As state legislators weigh ethics changes in response to federal investigations into elected officials, businesses and lobbyists, aldermen are lining up behind their own changes to city lobbying rules.



Ald. Michele Smith, 43rd, who chairs the Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight, and Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th, have introduced a ban on aldermen acting as paid lobbyists and on outside elected officials lobbying on Chicago matters. So far, they’ve convinced a majority of the City Council to support the change.

“No elected official or employee may lobby the State, the County, or any other local unit of government in the State, or derive any income or compensation from lobbying the State, the County, or any other local unit of government in the State, on behalf of any person,” the ordinance reads, and “No elected official of a unit of government in the State may lobby the city, the city council, or any city agency, department, board or commission.”

Luis Arroyo, who resigned from his seat in the Illinois House after being charged with bribery, was registered to lobby the city for a company he owned with his wife. The bribe allegedly involved sweepstakes legislation, an issue he’d lobbied the City Council on.

Other elected officials are registered to lobby the city, including Senate President John Cullerton, state Rep. Jaime Andrade and Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin. Ald. Mike Zalewski, 23rd, was also registered to lobby the state before his retirement from the City Council.

“We know that paid lobbying by Chicago, State of Illinois, and Cook County elected officials has long been a problem here. It’s time to end that practice so that taxpayers can have confidence that their public servants are acting in the public’s interest, rather than in the interest of private clients,” Smith said in a release.



“While elected officials should always assert their positions on legislation and other matters, they should not be making money from interests that could pose a conflict to their fiduciary duties as an elected official,” O’Shea said in the same release. “Our elected officials should not be paid lobbyists to other governments, and other elected officials should not be paid to lobby the Chicago government.”

Other co-sponsors include aldermen Matt Martin, 47th; Scott Waguespack, 32nd; Gilbert Villegas, 36th; Brendan Reilly, 42nd;, and Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th.

Steve Berlin, the executive director of the Chicago Board of Ethics, said he'd been consulted on the ordinance and "believe it is a good and necessary measure. We are also carefully watching the goings on in Springfield to see whether the General Assembly might consider and enact something analogous."

If passed, the ordinance would take effect within 90 days. The proposal would build on recent ethics changes adopted in the early days of Lightfoot’s administration regarding outside employment by aldermen and the power of the city's inspector general.

Republicans in the Illinois House have proposed a slew of ethics changes in this veto session, including a mandate that lawmakers provide more detailed information about financial interests, a call for special elections to fill vacant seats in the Legislature rather than having party officials choose replacements, and banning lawmakers and close family members from working as lobbyists in other cities and counties, according to the Chicago Tribune.