CHICAGO — An embattled Northwest Side alderman could face fines after he directed city employees to issue “unfounded citations” to one of his critics in 2019, according to a city watchdog report.
Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th) went after vocal rival Pete Czosnyka for his online criticisms by slapping Czosnyka with a $600 fine for overgrown weeds and rodents in the Jefferson Park resident’s garden with help from two former ward superintendents, according to Czosnyka, the report and text messages previously shared with Block Club about the incident.
The Office of Inspector General said Gardiner moved to retaliate against Czosnyka
“even after being informed that plants at the critic’s property were legal,” according to the report.
Gardiner violated the Governmental Ethics Ordinance by using city employees and resources to penalize a political critic, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg wrote.
The ethics board voted unanimously at its meeting earlier this week to find probable cause the alderman violated the ordinance. Gardiner will now have the chance to meet with the ethics board to respond and contest the findings, Witzburg wrote in the report sent to the mayor and City Council.
The investigation results mark the “first-ever finding of probable cause in an OIG Ethics investigation of a sitting member of City Council member,” Witzburg wrote.
“We are paying down the deficit of legitimacy at which the City operates by ensuring that people who break the rules are held accountable, regardless of their positions,” Witzburg wrote.
Gardiner was not named in the report, per the oversight office’s rules, but sources confirmed to Block Club the alderman is the subject of the report.
Gardiner did not respond to requests for comment.
Czosnyka said he met with the inspector general’s office about its investigation into Gardiner in late 2021.
“I hope this shows people that working to hold your government officials accountable may take time, may not always succeed, but is worth the effort,” Czosnyka said Friday.
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After he was slapped with the city fines, Czosnyka appealed and told an administrative hearing judge his “weeds” were actually maintained plants. The judge ruled in his favor, making him the only Chicago gardener to win such a case against the city.
Czosnyka’s criticisms of Gardiner are rampant on social media, which has led supporters of the alderman to target him as well, he said. In 2021, a woman was accused of threatening his family and driving over their garden, causing at least $500 in damage. The woman was arrested and charged but acquitted for the incident despite backlash about how the inquiry was handled.
The investigation into the retaliatory ticketing is just one of several probes into Gardiner’s behavior since the alderman, who was reelected this year, took office in 2019.
The FBI is investigating Gardiner over bribery and pay-to-play allegations, and three lawsuits have been filed against him. He’s also been accused of retaliating against other critics.
The Chicago Board of Ethics found in 2021 that there was probable cause Gardiner violated more anti-retaliation laws and was suspected of “withholding city services” to a political opponent and leaking a constituent’s criminal records as a political cudgel.
That constituent was James Suh, a plaintiff in two lawsuits against the alderman who unsuccessfully ran against him earlier this year.