Facing ethics questions, city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin pauses Congress bid

With an ethics cloud hanging over her, city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin postponed the kickoff of her Democratic primary bid to replace U.S. Rep. Danny Davis.

After months of playing coy over whether she was going to run for the 7th Congressional District seat, Conyears-Ervin and her campaign had set the launch date for her bid as Sept. 10 at the JLM Center, 2622 W. Jackson Blvd.

A note sent to supporters announcing the postponement on Friday afternoon stated it was “due to a scheduling conflict.”

However, a source in the Conyears-Ervin campaign said the decision to not hold the Sunday event was made because it would have been held on the day before a Monday Board of Ethics hearing over a series of allegations about the operation of her office. Those allegations were first reported in the Chicago Tribune.

The allegations include questions about whether Conyears-Ervin asked staff to run personal errands and whether she leaned on a bank to issue a mortgage for the building housing the aldermanic office of her husband, Ald. Jason Ervin (28th). There are also questions about why the treasurer’s office made a $100,000 confidential settlement with employees.

Ervin’s aldermanic office address is also at 2622 W. Jackson Blvd., according to his website.

Though the campaign was knocked off track with the ethics allegations, it’s not clear if the damage is enough for Conyears-Ervin to abandon her bid for Davis’ seat. Her campaign said she is still collecting signatures on her nominating petitions.

Ald. Ervin chairs the City Council’s Budget Committee as well as the Black Caucus.

Neither Ervin could be reached for comment.

The Ervins supported County Board President Toni Preckwinkle over Lori Lightfoot in the 2019 mayoral race, only to become two of Lightfoot’s most outspoken political allies.

After making their political peace with Lightfoot, the mayor signed off on the $100,000 settlement with the fired treasurer’s office employees and fought to keep secret a letter from those fired employees outlining the alleged ethics violations against the city treasurer.

Mayor Brandon Johnson released the letter recently in response to repeated requests from the Chicago Tribune.

In April, Conyears-Ervin launched an exploratory committee, saying she would run for Congress only if Davis retires.

However, Conyears-Ervin, a 47-year-old Garfield Park resident, continued to raise money and organize a campaign event after Davis, 82 and a resident of South Austin, announced he would seek his 15th term in 2024.

In the heavily Democratic 7th Congressional District, winning the primary is tantamount to clinching the seat.

Petitions must be filed by Dec. 4. Other candidates in the March 19 primary are:

Kina Collins, 32, from Austin, making her third try for the seat. She is executive director of the Democratizing Philanthropy Project.

Kouri Marshall, 41, a West Loop resident and director of the State and Local Public Policy Central Region for the Chamber of Progress. The organization describes itself as “an industry coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.”

Kip Knutson, 23, a River North resident who owns a mattress store.

Nikhil Bhatia, 35, a resident of East Pilsen, and a seventh grade math teacher at Gary Comer College Prep, a charter school. He is also a member of the local school council for Galileo Scholastic Academy.

The congressional district runs west from parts of Chicago’s downtown to the western suburbs, including Maywood and Oak Park, with a leg on the near South Side, taking in parts of Bronzeville and Washington Park.

Politically, it is rooted on the West Side, where Davis had served as an alderperson from 1979 to 1990 and as a Cook County commissioner from 1990 until joining Congress. He was first elected to U.S. House of Representatives in 1996.