officials and employees, which is something the city has never had before.

The city council will now decide the fate of the mayor’s initiatives. The Ethics Reform Task Force will release its second set of recommendations in late July, this time focusing on the relationship between, and the key responsibilities of, the city’s ethics institutions.

Photo of Chicago skyline by mindfrieze on Wikipedia. 

The Chicago Board of Ethics rolled out a new electronic lobbyist registration system on May 1, 2012. Lobbyists can now register online on the Electronic Lobbyist Filing System page.

Electronic registration is voluntary, so lobbyists may still file paper registrations if they choose to do so. For lobbyists who are already registered, they can use the online system to add clients to their registration forms. Registered lobbyists should contact the board of ethics if they need their login information.

“Super-PAC craze sweeps the nation” by Rachel Leven in The Hill.

“Feds Add Charge to Former Detroit Mayor Corruption Case” by The Associated Press on Governing.

“Chicago most corrupt city, report shows” by MJ Lee on Politico.

“Group fighting campaign finance laws in 3 courts ask federal judge to undo contribution limits” by Matt Gouras (Associated Press) in The Republic.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has announced the creation of an ethics reform task force charged with overhauling and strengthening the city’s ethics ordinance.

The task force will be given four months to rewrite the city’s ethics ordinance.

On July 28, 2011 the Chicago City Council passed a new ethics reform ordinance. The ordinance is part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s efforts to provide more government transparency.

The new ordinance includes five key provisions. First, it creates a searchable online system for lobbyist registration and reporting. Second, it adds the term “lobbyist” to the group of people subject to the $50 gift restriction per single non-cash gift and $100 aggregated gift limit per each calendar year. Third, the new ordinance prohibits city employees, officials, or their businesses from applying for or receiving loans from lobbyists.

Fourth, the ordinance amends the semi-annual lobbyist activity report form to require lobbyists to disclose all campaign contributions to city elected officials and city employees running for office. Lastly, the ordinance codifies the revolving door provision created by Mayor Emanuel’s May 16, 2011 executive order.

Photo of the Chicago River by Robert S. Donovan on Wikipedia.