Mayor Brandon Johnson said Thursday that elected officials should be held to a high standard even as he sidestepped a question about allegations of misconduct against Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin and declared that the claims against her were “settled” by the city.
Johnson’s administration late last month decided to end the city’s long legal fight to keep confidential a 2020 letter that laid out the accusations against Conyears-Ervin by an attorney for two former treasurer employees whom Conyears-Ervin fired.
[ Chicago treasurer accused of misconduct and ethical violations in letter city kept secret for years ]
Asked why his administration decided to release the letter after Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration fought those efforts for two years, Johnson said “we responded to the law.”
“As I understand it, the attorney general of the state of Illinois made very clear that this was an expectation that should have been fulfilled before I arrived so we just simply, we responded to the law,” Johnson said.
Under Lightfoot, the city paid $100,000 to settle the claims by the two fired workers but refused to release the letter despite numerous requests by the Tribune and a binding opinion by the attorney general’s office that it should be released.
The December 2020 letter, which called for Conyears-Ervin to be investigated, said the city treasurer abused her power, violated the state’s whistleblower act and misused taxpayer resources by using government workers to run errands for her, hiring a former police officer to be her personal bodyguard and pressuring public employees to hold events benefiting political allies, among other accusations.
Johnson made the comments following the Chicago City Council meeting Thursday during a customary post-council news conference.
“These allegations have been settled, and my hope is that we all as public servants continue to earn the trust of the people who send us here,” Johnson added. “And that all of us are ultimately held to a standard that I believe is quite reasonable.”
Although the city’s Law Department settled the lawsuit brought by the former employees, Tiffany Harper and Ashley Evans, the allegations against Conyears-Ervin highlight weaknesses in the city’s internal system to mete out accountability.
The head of the Chicago Board of Ethics said Monday the board referred the case to the city’s inspector general’s office but that the board can’t do more unless it receives detailed findings from the IG.
The Board of Ethics is hamstrung by a lack of investigative power and instead must rely on the IG’s office, which generally operates in secrecy until it releases quarterly reports. It has been almost three years since the letter was sent to the IG, which has not disclosed any findings.
A former state representative who earlier this year was reelected to a second term as city treasurer, Conyears-Ervin has said she is considering a run for Congress to replace U.S. Rep. Danny Davis.
She has declined to comment on the accusations other than to release a statement in which she said the city settled the allegations “in the most cost effective manner for the citizens of Chicago” and that she has “never, nor will I ever abuse or misuse taxpayer dollars and breach the public trust.”
The four-page letter claims Conyears-Ervin used government workers for her own personal use, including to plan her daughter’s birthday party and to be her personal bodyguard, in addition to the general accusation that she repeatedly misused taxpayer resources and pressured public employees to help her political allies.
It also alleged the treasurer, who oversees city investments, tried to force BMO Harris — one of the banks where city money is deposited — to issue a mortgage tied to the building that houses the aldermanic office for Conyears-Ervin’s husband, Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th. BMO officials have declined to comment.
Conyears-Ervin threatened retaliation against employees who raised concerns about the conduct and other alleged misdeeds and told employees they “should not care if her plans are illegal since the only way they could lose their jobs is if she fires them,” the letter stated.
The controversy dates back to November 2020, when Conyears-Ervin dismissed Harper, her chief of staff at the time, as well as Evans and two other workers, as part of what she called an office shake-up.
Harper and Evans, the treasurer’s former chief impact officer, alleged their firings “violated the Illinois whistleblower act, federal laws, and a city ordinance,” and sent the letter to the city Law Department and the Board of Ethics, demanding an investigation and a reinstatement of their jobs.
The Tribune sought a copy of the letter but was repeatedly denied access by Lightfoot’s administration. After the Illinois attorney general’s office last year said in a binding opinion that the Tribune should get a copy of the letter, Lightfoot’s administration went to court to block its release. Johnson’s administration late last month chose to drop those legal efforts.
