Johnson staff – Mayor Brandon Johnson dismissed a City Hall inspector general finding tied to former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration, but reporting says two top aides at City Hall had ties to EKI-Digital, the consulting firm at the center of the hiring and contracting c
Chicago awoke to two parallel shocks on Tuesday: federal agents staged another chaotic detention effort in the city’s Albany Park neighborhood, and, at City Hall, questions resurfaced around a hiring and contracting scandal that the mayor said he had already put behind him.
Mayor Brandon Johnson dismissed the scandal that was the subject of an investigation by City Hall’s inspector general. In doing so. Johnson said the matter involved former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s “previous mayoral administration.” But the more recent reporting inside City Hall points to a more complicated picture—showing that two high-level Johnson aides had professional ties to EKI-Digital. the consulting company central to the controversy.
John Roberson. Johnson’s former chief operating officer. was linked to the decision to pay EKI $600. 000 in taxpayer money despite red flags about some of its municipal work. Roberson served as Johnson’s chief operating officer from about the time Johnson took office in May 2023 until July 2025. when he left to work for the Obama Foundation. Roberson’s LinkedIn profile lists him as “managing principal” for EKI in 2014 and 2015.
The comptroller’s connection is also described as part of the chain of events. Michael Belsky. Johnson’s current City Hall comptroller. worked for EKI when its deal was forged with Lightfoot top aide Paul W. Goodrich, and Goodrich’s son landed a paid internship with EKI. The reporting says Belsky was still working for the company. though apparently on his way out. when EKI was trying to collect nearly $10 million in what city officials say are questionable invoices submitted by the firm.
Taken together. the details place City Hall’s current leadership in the middle of the same consulting company now at the center of the dispute. Even as Johnson frames the scandal as belonging to Lightfoot’s prior administration. the documented ties—ranging from decisions involving EKI payments to employment history connected to Lightfoot-era officials—make it difficult to treat the issue as something purely left behind.
As that scrutiny continues. Johnson’s position has already been set: he has dismissed the inspector general’s investigation. characterizing it as tied to the “previous mayoral administration” under Lori Lightfoot. The reporting around Roberson and Belsky. however. ensures the controversy’s reach extends into the early years of Johnson’s own term. when EKI’s contract-related activity and subsequent invoice disputes are described as still unfolding.
Beyond City Hall, Tuesday also carried heavy federal enforcement activity. ICE agents chased and detained a man in Albany Park. crashed into a woman’s car. and threatened residents who gathered at the chaotic scene—an arrest that comes amid a continued federal effort to carry out arrests in the Chicago area.
And the fallout from that enforcement posture continues to follow individual cases. Debbie Brockman, a WGN staffer and U.S. citizen, filed a $10 million claim against the federal government after she was forcefully detained and released without charges in October.
Separately, Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros released an unorthodox five-page report Tuesday confirming he had contact with federal grand jurors last fall who then indicted the “Broadview Six” on the same day. The report arrived hours after Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth called for his resignation.
But for residents watching City Hall, the question that hangs over the mayor’s dismissal is straightforward: if the scandal belongs to the prior administration, why do two of Johnson’s top aides have ties to the consulting firm whose work and invoices remain under contention?
Chicago politics Brandon Johnson inspector general hiring and contracting scandal EKI-Digital John Roberson Michael Belsky City Hall Lori Lightfoot