CHICAGO — Chicago inspector general Deborah Witzburg has recommended a top adviser to Mayor Brandon Johnson be fired and placed on a do not hire list for failing to cooperate with an investigation into City Hall’s handling of a negotiation with an alderman.

Johnson declined to fire the adviser, senior Jason Lee, and denied that he failed to cooperate with the investigation.

The back and forth was revealed in a summary report released Wednesday by the city’s top watchdog. Lee is not named by the inspector general’s office, which is generally prohibited from identifying officials by name, but he called the Tribune to defend his handling of the case.

Witzburg’s report stems from fall 2023 encounters between Lee and Ald. Bill Conway. At the time, Johnson was pushing an increased real estate transfer tax on properties over $1 million to help fund citywide homeless services and an end to the tipped wage for restaurant workers. Conway was looking to have an encampment near Union and Ogilvie stations removed, which he said was a trouble spot for drugs and violent crime in the ward.

As part of his efforts to get the tents removed, Conway spoke with Lee in early October 2023 while aldermen were at City Hall for meetings. Conway said he shared with Lee his concerns about recovered guns, propane tanks and drug packets found in the viaducts that were crowded with tents.

Lee pulled Conway into a copy room behind council chambers and offered to help remove the homeless camps, but Conway said he tied the action to the alderman supporting the two Johnson initiatives.

A day after their in-person conversation, Lee and Conway spoke again by phone, and Lee reiterated his requests, the alderman said. Conway recalled asking Lee whether City Hall was able to do more than had already been done at the sites, as he was running into bureaucratic problems.

Conway called the exchange improper and reported it to the inspector general. At the time, Lee took the unusual step of acknowledging the would-be quid pro quo took place, calling it a typical example of “how political will is created.”

Witzburg’s investigation aimed to determined whether Lee “engaged in misconduct related to the original allegation that they conditioned critical City services upon an alderperson’s support for Mayoral-backed leg,” she said in her report. But the inspector general did not find sufficient evidence for the allegation to sustain it, she wrote.

But, she said, Lee should be fired for failure to cooperate.

The inspector general’s office reached out to Lee in October 2024 and spoke with him about scheduling an interview, according to the report. Lee said he would call back.

“OIG did not hear back and sent an email to the subject days later suggesting an interview date later in November 2024,” the report said. “The subject responded, stating that a DOL attorney would attend the interview; the DOL attorney told OIG that the subject might also retain private counsel.”

The inspector general said it declined to interview Lee with a city lawyer present and sent written questions in February. Lee did not respond by the deadline.

After the inspector general sent its findings to the mayor’s office in June, Lee’s private attorney contacted the inspector general’s office to claim he intended to cooperate.

“The attorney, however, was unable to provide any records indicating they had actually emailed OIG, and OIG never received any communication from the attorney until after the Mayor’s Office received notice—and apparently notified the subject and/or their attorney—of OIG’s intention to pursue discipline for the subject’s failure to cooperate,” the inspector general wrote. “Under the circumstances, OIG declined to reopen its investigation and informed the Mayor’s Office that it continued to recommend the subject’s discharge.”

Johnson’s office concluded it was “unjustifiable” to fire Lee because the inspector general made cooperation difficult for Lee, in part by refusing to interview him with a city attorney present.

Whether city attorneys can attend interviews and when they can assert attorney-client privilege was a flashpoint controversy between Witzburg and the Johnson administration earlier this year.

Witzburg accused the mayor-controlled Law Department in a letter to aldermen of hindering investigations that “may result in embarrassment or political consequences to City leaders” throughout different mayoral terms.

A compromise ordinance passed by aldermen clarified that Law Department attorneys can attend investigative interviews in certain circumstances, including when an interviewee requests a city attorney and the Law Department agrees, when pending or threatened litigation is involved or when the inspector general grants approval.

The compromise deal also clarifies that city attorneys can assert attorney-client privilege to withhold records requested by the inspector general’s office, but requires the Law Department to provide the office a log of withheld materials and discuss if the materials can ultimately be shared. The office will also be able to review certain materials with protections.

In an interview with the Tribune Tuesday, Lee criticized the inspector general’s office for taking almost a year to reach out to him. He also said the legislation that passed over the summer proves he was right all along. The inspector general’s report, meanwhile, noted that the changes to the law “did not take effect for more than six months after the events at issue here.”

“I tried in good faith to participate,” Lee said.

Johnson’s office released a statement Wednesday saying “there is no justification for imposing discipline on a staffer who has engaged in no wrongdoing and who merely asserted their right to counsel.”

But Conway in a Wednesday statement said Lee “stonewalled an investigation into withholding public safety resources from my community in exchange for my votes,” while “the fifth floor pled the fifth.”

“It’s demoralizing that the Mayor rejected the Inspector General’s recommendation to fire the employee,” Conway said. “Their lack of cooperation is an admission of guilt and a disregard for the transparency and accountability Chicagoans deserve.”

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