February 8, 2015

Office of the Inspector General

Attn: Complaint Duty Investigator
740 N. Sedgwick, Suite 200
Chicago, Illinois 60654

To the Complaint Duty Investigator,

Please consider this letter a formal complaint against Ms. Ronda Locke, candidate for 1st Ward
Alderman, for violations of the City of Chicago's Governmental Ethics Ordinance. As set forth below,
Ms. Locke has violated the Ethics Ordinance by failing to disclose her close connection to a company
receiving contracts from the City of Chicago and by using City of Chicago property for campaign
purposes.
Ms. Locke has violated Section 2-516-150 and Section 2-516-160 of the Ethics Ordinance by
knowingly submitting a false Statement of Financial Interest. Ms. Locke's Statement of Financial
Interest correctly discloses that she works as a consultant for Christy Webber landscapes and receives
in excess of $25,000.00 per year in salary. However, the Statement fails to mention that Christy
Webber Landscapes signed a half-million dollar contract with the City of Chicago (contract No. 29162)
in December of 2013 to do work on the Kennedy expressway. Ms. Locke's consulting services for
Christy Webber Landscapes involved marketing and contract procurement. It defies belief that Ms.
Locke was not involved in the procurement of this contract or, at the very least, aware that her
employer had significant business with the City of Chicago.
Additionally, Ms. Locke violated the Ethics Ordinance on January 23rd of this year when she
sent campaign emails to City of Chicago employees at their work email addresses. These emails
invited City employees to get engaged in Ms. Locke's campaign and contained a link for donations.
This violates Section 2-156-425 which states that candidates may not intentionally solicit, accept,
offer or make contributions on city property. City emails servers are City property and attempting to
involve City employees, in their official capacity, in her campaign violates the Ethics Ordinance.
Moreover, the fact that Ms. Locke's campaign had these addresses in their database is, itself,
suspicious, and suggests that Ms. Locke may have used her previous position with the City of Chicago
to gain access to these addresses.
The ethical violations outlined above are not merely oversights or mistakes, but exhibit a blatant
disregard for the Ethics Ordinance which protects our elections process. For your convenience, you
will find a copy of Ms. Locke's Statement of Financial Interests and an email to a City of Chicago
email address enclosed. In the event that your office lacks jurisdiction over this matter, please
refer my Complaint to the appropriate investigative body.