When Mayor Lori Lightfoot hired her friend Paul Goodrich as City Hall’s chief operating officer in 2021, she hailed his fiscal experience. She called him a “seasoned business and operations executive,” noting that he had worked for three prominent banks.
City Hall didn’t reveal, though, that Goodrich had financial problems that had seen him face three liens by the Internal Revenue Service for more than $90,000 in unpaid income taxes.
Lightfoot won’t talk about whether she knew of Goodrich’s financial issues, though he went through what sources have told the Chicago Sun-Times was a thorough vetting process prior to his hiring.
After a year on the job, Goodrich helped his college-age son land a paid internship with a city contractor, Robert Blackwell Jr., who sought Goodrich’s help to secure $9.6 million in additional information technology work from City Hall — a hiring and contracting scandal that came to light this spring, three years after Lightfoot and Goodrich left the city payroll.
Goodrich’s relationship with Blackwell surfaced internally a few weeks after Lightfoot lost her re-election bid in 2023, when Blackwell submitted a stack of invoices for a total of $9.6 million. Lightfoot and other staff members refused to pay, saying City Hall never approved the work. That sparked an investigation by City Hall’s Office of the Inspector General.
Blackwell’s unpaid bills fell to Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose staff determined Blackwell should be paid just $600,000 under his existing city contract. Johnson’s staff is now seeking to ban his company, EKI-Digital, from getting any more city contracts. That came at the recommendation of then-Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, who concluded that: “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.”
Asked about Goodrich’s hiring, a spokeswoman for Lightfoot says: “The Lightfoot administration relied upon information provided by the rigorous vetting process performed by the city’s Department of Human Resources. The guidance of that department was followed in the case of Mr. Goodrich as well as all other hires. This hire took place multiple years ago, and Mayor Lightfoot has no recollection of any red flags being raised regarding this vet.”
Represented by attorney Mara Georges, a former top City Hall lawyer, Blackwell is fighting Johnson’s proposed ban. That could lead to a hearing at which sources say it’s possible that Goodrich would be among current and former city officials called to testify.
“News to me,” says Goodrich.
He says there wasn’t any link between his son’s landing the internship and him helping Blackwell get more city work.
“There was never any kind of quid pro quo,” Goodrich says.
“I was dealing with him [Blackwell] because he was helping me’’ upgrade the city’s IT systems, Goodrich says. “My recollection is this kind of bubbled up after Mayor Lightfoot lost her election.“
Goodrich, 60, says he did nothing wrong, pointing out that the city’s Board of Ethics closed a case in May without filing charges against him or Blackwell.
But the ethics board did find that Goodrich “committed three minor violations of the [ethics] ordinance by using their city email to communicate about their child. The former employee shall receive a confidential letter of admonition from the board regarding the minor violations.”
Goodrich was working for National City Bank in 2006 when he was appointed to the board of directors of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, a position he still holds. Lightfoot’s wife Amy Eshleman joined the theater’s board in 2017, and she and Goodrich have become friends over the years.
“I never really had very much interaction with the mayor,” Goodrich says. “I certainly got to know [Lightfoot]. I’d say the relationship was acquaintances, maybe friends. I’d say it’s pretty icy now, as you could imagine.”
When Lightfoot decided to run for mayor in May 2018, sources say Goodrich volunteered to work for her campaign.
Lightfoot won and took office in May 2019.
Two months later, Goodrich landed a $150,000-a-year consulting contract with Choose Chicago, the city of Chicago’s convention and tourism bureau.
Lightfoot had nothing to do with the consulting gig, according to Goodrich, noting that he was hired by David Whitaker, Choose Chicago’s then-executive director.
Goodrich left the consulting job in May 2021. That’s when Lightfoot hired him as her chief operating officer at City Hall, at a yearly salary of $180,000.
“The vetting process is very thorough so everything is on the table,” Goodrich says. “There were no red flags at all.”
City officials didn’t provide documents about Goodrich’s money woes. But public records show Goodrich and his wife Valerie, a doctor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, have had some financial troubles over the past 18 years — records that the Lightfoot administration also could have found and known about when Goodrich was hired. Among the financial issues, records show:
March 13, 2008 — A contractor placed a $14,000 lien against the couple’s Lake View home following a $422,000 remodeling project. The lien apparently has never been repaid.
June 12, 2014 — The IRS filed a lien against the Goodriches, saying the couple owed more than $28,169 in income taxes from 2010. The IRS removed the lien in May 2016. Goodrich says the unpaid taxes were related to “the granting and exercising of stock options” while he was working for Bank of America.
Feb. 7, 2017 — The IRS filed a second lien against the Goodriches, for $29,014 in income taxes they owed from 2012. The lien was removed in March 2018.
Nov. 1, 2018 — The IRS filed a third lien against the couple, seeking $33,443 in income taxes from 2015. The IRS removed the lien on June 2, 2021, eight days after Goodrich became Lightfoot’s chief operating officer.
March 13, 2023 — With Goodrich soon to be out of a job after Lightfoot lost her re-election bid, Bank of America sued his wife over a debt of $9,891 on a credit card. It was repaid last September.
Aug. 10, 2023 — Less than three months after Goodrich left the city payroll, his wife was sued over another credit-card debt, for $2,392. The company has a court order seeking payment from her employer, the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Aug. 13, 2024 — Chase sued to foreclose on the couple’s home. The case was dismissed last July, though, after the couple missed more payments, a second foreclosure suit was filed in February.
Even with those debts, Goodrich says that, over the past 20 years, he and his wife have made donations to Steppenwolf totaling at least $50,000.