Friends of – Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign is preparing to return a $250 contribution from IT consultant Robert Blackwell Jr., whose firm has been criticized by Chicago’s inspector general over alleged billing problems and ethics concerns tied to City Hall work. The ref
When Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign took in a $250 donation dated March 31. 2025. from IT consultant Robert Blackwell Jr. it was supposed to be the kind of contribution that would never survive long once the details surfaced. The money was tied to a business that has done substantial work for Chicago government—work now under a harsh spotlight from the city’s inspector general.
Friends of Brandon Johnson is preparing to return the contribution. but the case comes with a twist: Blackwell and his company. EKI-Digital. are the subject of an inspector general report that questions whether the firm overbilled taxpayers and whether it completed all of the tasks it invoiced for. The report, released publicly in April, followed an investigation that began in June 2023, and it wrapped up last fall.
The timing of that investigation matters in Chicago’s political math. It started less than a month after Johnson took office following his victory over Lori Lightfoot in the primary and then over Paul Vallas in the runoff.
Blackwell runs an IT consulting company called EKI-Digital, and he gave Johnson’s campaign the $250 donation once, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records. The contribution appears to be the first and only donation Blackwell has made to Johnson.
Blackwell’s spokesman did not provide context for the contribution, saying only that it was made in error. “Robert requested a refund as soon as he became aware of it” after questions from a reporter, and “the campaign said they would issue the refund.”
That promise lands on a backdrop of rules City Hall has been struggling to follow. Under ethics rules, campaign contributions from people doing business with the mayor are prohibited. An executive order signed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2011 bans “City contractors. owners of City contractors. spouses or domestic partners of owners of City Contractors. subcontractors to a City contractor on a City contract. owners of subcontractors to a City Contractor on a City contract. and spouses or domestic partners of owners of subcontractors to a City contractor on a City contract from making Contributions of any amount to the mayor.”.
A spokesman for Johnson’s campaign said there had been a conversation with Blackwell or his people, and that Johnson’s fund soon would issue a refund.
The inspector general report described not just billing disputes. but a potential ethics breach tied to a wave of technology work EKI was given years earlier. It found that amid a flurry of new technology work EKI received by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s chief operating officer Paul Goodrich several years ago. Blackwell hired Goodrich’s young adult son for a paid internship. Investigators said that could constitute a serious ethical breach.
In the meantime, EKI’s financial relationship with City Hall stretches far beyond the size of this donation. While EKI work at the heart of the inspector general report was done during Lightfoot’s tenure. the Johnson administration approved a revised contract in the middle of 2023. City records show that deal set a cap of $105 million in payments and was set to run until 2027 for “information technology consulting and related services for various scope categories.”.
The executive order also spells out what happens if contractor-linked contributions violate the ethics rules: a “penalty” that includes the city’s ability to terminate contracts and reject bids and other work proposals.
But the issue for Johnson’s campaign is not just whether the donation was returned. It’s how the mayor’s political operation and City Hall’s contracting decisions have moved in lockstep with an ethics rule that has been repeatedly stress-tested.
The inspector general’s report recommended that the company—now called Quant16—be forever banned from city business. Yet Johnson’s administration has allowed EKI/Quant16 to continue performing other work, according to the reporting.
Two top Johnson aides have had ties to the company. and one of them oversaw a subsequent inquiry into the billing and the decision to pay EKI $600. 000 of the $9.6 million invoiced. The inspector general report itself raised questions about whether EKI overbilled taxpayers and whether it completed all $9.6 million in tasks it invoiced for.
Blackwell has denied wrongdoing. Through his spokesman, he said all work billed was performed and that EKI has provided documentation to city officials showing that.
That dispute sits inside a broader pattern of how Johnson’s political team handles contributions. Friends of Brandon Johnson has accepted and then. after questions or embarrassment surfaced. returned contributions in recent years from companies or executives with city business involving janitorial. engineering. construction and equipment leasing services.
The campaign’s contractor-linked refunds come even while union money—millions of dollars—has continued to flow in a way that remains legal under current rules. Friends of Brandon Johnson has accepted millions from labor unions that negotiate with Johnson’s administration over collective bargaining. Johnson has declined to say whether those types of union donations should be banned, along the lines of contractor contributions.
Most recently, Johnson’s campaign accepted two contributions totaling $5,000 from Teamsters Local 743, which represents a handful of city-employed nurses. Local 743 leader Debra Simmons-Peterson said any donations to Johnson have “nothing to do with my contract … I don’t operate like that.”
For Johnson’s campaign, the $250 contribution from Blackwell Jr. may be small enough to feel inconsequential on its face. But the facts around it—an inspector general report questioning billing and ethics. a history of contractor-linked contributions being returned. and a contract relationship that continued even as a permanent ban was urged—make it the kind of case that doesn’t go away just because the dollar amount does.
Brandon Johnson Friends of Brandon Johnson Robert Blackwell Jr. EKI-Digital Quant16 Chicago inspector general campaign contribution ethics rules Rahm Emanuel executive order Paul Goodrich Lori Lightfoot Teamsters Local 743 Illinois State Board of Elections