Moore: Legislative IG Accusations 'Completely False'

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 23, 2013 2:15PM

Ald. Joe Moore (49th) revealed he had been questioned by FBI agents over claims he fired an employee for blowing the whistle on campaign work being done in his ward office and that the alleged whistleblower and another former staffer received severance packages to which they weren't entitled.

Moore. a self-styled reformer, called the allegations "completely false" and said Legislative Inspector General Faisal Khan's office had "run amok" in his investigation of the charges.

In a statement to WTTW, who first named Moore as the unnamed alderman in Khan's report, Moore said,

“The issues involved were personnel matters - not political ones,” Moore says. “The so-called staff overpayments….compensate those terminated employees for unused vacation days, uncompensated overtime, and to ease transitions to other employment during hard economic times. No political games were played with this money.”

Moore said he "has strict rules and procedures in place to prevent employees from doing political work on city time," claimed Khan never interviewed him nor responded to a request for clarification of his report. "This kind of unprofessionalism is precisely the reason I have asked my colleagues in the City Council to replace Attorney Khan with the office maintained by City Inspector General Joseph Ferguson," Moore added.

Read Khan's full report below, which also levies an accusation against Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) that he tried to tamper with a potential witness in a criminal investigation for the prosecution of a third party. Tunney allegedly called Taboo Tabou and the Alley owner Mark Thomas regarding Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Sarah Naughton, who allegedly bit a Taboo Tabou employee during a drunken escapade.

Chicago Legislative Inspector General Summer 2013 Report by Chicagoist