Inspectors general at the federal, state, and local levels exist to provide independent and objective oversight to promote accountability, transparency, and integrity in government. In Chicago, the powers and duties of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) are set forth in Chapter 2-56 of the Municipal Code of Chicago.
During a meeting of Chicago’s City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight on January 28, 2025, Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg testified that certain practices by the City’s Department of Law (DOL) interfered with OIG investigations. She described those practices more fully in a memorandum dated February 7, 2025, that she sent to the Chairman of that Committee. In particular, the DOL has withheld critical documents under the pretext of attorney-client privilege, has asserted that DOL attorneys may attend OIG investigative interviews, and has failed to act promptly in approving the enforcement of OIG subpoenas.
Section 2-56-090 of the Code requires all City employees and departments to cooperate with any OIG inquiry and to make available to OIG all their books and records. Some of those books and records may contain attorney-client communications. DOL has argued that turning over such communications to OIG may waive the attorney-client privilege that would otherwise attach to such communications and hence make such communications available to third parties suing the City. That argument is unfounded. Because OIG is merely a department of the City, it has no legal status separate and apart from the City. See Ferguson v. Patton, 2013 IL 112488. Accordingly, communications transferred from one City department to another do not leave the City’s possession, and such transfer cannot waive the attorney-client privilege.
DOL’s demands to attend certain OIG investigative interviews create a chilling effect, discouraging witnesses from speaking freely and undermining the investigative process. Two recent position papers from the International Association of Inspectors General further emphasize the critical importance of unobstructed interviews and access to privileged information in maintaining the independence, integrity, and effectiveness of inspectors general.
The Chicago Council of Lawyers agrees with the Inspector General that the DOL practices described in the OIG Memo have weakened OIG’s independence and thus undermined its ability to carry out effective oversight and ensure transparency and accountability in city government.
The Chicago Council of Lawyers calls upon the City Council to amend Chapter 2-56 of the Code to define clearly OIG’s authority and independence and to clarify that the Code does not allow the DOL practices described in the OIG Memo to interfere with OIG investigations. It is time to move this legislation out of committee and restore credibility to our system of oversight.
