Mayor Emanuel announced an Ethics Reform Task Force website on Jan 12 but it appears not to be working

According to a Jan. 12, news release from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a new online forum launched to encourage public input. As part of the Ethics Reform Task Force work, it is to provide an interactive forum for all residents to contribute their ideas and give feedback on how best to improve ethics rules governing City government. As stated by the Mayor, "This website will assist the Ethics Reform Task Force to assess the current ordinance, consider best practices across the nation, and make recommendations to ensure appropriate oversight of government activity."

Considering that the ward redistricting process that culminated in a City Council vote on Jan. 19 has a lot of residents mumbling to shouting about "Chicago politics as usual," "Emanuel is just another Daley," "How can there ever be a real clean up of corruption in this City," etc., I went to the site, hopeful.

Repeated attempts to go through the site using a couple of different browsers produced a lot of failures. Generally they read: "PAGE NOT FOUND  We're sorry! The page you are looking for on the City of Chicago website is no longer available or cannot be found. Our support staff has been notified and will investigate the issue for this page."

A four-month deadline has been given to the task form to recommend reforms to the ethics ordinance that govern conflicts of interest among City officials and employees.

As stated by the Mayor's office, "The City has strengthened procurement disclosure requirements by closing the revolving door between government service and lobbying, reining in no-bid contracts and increasing transparency in procurement; created an online database of lobbying activity, seated a Legislative Inspector General, and placed an unprecedented amount of data online in an easy-to-access format."

City Council members were notified by the Task Force of their plans to offer council members and Chicagoans various opportunities to take part in the process of their project. It is to include hosting public meetings, interviewing key experts and civic leaders and appearing before the Council's Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics.

"Over the next three months, we hope that the public will join in our efforts and share their thoughts and suggestions on continuing to strengthen ethics in Chicago government and ensuring that our city is responsive, honest and open to our residents," said Cynthia Canary, the Task Force Chair.

Considering the Task Force's members, it seems well qualified to do the task. As announced in early December, Cynthia Canary, the founder of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, is its chair. Other members include Sergio Acosta, a partner in the Chicago office of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP and a member of the firm's White Collar Crime Group; Alderman Will Burns, first term 4th Ward Alderman, former State Rep and Obama protégé; and Dawn Clark Netsch, on the faculty of her alma mater Northwestern University, involved in many Democratic political campaigns and offices and served as Illinois Comptroller. The Task Force is staffed by a pro bono team of senior attorneys from the law firm Jones Day through the Civic Consulting Alliance.

So, I for one, will remain hopeful that all of you can use the site to tell the Task Force what you think about improving ethics in the governance of Chicago. What about you?