Former Inspector General Joe Ferguson is launching a new venture aimed at transforming, what he calls Chicago’s “19th Century machine patronage culture” into a new structure of government capable of solving modern problems. 

After a 12-year run as city watchdog, Ferguson resigned last fall to avoid being pushed out by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who had frozen out the IG she inherited, openly criticized him and made it clear he would not be reappointed.