Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to look good while his city burns around him.
According to election board records, Johnson spent $30,000 on hair and makeup during his first year in office.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the majority of the money went to makeup artist and self-described “skincare enthusiast” Denise Milloy’s Makeup Majic. The business is based in a home on the city’s South Side, and records show that more than 30 payments were reported to her in 2023 and 2024.
While a campaign spokesman asserted that “Hair and makeup services are commonplace among high-ranking public officials,” Johnson appears to spend more than other elected officials.
Johnson’s predecessor Lori Lightfoot paid an Evanston business about $2,000 total for “event-makeup services” listed under four expenditures last year in her campaign filings.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle paid $217 to a South Side woman in 2019 for makeup, she reported.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign fund, which he largely underwrites through his own personal fortune, has made 11 payments totaling $6,000 to a South Side beauty salon between 2018 and 2022 for “hair and makeup” for “events like TV shoots,” according to records and interviews.
Paul Vallas, who lost to Johnson in last year’s mayoral election, didn’t provide any details for hundreds of campaign expenditures beyond saying they were for “services.” But Vallas says he doesn’t think he spent anything on hair or makeup through his campaign, noting that he’s bald: “I’d like to take credit for being frugal, but nature took care of that.”
BREAKING: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Spent Over $30K In Campaign Funds On Hair, Makeup In One Year.
Johnson’s campaign saying that “he’s mayor 24-7” and that “appearances matter.”
There are some people in Chicago who even don’t make $30 a year!
I hope Chicago residents… pic.twitter.com/Cu6W9L46TH
— I Meme Therefore I Am (@ImMeme0) June 8, 2024
Does the mayor think about what is happening to his city while he is getting pampered? Like the 41 shootings and 9 fatalities that happened over Memorial Day weekend, according to the Chicago Police Department.
Or the mother who lost her unborn child after being attacked by teens screaming, “We own the street!”
Is he pondering the recent Chicago’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) report warning that the city and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) are unprepared for the protestors who will descend on the city for the Democratic National Convention in August?
Or is he just making sure he looks camera-ready?
