At its January 13, 2020 meeting, the Board determined that an alderman violated the Ethics Ordinance’s “Improper Influence” provision, §2-156-030(b), by writing a letter to another City official in a matter involving a client of his law firm within 12 months of when the law firm represented this client and by failing to conduct proper due diligence to discover the potential conflict.  The Board imposed the maximum fine of $2,000 for this violation. That Board also dismissed another matter involving this alderman, who rebutted the Board’s probable cause finding by showing that he had not been present in City Council for a vote in a matter involving his client, and had the official record to reflect this. See the summaries of Case Nos. 19030.1.C and 19030.C.2 in this ongoing summary document of Board-initiated enforcement actions.