Chicago’s progressive Mayor Brandon Johnson has reportedly spent an astonishing $30,000 of his campaign money on grooming since launching his campaign.
Johnson used money donated by supporters to the Friends of Brandon Johnson campaign fund to pay for makeup and hair appointments. The Chicago Sun-Times.
Nearly all of the money went to Denise Milloy, a makeup artist and “skin care enthusiast” who runs Makeup Magic out of her South Side home, according to campaign finance reports.
He has made more than 30 payments to the company between 2023 and 2024.
Before he was elected in April 2023, the payments were listed as “make-up for candidate television appearances” or “make-up fees,” but after he became mayor, the make-up fees were only vaguely listed as “event expenses,” according to the paper.
Milloy told the Sun-Times he “cannot speak” about his work or funding from Johnson’s campaign.
A spokesman for Johnson’s campaign previously boasted that the majority of the mayor’s campaign funds come from “working class people” and labor unions, who are funneling money into his progressive campaign.
“The Mayor is not spending taxpayer money to prepare for the many public appearances and events he attends each day,” Johnson campaign adviser Bill Neidhart said in a written statement.
“Instead, I’m using my campaign funds to pay fair wages to Black- and women-owned businesses who worked hard to arrange public appearances for the mayor and his campaign staff, events, media appearances and other opportunities,” he said.
Neidbird also noted that “hair and makeup services are commonplace among senior government officials.”
But Johnson appears to be spending more than other prominent local leaders, including his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, who, according to the Sun-Times, made four payments totaling about $2,000 to an Evanston company for “event makeup services” when filing campaign paperwork last year.
Among the payments listed in the expenditure report is one in which the Johnson campaign paid $4,000 on March 27 to Anthony Jones Salon in Palatine, Illinois, for an “event expense.”
Anthony Jones, owner of Anthony Jones Salon, told the paper he never received any money or worked with the Johnson campaign.
Neidhart said the report was a mistake: He provided the company’s name to a contractor who prepared campaign finance reports for disclosure documents to the Illinois State Board of Elections, but “the contractor filled them in incorrectly,” he said.
The report should have listed AJ Styles Barber & Beauty Salon on the West Side as the establishment that received the payment, but he said the payment was for “hair and makeup” and related to “multiple events.”
Neidhart said he plans to amend the application to reflect that.
Johnson, a former Cook County commissioner, and moderate Democratic candidate Paul Vallas both defeated incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot in February 2023, but neither reached the 50% of the vote needed. Johnson then defeated Vallas in a runoff election in April.
Lightfoot’s reelection bid was a failure. Crime Increase During her tenure in Chicago.
