The Democratic administration of Chicago's city hall has been hit with a fresh controversy following a Chicago Sun-Times report that flagged a number of allegations against former Chicago City Hall COO Paul Goodrich.
The report, which followed up on an earlier probe by the city's in-house watchdog, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, alleged that a senior mayoral aide from Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration used their city title to get their son an internship with a contractor of the city hall.
The report further alleged that the official tried to secure nearly $10 million in payments to the contractor, EKI-Digital, a firm run by Robert Rockwell Jr., a friend and donor to Barack Obama.
According to the report, Goodrich's son did an internship with EKI-Digital from June 2022 to May 2023, raising concerns that the internship was secured due to his father's position at City Hall.
The inspector general's report flagged concerns that the official “attempted to facilitate $9.6 million in payments to the contractor (EKI-Digital) to which the contractor was not entitled.”
A spokesperson for the current Mayor Brandon Johnson confirmed that the payments happened between March and April 2023 related to work "March and April 2023 that wasn’t part of his contract with the city’s Department of Technology and Innovation."
