FOR RELEASE:
April 7, 2025
PRESS CONTACT:
Deanna Shoss, 773-478-8417
The Board of Directors of the Association of Inspectors General (AIG) has voted to adopt two position papers on fundamental principles underpinning the effectiveness and independence of the work of inspectors general. The two documents, one on Ensuring Independence and Integrity through Unobstructed Conduct of Investigative Interviews and another on Ensuring Independence and Effectiveness through Unobstructed Access to Overseen Entities’ Privileged Information, echo and affirm threats identified and reforms proposed by the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG).
In its position paper on investigative interviews, AIG concludes that the presence of agency lawyers compromises the independence, confidentiality, and effectiveness of investigative work performed by inspectors general. In its position paper on access to information, AIG concludes that inspectors general must have unobstructed access to materials belonging to the entities they oversee, including materials that may be otherwise privileged from disclosure to third parties.
In February 2025, OIG recommended changes to the Municipal Code of Chicago (MCC) to ensure OIG’s independence and to protect our work from improper interference or influence, with recommended reforms to prevent the City’s Department of Law from sitting in on confidential OIG investigative interviews, and to prevent the City from withholding City records from OIG on the basis of improper assertions of attorney-client privilege. Chairman Matthew Martin of the City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight introduced an ordinance to make those recommended changes to the MCC. That ordinance was referred to the Committee on Committees and Rules, in a parliamentary maneuver frequently used to stall legislation, and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has announced its opposition to the proposed reforms. Last month, the Better Government Association commissioned and published an independent legal opinion affirming that there were no legal barriers to implementing the reforms proposed by OIG.
“The changes we have proposed are intended to bring Chicago into line with national standards and federal law on independent government oversight. With AIG’s adoption of these position papers, those national standards are clearer than ever,” said Deborah Witzburg, Inspector General for the City of Chicago. “We are seeing inspectors general across the country coming under attack for serving their missions: shining a light on government practices and holding government actors accountable when they abuse the public trust. Independence is the hallmark and the lifeblood of effective oversight. We will continue working to protect effective oversight here in Chicago, as we reckon with the City’s dark history of government corruption and misconduct. We are deeply grateful to our colleagues at AIG for their tireless work in the national and international oversight communities.”
AIG represents more than 2,600 members from 350 organizations around the world, dedicated to advancing integrity and accountability in government through independent oversight. The position papers AIG published today were finalized over a months-long process, during which they were reviewed by its Board of Directors at large, sent to its Standards and Practices Committee for further review and feedback, and formally adopted upon a unanimous vote of the Board.
Read the papers, adopted April 4, 2025:
Ensuring Independence and Integrity through Unobstructed Conduct of Investigative Interviews
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The mission of the independent and nonpartisan City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to promote economy, effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity by identifying corruption, waste, and mismanagement in City government. OIG is a watchdog for the taxpayers of the City and has jurisdiction to conduct inquiries into most aspects of City government.
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