Waste of the Day: Chicago Mayor Returned Donations After Scrutiny

Topline: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is not accepting campaign contributions from city vendors. Well, as long as no one looks too closely.

The Mayor of Chicago got caught accepting donations from city vendors

Four janitorial companies and executives donated $8,000 to Johnson’s campaign fund and later received $330 million in contracts with Chicago Public Schools. The donations were returned one day before contract bidding began — and one day after the Chicago Sun-Times started asking questions.

Key facts: The Sun-Times contacted Johnson’s campaign staff last year on Nov. 8 to ask about campaign contributions from United Service Co., whose CEO Richard Simon is rumored to have ties to the mafia.

Johnson did not answer, but on Nov. 9, he returned a donation from United Service’s affiliate and three other janitorial businesses, according to the Sun-Times.

Bidding for the Chicago schools contract began on Nov. 10. Seven companies were chosen as winners, including all four businesses that received donation refunds on Nov. 9.

No official reason for the refunds has been given.

Johnson’s administration began looking for a new janitorial management company almost immediately after he was elected. The Service Employees International Union, Johnson’s largest campaign donor according to the Sun-Times, had wanted one for years to replace service vendor Aramark.

Johnson has not returned a $1,000 donation from Marc Brooks, an executive at companies affiliated with Aramark, according to the Sun-Times.

The Chicago mayor is allowed to keep donations from companies doing business with the school system, but not those working directly with the city. The Sun-Times previously busted Johnson for doing just that; he apologized for the “oversight” and refunded $46,500 in donations.

Other Democrats do the same

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.

Background: Johnson is not alone in potentially skirting the lines of “pay-to-play” ethics concerns while in office.

OpenTheBooks recently reported that Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz accepted $890,000 of campaign donations from state vendors while running for re-election as governor of Minnesota.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo took $6.2 million in donations from state vendors. California Gov. Gavin Newsom did the same with $10.6 million from nearly 1,000 vendors.

Summary: Overlap between campaign donations and public finances is not necessarily a conflict of interest, but it does reveal a need for increased oversight of how taxpayer-funded state contracts are awarded.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.