close friend of Johnson\u2019s<\/a> before her appointment who worked as his legislative director when he was a county commissioner, marks the latest instance of a longtime Johnson associate leaving his administration amid controversy.<\/p>\nThough Hedspeth resigned, Johnson spokesperson Cassio Mendoza said the mayor followed the discipline recommendations given by the Department of Human Resources and planned to fire her. The recommendation was not visible in the heavily-redacted report.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe former commissioner resigned before she could be terminated,\u201d Mendoza wrote in a statement Tuesday morning. Hedspeth has been placed on the city\u2019s \u201cineligible for rehire\u201d list, he added.<\/p>\n
Hedspeth, who became commissioner in March 2024 after Johnson fired Mayor Lori Lightfoot-appointee Erin Harkey, oversaw high turnover in her department. Under her leadership, nearly 30 staffers, including seven top deputies, have been fired or resigned from the department that now has 58 employees, city records show.<\/p>\n
Records obtained by the Tribune in February showed a number of staffers accused her of bullying, while a letter signed by over 100 arts and culture industry workers in April expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d over her leadership.<\/p>\n
She also faced criticism earlier this year from several members of the Cultural Advisory Council, a board tasked with advising her department at the time that featured many Lightfoot appointees.<\/p>\n
Asked over the course of the year about the turnover, letter and complaints, Johnson repeatedly did not directly answer. He reaffirmed his commitment to the arts while declining to discuss Hedspeth\u2019s leadership as she remained in the position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t discuss personnel issues. I believe everybody knows that,\u201d he said during an August press conference when asked about criticism Hedspeth faced.<\/p>\n
The August remark was the latest use of the common refrain for the mayor, who has struggled to manage internal staff complaints throughout his term, many of them centering on top advisers and appointees.<\/p>\n
Ronnie Reese, Johnson\u2019s former communications chief, was fired a little over a year ago after facing harassment complaints, which he has denied. The mayor has said he didn\u2019t know about the allegations at the time.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas took heat for how she responded to staffers who reported Reese\u2019s behavior, including by allegedly suggesting \u201cpeace circles\u201d with him, records show. Reese had kept his job for months even after a city human resources investigator notified Pacione-Zayas of the formal complaints about Reese\u2019s alleged behavior.<\/p>\n
Reese, like Hedspeth, was placed on the Do Not Hire list after leaving City Hall.<\/p>\n
And the mayor last month rejected a recommendation from the Office of the Inspector General to fire senior advisor Jason Lee for failing to cooperate with an investigation into City Hall\u2019s handling of a negotiation with an alderman. Lee also faced complaints over mistreatment of staffers during the first year of Johnson\u2019s term.<\/p>\n
The mayor has largely dodged questions about such allegations. This February, the same month Hedspeth\u2019s most recent HR complaint was first made, the mayor was asked if he was aware of the earlier allegations of bullying and whether they warrant action she faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t discuss personnel issues,\u201d the he replied.<\/p>\n
Hedspeth, who previously worked as an art appraiser and museum curator, argued in a May Tribune interview that she walked into a \u201chostile situation\u201d after Johnson fired Harkey and touted her efforts to increase funding for direct grants to artists.<\/p>\n
In a statement shared with the Tribune Tuesday, Hedspeth\u2019s attorney, John Sciaccotta, said the allegations in the most recent report \u201cwere raised under circumstances that warrant a more intense and thoughtful review.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sciaccotta criticized the city for not allowing Hedspeth to review the statements investigators said she made, calling such review \u201ca right protected by law and standard procedure\u201d for the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, Ms. Hedspeth\u2019s statement in the report contains inaccuracies and omissions,\u201d Sciaccotta wrote. \u201cMs. Hedspeth remains confident that the full and accurate facts will ultimately come to light through the appropriate legal process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hedspeth pinned the complaints on \u201ca disgruntled City employee,\u201d the report shows.<\/p>\n
The 17-page report, first reported Monday evening by NBC 5 Chicago, included several allegations against Hedspeth that investigators ultimately determined violated the city\u2019s anti-discrimination policies.<\/p>\n
In one allegation, an employee said Hedspeth directed her to \u201cput on a thick accent\u201d and \u201cwear traditional cultural clothes\u201d during a City Council hearing. Several witnesses told investigators they heard the comment. Some, including Hedspeth, described it as a joke. Hedspeth also said she had been friends with the employee before they worked together at the department, according to the report.<\/p>\n
Hedspeth was also accused of telling a colleague that an employee she wanted to fire, apparently a person of color, \u201cshould go back to [a redacted location].\u201d Hedspeth told investigators she did not recall making the comment, according to the report.<\/p>\n
In an age-related allegation, the commissioner was accused of urging an employee to dye her gray hair to look younger. Hedspeth told investigators that if she had made the comment, \u201cit would have to be in a joking manner.\u201d An employee also accused Hedspeth of asking questions about their partner\u2019s sexuality and disregarding a staffer\u2019s pronouns.<\/p>\n
And in another heavily-redacted allegation, an employee said Hedspeth asked if the employee would have an affair with a married man who gave the employee an allowance and asked about the employee\u2019s sex life. Hedspeth told investigators the conversations about personal life took place before the complainant became a city employee.<\/p>\n
The report said Hedspeth declined to answer further questions after sitting for two 2.5-hour interviews. Investigators planned to ask her more questions about \u201cdisability discrimination, disability harassment and retaliation allegations\u201d and determined the former commissioner failed to cooperate, the report said.<\/p>\n
The report said Hedsepth and her attorney complained that she was not given due process because she was not given written descriptions of the allegations she faced, other witnesses were not interviewed and her counsel was not able to interview complainants.<\/p>\n
Complying with Hedspeth\u2019s request to interview complainants would \u201ccreate a chilling effect\u201d and \u201copen employees up to retaliation,\u201d the Department of Human Resources wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s arts and culture leader resigned amid an investigation into allegations that she harassed staff, records…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":355681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5404,5386,1818,1370,50,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-355680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-cook-county","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115493052357689520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}