Chicago Board of Ethics Chairman William Conlon said Monday he had no choice but to call out Ald. Nick Sposato (38th) for posting a picture of himself on Facebook dressed in firefighter’s gear in front of a city fire truck.

Sposato has blamed “commie, lefty loons” for accusing him of violating that portion of the city’s ethics ordinance prohibiting City Council members and citywide elected officials from using city property, equipment or gear for political purposes.

Conlon refused to comment on the source of the complaint that triggered the board’s investigation of Sposato and subsequent finding of probable cause that the former 18-year veteran Chicago firefighter may have violated the city’s ethics ordinance.

But Conlon defended the finding — first in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, then in a letter to Sposato that responded to the alderperson’s harshly worded letter to Conlon.

“We don’t go look at peoples’ social media sites. We don’t do that. We react to complaints. People can say the complaint is unfair. But it’s not our judgement to make. We get a complaint. We look at the issue. And if the issue violates the ordinance and our case law, we tell people about it,” Conlon said.

Sposato is free to put “anything he wants” on his official Facebook page, Twitter page or Instagram account. But Conlon said, “You can’tuse the city logo, the city seal or city equipment to promote yourself for election.”

Conlon said Sposato is free to try and Photoshop the picture of himself standing next to a fire truck. But that doctored photo is unlikely to be acceptable, under the city’s ethics ordinance

“You can photo-shop the insignia out and make the argument that nobody knows it’s a city fire truck. But, that’s really counter-intuitive, isn’t it? If I see a city fire truck, I know it’s a city fire truck. Not because I see the emblem on it. Because it’s a city fire truck,” the chairman said.

Sposato said he has no intention of playing games with Photoshop.

“I’m taking it down. I’m replacing I with a cartoon fire truck. Then, I’ll wait for my hearing to see if I can put it back up,” he said.

In his letter to Conlon, Sposato explained why the photo he’s been using since “as far back as my first campaign in 2011” was so important to him.

“This picture is personal history. A history of which I am very proud. I am proud to have served the people of the City of Chicago for 18 years. As a further matter of personal history, it was a time when I was strong and fit, before I was afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis that, today, deprives me of the use of my legs,” he wrote.

Conlon said Sposato has a right to be proud of the picture and of equally proud of his service to the city.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the Board of Ethics has no choice but to enforce the law.

“It’s an ordinance that the City Council passed. If they’re unhappy with this, let them amend the ordinance,” Conlon said.

Conlon categorically denied Sposato’s claim that the Ethics Board dragged the alderperson’s name “through the mud” by divulging the subject of an investigation whose name should have remained confidential.

“It was absolutely confidential. There was not one aspect of our work on this matter that wasn’t confidential,” the chairman said.

“The only person who broke the confidence on this was the alderman.”

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Shortly after he was hired as the Bears’ play-caller earlier this year, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy tried to explain how he’d craft his new team’s playbook during the offseason. He wasn’t going to think about a call sheet at first.

“I just have probably a different mindset of what that means … what you guys are trying to portray as the playbook,” he said in February. “We’re gonna establish a culture. We’re gonna have an offensive philosophy that we’re gonna have an approach that we’re gonna attack these guys — and teach them conceptually to start.”

That teaching takes its next major step Tuesday, when the Bears hold the first practice of a three-day voluntary minicamp at Halas Hall. By NFL rule, the camp is granted only to teams with new head coaches.

Like the other new bosses, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus needs extra field work to install the basics of his system. For quarterback Justin Fields, that means beginning to work on Getsy’s playbook–or philosophy or attack plan or whatever you want to call it –in a practice setting for the first time. For the last two weeks, only strength and conditioning coaches were allowed on the field with Bears players.

“When you say the word, ‘playbook,’ yes, there’s gonna be conceptual learning that’s gonna happen, that we’re gonna put together,” Getsy said after he was hired. “And then as we get into the players and get to know them and they get to know us and we figure out what we do well, then we’ll start diving into more specifically as you would say, ‘playbook’ type of plays.”

Getsy, whose scheme figures to be a combination of Mike Shanahan-inspired outside zone runs and Joe Moorhead-style vertical passing, has promised a “quarterback-driven offense.” While championships aren’t won in April, Fields’ first minicamp in the new system will be important nonetheless. At this time last year, the Ohio State quarterback was awaiting the NFL draft. Once the Bears chose him, it took months –until the week leading into the Bears’ third regular-season game — for Fields to be the centerpiece of a single offensive practice.

Now, everything is about Fields — starting with how the offense is structured, and even installed, this offseason.

The Bears believe Fields can make a major leap in Year 2. He’ll have to for the team to show any sort of offensive progress. New general manager Ryan Poles hasn’t surrounded Fields with any significant upgrades in skill position players.

Out are receivers Allen Robinson, Damiere Byrd, Marquise Goodwin and Jakeem Grant; running backs Damien Williams and Tarik Cohen; and tight ends Jimmy Graham and Jesse James.

To replace them, Poles signed receivers Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown to one-year deals. He’ll add more receivers via either this month’s draft or ongoing free agency, or both; the Bears have six under contract and will need almost twice as many to operate a functional training camp in the summer.

Monday, Poles signed former Jaguars tight end James O’Shaughnessy — an Illinois State and Naperville North alum –to a one-year deal. Poles was part of the Chiefs front office that drafted O’Shaughnessy in Round 5 seven years ago.

O’Shaughnessy, 30, appeared in seven games last year after being slowed by hip and ankle problems. He’s caught 112 passes for 1,108 yards in his NFL career, and figures to compete with Ryan Griffin –another tight end signed to a one-year deal this month — for the backup job behind Cole Kmet.

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An Englewood church that burned down on Good Friday caught fire a third time Monday afternoon.

“It is not unusual that fires this big rekindle,” Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, which was destroyed last week.

The fire re-ignited around 12:15 p.m. Monday at 63rd and Stewart, Merritt said.

No one was inside the church, which was already “pretty much destroyed,” Merritt said.

The church first caught fire Friday afternoon when a construction worker used a torch on the building’s roof. The cause of the fire was deemed accidental on Saturday, when the church briefly reignited a first time.

The congregation, which had used the building since 1958, held Easter Sunday services at a nearby funeral home.

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The Chicago Bears are doing their homework on a big position of need ahead of the 2022 NFL draft.

General Manager Ryan Poles and his staff continue to meet with prospects, hosting them for in-person visits and visits over Zoom. But on Monday, news broke that the Bears are meeting with one of the top receivers in this class.

Per multiple reports, Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks is in Chicago meeting with Bears brass at Halas Hall for a predraft visit. Burks is considered one of the top receivers in this class, ranking anywhere from WR3 to WR5 in the predraft process.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Burks does have a first-round grade on him going into this draft and should be a big target of teams looking to pick from lets say No. 15 on come the end of this month. But that hasn’t stopped the Bears from doing their homework on a prospect that is at a position of need.

Take a look at Burks’ scouting report via Lance Zierlein of NFL.com:

Big, smooth and natural, Burks possesses the versatility to operate from wherever you want and get to wherever you need no matter the competition. He’s a mismatch receiver combining size, strength and competitiveness similar to the Titans’ A.J. Brown, but his speed testing at the NFL Scouting Combine did not meet expectations. Arkansas benefitted by putting the ball in his hands from a variety of alignments and there is no reason to believe NFL play-callers won’t benefit from doing the same. The tape is extremely exciting with real NFL skills jumping off the screen, but his potential to become a high-volume, three-level target is a little more cloudy after a relatively disappointing showing at the combine.

That sounds like an ideal fit for a team that needs to give Justin Fields a weapon in their offense.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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