Ex-Mayor Lori Lightfoot's chief operating officer is at the center of City Hall intern, contracting scandal

When Lori Lightfoot was Chicago’s mayor, City Hall put out a press release in 2021 touting the hiring of Paul Goodrich as her new chief operating officer, a multi-faceted role involving “the oversight, development and implementation of strategic mayoral initiatives and policy priorities for Chicago’s infrastructure, transportation, regulatory and municipal administrative services.”

Lightfoot was quoted in the media statement as saying: "For years, Paul dedicated his career to making businesses and organizations work more efficiently.”

Five years later, Goodrich is referenced in another city document in less-flattering circumstances — as someone who allegedly used his position as a top city official under Lightfoot to secretly get his son a paid internship with a city contractor, and then tried to get that contractor nearly $10 million more in payments from taxpayers that the company may not have been entitled to.

This was all laid out in a report released last week by City Hall’s in-house watchdog, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, but without specific names and titles.

The Chicago Sun-Times has since confirmed from sources that Goodrich is the city official referenced in the document — and the city contractor is a company run by Chicago businessman Robert Blackwell Jr., who’s been a friend and campaign contributor to former President Barack Obama.

Witzburg declined to comment. Goodrich and Blackwell didn’t responded to requests for comment.

The revelations have not only proved embarrassing for Lightfoot, who always framed herself as a reformer, but also her successor, Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Blackwell’s firm, EKI-Digital, has remained a city contractor under Johnson. Records show the company has worked for City Hall since the early 2000s when Mayor Richard M. Daley was in office.

A spokesperson for Johnson said that Goodrich directed Blackwell’s company to perform work in March and April 2023 that wasn’t part of his contract with the city’s Department of Technology and Innovation.

To avoid costly litigation, the city entered into a settlement agreement with Blackwell, the spokesperson said. He added, “Consequently, the Johnson administration implemented new policies to prevent vendors from performing non-contracted work.’’

City Hall has continued paying EKI for consulting services it has done under a separate contract with the technology department.

Last week, Johnson pointed a finger squarely back at Lightfoot, saying the problems involved a “previous mayoral administration,” while a spokesperson for Lightfoot said she “had not been previously made aware of this investigation, and has not received any communication” from the inspector general’s office.

“The allegations in question must be treated with the utmost seriousness.”

Goodrich’s son’s LinkedIn page states he was an intern with EKI-Digital from June 2022 to May 2023, the month Johnson was sworn in after handily defeating Lightfoot in her reelection effort.

Goodrich is on the board of Steppenwolf — one of Chicago’s premier theater ensembles whose actors have included Gary Sinise, John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf and Martha Plimpton — along with Lightfoot’s wife Amy Eshleman.

Prior to joining Lightfoot’s staff as the chief operating officer, Goodrich spent two years as a senior business adviser to Choose Chicago, the city’s convention and tourism bureau.

Witzburg would not say whether she referred the case to federal authorities. Her report said her office’s investigation determined that “a former senior staff member in the Mayor’s Office used their City title and its authority to solicit a job for their child from the president of a City contractor.”

“The president of the City contractor hired the senior staff member’s child for a paid internship reporting directly to the president. While their child worked for the contractor, the senior staff member attempted to increase the scope of the contractor’s work for the City, allowed the contractor to perform unauthorized work for the City, and attempted to facilitate $9.6 million in payments to the contractor to which the contractor was not entitled.”

The inspector general’s office also “found that the $9.6 million in invoices the contractor submitted to the City contained false claims and intentional and negligent billing irregularities, and the invoices failed to comply with City procurement procedures. OIG’s investigation revealed that the senior staff member and the president of the contractor had communicated with [City Hall’s law department] regarding the invoices.”

On Witzburg’s advice, the mayor’s spokesperson said the procurement services department has “initiated disbarment proceedings” that could preclude Blackwell from landing any more work from the city.

Another Blackwell business, Killerspin LLC, donated $80,000 to a campaign fund benefiting Lightfoot in 2022, records show.