Elgin mayor, councilman at odds over proposed ban on lobbying

Debate over an ethics ordinance that bans lobbying by Elgin City Council members will begin anew after Mayor David Kaptain pledged this week to push it forward before next year's municipal election.

Kaptain first announced his idea for an ethics ordinance at a state of the city address in February. It came on the heels of Chicago aldermen passing their own ban, in December, on members of their council or city employees lobbying state, county or any or units of government or receiving any compensation from lobbying.

Kaptain said the Elgin City Council is putting a lot of attention into police reform. Elected officials should set an example that they also are not above acting with ethics.

"Tied into that ethics ordinance are a number of things that will influence how people campaign, where they get their funding from, how they vote if they get elected," Kaptain said. "Those things are important for us to get out there or at least make a decision about."

Councilman Baldemar Lopez, who is a registered lobbyist, didn't react to Kaptain's announcement during the council meeting this week. But in an interview Thursday he said he feels unfairly targeted by the mayor's push. Lopez represents one of four council seats on the ballot in 2021.

"I'm not embarrassed about the work I do," Lopez said. "I've always done everything above board. This move by the mayor is really unfortunate. But I feel I've got to keep moving forward and just doing the best for my community."

WBEZ reported Lopez is a partner in an Elgin-based consulting firm known as Stratagem. Lopez' partner in that firm, Chicago Alderman Gilbert Villegas Jr., told WBEZ that Lopez did lobbying work for ComEd in Springfield. ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine after a federal criminal probe resulted in bribery charges for people connected to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. Madigan has denied any wrongdoing.