CHICAGO — A new city ordinance is going to better define the roles and duties of Mayor Emanuel's new Board of Ethics.
Moving to add teeth to a Board of Ethics renowned for its inactivity, Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed an entire new seven-member panel to enforce city ethics ordinances earlier this month. Yet critics, including Better Government Association President Andy Shaw, claimed that new blood alone wouldn't correct a wasteful and redundant system where both the board and the city's inspectors are charged with the same tasks.
"You end up with confusion about who is supposed to do what," said Emily Miller, the BGA's head of policy and government affairs. "You have agencies that are walking on each other's toes and not communicating and having turf battles, and that's not helpful."