Financial troubles have dogged former Lightfoot aide at center of City Hall hiring, contracting scandal

Former City Hall chief operating officer Paul Goodrich had unpaid IRS tax liens exceeding $90,000 when hired by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2021. His son later secured a paid internship with contractor Robert Blackwell Jr., who submitted $9.6 million in disputed invoices for unauthorized IT work, leading to an investigation. Current Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration reduced the payment to $600,000 and seeks to ban Blackwell’s company EKI-Digital from city contracts.