Chicago aldermen approved a narrower package of campaign ethics rules, adding restrictions on coercive campaign emails, misuse of city seals and logos, and unpaid committee debts. The measure did not include a proposed limit on political contributions from executives of companies that do business with the city.
The Chicago City Council approved the measure, according to the Chicago Tribune, as candidates prepare for the next round of city elections. The changes require candidates for city office to state “I approve this message” in campaign ads and add restrictions on coercive emails and political use of city seals and logos.
What Made It Into the Final Package
Some of the rules build on existing Chicago ethics law. The law already bars candidates from using city property in electioneering and prohibits political use of city uniforms, badges or other insignia, the Tribune reported. Officials and employees also may not engage in political activity on official time or under a superior’s direction, and political committees may not compel city officials or employees to support or oppose a candidate.
Attorney William Conlon advised candidates and their staff to remove governmental email addresses from campaign contact lists, warning that contribution solicitations or requests for political participation sent to those addresses could be considered coercive, the Tribune reported. The issue also arose during the 2023 mayoral race, when the Lightfoot campaign emailed Chicago Public Schools employees about volunteer opportunities.
New Debt and Disclosure Rules for Committees
The newly approved rules also close a loophole around campaign committee debts. Political fundraising committees must now pay off any Board of Ethics fines before they can shut down, and successor committees formed to back the same candidate will be on the hook for a predecessor committee's ethics-board debt for up to 48 months, as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
Separately, City Council contractors remain subject to gift restrictions, prohibitions on political activity, and limits on their financial interests in city business, and they are barred from suing the city, the outlet noted. The Chicago Board of Ethics is also investigating videos, since deleted, that businessman John Kelly filmed at Chicago firehouses, per a report from WTTW News.
The Provision That Didn't Survive
The final package left out a proposed restriction on political donations from executives at companies doing business with the city. That omission means the measure did not address the contribution gap the Chicago Board of Ethics has sought to close.
Accounts differ on where Mayor Brandon Johnson stood on that provision. As noted by the Chicago Tribune, the council excluded the executive-contribution language, Johnson did not support it, and a majority of the City Council likewise did not back it. But Griffin Krueger, in an emailed statement to the Tribune, said Johnson supported what ultimately passed. The Tribune's report does not resolve the discrepancy between those two characterizations.
The Tribune reported that the Chicago Board of Ethics had recommended addressing executive contributions in 2019. It also noted that Los Angeles and New York have closed similar gaps in their political contribution laws.
The Existing Contribution Limit
Chicago already limits covered persons to $1,500 in annual contributions to elected officials and candidates. Chicago Board of Ethics minutes say a 2024 proposal sought to close a gap that let officers, directors, shareholders and employees of those covered persons contribute separately, unless reimbursed. The minutes clarify the city-law issue but do not provide a comparison with Illinois state rules for government contractors: Chicago Board of Ethics minutes.
Sponsor Says It's the Best Deal Available Now
47th Ward Alderman Matt Martin, the ordinance's sponsor, also floated a small-dollar donor matching program as part of the broader push, though that idea did not make it into the approved measure. Martin, who represents the 47th Ward, told the Tribune the rules that did pass represent the strongest and best set the council could get through before the 2027 city campaign season heats up.
Martin and transparency advocates had introduced a broader package that would have required dark-money groups and paid influencers to disclose their activity, along with rules forcing proposed super PAC ads and paid influencer posts to name their top donors. None of that broader disclosure regime survived in the version the council approved, and the Tribune's reporting indicates further ethics changes are unlikely to pass before the upcoming city elections.
Alisa Kaplan said in a statement quoted by the Tribune that dark money undermines democracy and fuels perceptions that government decisions are made by insiders rather than the public. Existing Chicago ethics rules apply to city employees year-round and, per the Tribune's account, to municipal elections going forward — though the outlet also noted the rules do not apply to the upcoming November election, leaving some ambiguity over the timeline for enforcement that the report does not fully untangle.
