World Business Chicago, the city's public-private economic development organization, didn't send anyone to a City Council Ethics Committee hearing called to question its promotional videos featuring Mayor Brandon Johnson — and now aldermen are threatening to cut the group's funding over the no-show. Eight members of City Council had requested the hearing to examine whether the videos, which are narrated by and feature the mayor, crossed the line into taxpayer-funded political advertising.
According to Crain's Chicago Business, World Business Chicago's absence from the hearing has put its city funding in the crosshairs, with aldermen openly discussing whether to claw back support during the upcoming budget process. 47th Ward Alderperson Matt Martin, who chairs the Ethics Committee, said he did not receive a reason for why World Business Chicago representatives failed to attend. 36th Ward Alderperson Gilbert Villegas suggested the City Council might pull the funding it provides to the organization when the annual budget process begins next month, per the Chicago Tribune.
Videos Show Johnson Touring Investments Citywide
World Business Chicago posted several videos prominently featuring Johnson touting neighborhood investments and affordable housing, with four of them going up before the mayor formally announced his reelection bid, the Tribune reports. In the clips, Johnson narrates tours of investments on the city's South, West, Southwest and Northwest sides, while the videos also show him cutting ribbons, attending groundbreakings and appearing alongside supporters. Critics have characterized the footage as campaign-style promotion of the mayor, a characterization echoed by ABC7 Chicago, which reported that many have said the promotions look like campaign ads.
Johnson announced he will seek a second term at an event at the DuSable Black History Museum in Chicago on September 13, according to the Tribune. The mayor has dismissed criticism of the videos, arguing that promoting Chicago is simply part of his job. He defended the clips as an important part of the city's business development strategy, as reported by WBBM Newsradio.
Nonprofit Says No Public Money Paid for the Clips
World Business Chicago is a nonprofit that receives taxpayer money, and the city's mayor serves as its chairman, per WBBM's reporting. The organization said promoting Chicago's economy — and highlighting the billions of dollars in investment happening across the city — is core to its mission, ABC7 reported, and it noted that it receives much of its funding from city and state grants. Chicago has given the organization $1.6 million annually in recent years, according to the Tribune.
Phil Clement sent a letter denying that taxpayer dollars funded the videos, saying no public funds were used to pay for the media activities, the Tribune reports. Clement also said Johnson's official roles made his inclusion in the organization's communications materials logical. World Business Chicago's Andrew Hayes said the organization had no additional comment at the time, per the same Tribune account.
A History of Mayoral Influence Over the Group
World Business Chicago's roots and reach have shifted depending on who's describing them. The Tribune reports that former Mayor Richard M. Daley founded the organization to attract multinational corporations to Chicago, and that former Mayor Rahm Emanuel later expanded it and filled its board with campaign donors. The group's mission, as the Tribune describes it, is to drive inclusive economic growth and job creation, support businesses, promote Chicago as a leading global city, and help existing companies expand while attracting new ones.
Johnson isn't the first mayor to appear in the group's promotional material — the Tribune reports that former Mayor Lori Lightfoot also appeared in World Business Chicago videos, which focused on companies' expansion, hiring or pro-Chicago decisions. Separately, the Chicago Sun-Times has described World Business Chicago as a public-private partnership that, under Emanuel, grew more city-oriented over the years before later announcing a renewed focus on growth across the seven counties of northeast Illinois rather than just the city itself. That 2023 campaign aimed to record 150 “pro-Chicagoland decisions” by private companies over three years, with the group's president and CEO saying a new regional funding arrangement would bring in about $1 million a year from the counties. At the time, the Sun-Times reported, the group's budget exceeded $8 million, with less than 20% coming from City Hall.
Ethics Official Declines to Weigh In, Points to the Ordinance
During the hearing World Business Chicago skipped, aldermen asked David Glockner for his view, according to the Tribune. Glockner said he had not watched any of the videos and said he could not comment on anything his office may or may not investigate. Instead, he encouraged committee members to examine the city's ethics ordinance themselves and assess whether the commercials meet its political-activity test — a question the city's ethics ordinance addresses by laying out what constitutes political activity. At its March 16, 2026, open session, the City of Chicago's Board of Ethics heard a presentation on proposed amendments addressing the use of City property in electioneering communications.
39th Ward Alderperson Samantha Nugent, described by the Tribune as a frequent Johnson critic, said the issue was especially salient given controversy over nationally televised public-service ads — a reference to remarks from President Donald Trump, who said America will never be a communist country. Nugent said the World Business Chicago videos and the presidential commercials were wildly inappropriate and a bad use of taxpayer dollars, according to the Tribune's account of the hearing.
For its part, World Business Chicago has pointed to ethics policies it says its board unanimously approved, covering conflicts of interest, transparency and advocacy. Under those policies, described on the organization's website, directors and employees must disclose conflicts and sit out related deliberations or votes, and the organization also engages in advocacy on economic incentives. Whether that framework addresses aldermen's specific concerns about the mayor-starring videos remains an open question as the city's budget season approaches next month.
