Chicago Inspector General-designate David Glockner vowed Tuesday to make timely judgments “independent of politics” and focus on improving systems of city government where the “impact is greatest.”
Before being unanimously backed by the City Council’s Ethics Committee, Glockner said he would not have agreed to become the city’s chief watchdog if he didn’t think Mayor Brandon Johnson was “committed to an effective and independent inspector general’s office.”
“We‘ve had the conversation. He gave me that assurance … and I accept that assurance,” Glockner told the committee. “If there are times that, despite my best efforts and despite the assurances that have been given, we find ourselves in a spot where there is not cooperation or there are problems, then you’ll hear about it.”
Glockner would replace Deborah Witzburg, who clashed repeatedly with Johnson and his inner circle over a host of ethics issues and ultimately decided not to seek a reappointment to a second term she was unlikely to get.
Those issues ranged from the mayor’s decision to deny her investigators access to the City Hall gift room to the Law Department’s demand to water down ethics reforms and sit in on her interviews with city employees.
Johnson also rejected Witzburg’s demand that he fire senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee for refusing to cooperate with her investigation of an alleged quid pro quo threat that Lee made to 34th Ward Ald. Bill Conway in 2023.
When Glockner acknowledged Tuesday having met with Lee during the appointment process, Conway asked whether the new watchdog had “made any promises to Mr. Lee or anyone else in the administration” about “cases you will investigate or those you will not.”
“Absolutely not,” Glockner said.
Glockner refused to comment specifically on Johnson’s refusal to fire Lee. But he stressed that the mayor and his department heads and appointees are “not required to follow” inspector general recommendations.
“I would be surprised if we are ever at a point where 100% of the OIG’s recommendations are embraced or acted on,” he said. “Decision-makers … are able to take into consideration other facts and other considerations. We don’t dictate what they do.”
The full City Council must still approve the appointment of Glockner, a former federal prosecutor who helped ComEd dig out of the federal corruption scandal that culminated in the conviction of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Glockner used his confirmation hearing to differentiate himself from Witzburg. He said he won’t hesitate to “call balls and strikes,” but he added he plans to try to minimize clashes with the mayor’s office by emphasizing “problem-solving over fingerpointing.”
“A lot of conflict is avoidable. … It’s avoidable by communicating early when you see problems arising. It’s avoidable by building a track record and relationships of trust so that, when you come to somebody with information that’s uncomfortable for them, their first reaction is not, ‘you’re out to get me’ because they’ve seen you in other settings and they’ve seen you play it straight,” he said.
He told alderpersons that two goals would shape his early work.
The first is to focus the inspector general’s audit work on “areas that matter most” and have the greatest potential to minimize risk, save the cash-strapped city money, or deliver city services more equitably and efficiently.
The second is to speed the pace of investigations conducted by the inspector general’s office.
He said investigations “lose value when they take longer than necessary,” and that delays “prolong the time it takes to address problems.” Protracted delays can create “extended clouds” hanging over those who are “unfairly accused.”
After reading Witzburg’s final quarterly report, Glockner couldn’t help but notice that the percentage of investigations dragging for more than a year have been “creeping up steadily” and is now “north of 60%.”
No matter who the mayor or the inspector general is, the relationship between the two almost always ends badly. Glockner is keenly aware of that history, and he said he hopes to avoid repeating it.
“I’m absolutely sure there will be a time when somebody somewhere is unhappy with the work we’ve done,” Glockner said. “I’m willing to be the voice who sticks up for the facts and pushes.”
