Invoices and receipts from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration have raised new questions on extravagant spending as town faces a virtually billion greenback funds shortfall.
“The invoices and receipts, obtained by NBC 5 Investigates through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, show that work order requests began in February and continued through August of this year to renovate and redecorate Room 306 in the Chicago Cultural Center,” the report mentioned.
Electricians, carpenters and painters on town’s payroll had been contracted for the work, in line with an bill from town’s Fleet and Facility Administration division, additionally referred to as 2FM, NBC 5 reported. The employees accrued greater than 350 hours of labor at a price of over $25,000.
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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s workplace is dealing with scrutiny after town spent $80,000 on renovations to first woman Johnson’s workplace. (AP Photograph/Charles Rex Arbogast)
One other bill reportedly exhibits town paid greater than $43,000 for furnishings, together with a $2,200 workplace chair and a $4,400 desk labeled the “First Lady’s Desk” on the doc. The town spent one other $4,600 on a desk for a staffer and greater than $8,300 on two membership chairs, in line with the outlet.
The bill was dated Aug. 13, with a Sept. 12 due date, NBC 5 reported.
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Underneath Johnson’s administration, Chicago faces a virtually $1 billion funds shortfall in 2025. (Vincent Alban/Getty Photos)
Confronted with the invoices and requested to defend town’s spending, Johnson instructed NBC 5, “So, the Cultural Center has always been a location for dignitaries; every first lady has had office space there. Renovations for my office or any other office is standard procedure. Our commitment to invest in people is still to invest in people.”
The mayor pushed again towards follow-up questions in regards to the optics of extreme spending at a time when his administration is contemplating layoffs of metropolis staff to chop prices.
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Johnson was elected in 2023 as a favourite candidate of the left, on a platform of accelerating spending on metropolis companies. (AP Photograph/Charles Rex Arbogast)
“The purchase of a desk is not going to change the financial structural damage that has been in place for a very long time. So this is why we ask – and I mean this respectfully – we ask far more profound questions than that. We ask, how do we make sure that the structural damage that’s been created over the course of decades – we reroute the rivers, if you will, to make sure that we get to the places where there is dry land. And that’s what we are doing,” he mentioned.
When NBC 5 pressed the difficulty, Johnson criticized the outlet’s questions. “So I’ve been mayor for 17 months, and you have a question of how I feel about optics? Just go back on review the tape. If I were to allow my leadership to be based on someone’s opinion of me, it would be a derelict of duty. I never question my position to invest in people. I don’t do this for optics; I do this to transform lives.”
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The mayor mentioned he’s extra targeted on the optics of hiring younger folks for summer time jobs, constructing inexpensive housing and guaranteeing that colleges have counselors and social staff, in addition to investing in Chicago’s South and West sides.
However Johnson nonetheless has not put ahead a plan to shut town’s projected $982 million funds hole.
