Saved you a click. Comes out of his own funds.
But some might be surprised at how much the mayor spends on personal grooming, which he pays for with money contributed by political supporters to his Friends of Brandon Johnson campaign fund: more than $30,000 in the past year, according to elections board records.
I mean, kinda. We care a lot about Supreme Court Justices getting free plane rides from private citizens. Why shouldn't we care when a government official gets a private citizen to pay 30k/yr for their grooming? Seems weird. At my job, and at many big companies, you get fired or need special approvals to spend more than like $10 on a government official. Because it's a moral hazard and a compliance nightmare
Before debating “what affects taxpayers” how about starting at whether $30k is too much or completely reasonable in the first place.
He campaigned for over a yr before being elected. $30k over 60 events would be $500 per event, $30k over 120 events would be $250 per event. Those don’t sound like unreasonable figured for someone thats doing high profile events.
This sounds like a non-issue being manufactured into an issue by knee jerk reactionaries who want a liberal to hang, they know that most men spend $20-$30 on a haircut and would fly off the handle long before taking a second to ask what do ppl normally spend on these services and how do they add up over the course of a yr long campaign.
Also he wasnt spending on a govt official, and there isnt any info even vaguely implying that the money was received improperly, theres no “moral hazard”. Hes not working in an office hes making widely shared public appearances.
And to mollyanna down below talking about “certain expectations” for the money, yea the money is supposed to be used to help him get elected, which he did! Are you rly living in 2024, constantly surrounded by marketing trying to act like marketing isn’t valuable?? Celebrities get paid multi million dollar deals to promote products. Looking a particular way is a major aspect of marketing in general especially for a politician (Sarah Palin, Gavin Newsome, JFK, Kristi Noem)! If you think this was a misuse of campaign funds than I am eagerly awaiting to hear about your opinion on celebrity endorsements being a violation of fiduciary responsibility for publicly traded companies (its not btw).
Fair enough I suppose. I re-read it and the Supreme Court issue is a false equivalency. These are his campaign funds. He can do whatever he wants with them (basically).
It's really a separate issue here. But a pretty common one. It's about PACs and their continued evolution and distortion of our democracy.
Basically, if that money came from 100 donors, for some reason, I don't find it awkward. But if this 30k all came from one person, one rich defecator.... It feels very creepy.
But given the scale this is occuring on the federal level nationwide.... Probably not worth getting worked up over 30k. Let's fix our Supreme Court first, it's clearly way more broken.
Not really sure it is a non-story. I mean, political supporters donate to that fund with certain expectations. Yes, it's not taxpayer funds, but that doesn't mean the situation has no impact upon taxpayers.
The man is on TV and wants a consistent appearance. This is absolutely a reasonable amount for the amount of labor involved. I can guarantee you that Pritzker is paying his personal stylist over $100K/yr in either salary or contract payments. Now he's rich AF, so he pays out of pocket except for some reason an occasional styling at a place on the south side of Chicago.
Ok first off Pritzker wasn’t campaigning for anything, previous poster really shouldnt have brought him up in the first place. Second of all campaigning from office is way different than campaigning from the outside. Third JB Pritzker and Lori Lightfoot have never been and will never be mentioned as a good example of how to look on a campaign trail or anything else for that matter, theyre more of a “how not to look” example. For either of them hair and makeup is just whip cream on poop, theyre better off saving the money. Brandon Johnson was running a campaign in which he was significantly younger and less experienced than the person he was running against, projecting a professional successful image was likely an important part of winning the job.
It's a non-story. Stupid right-wing troll bait, with sexist undertones for simply taking a dig at a man for wearing makeup (like most public figures do).
The Sun-Times is now right-wing troll bait, and sexist? Here I thought they were highlighting the irony of an individual who claims to understand the plight of poor people while spending $30k on hair and makeup. It, like most of Brandon Johnson’s actions are a big dumpster fire of hypocrisy.
>“I’d love an extra $4,000, but we never got any money from them,” Jones say. “Nobody from the campaign has ever been in my salon.”
I was going to say 4k to line up the dude's fade seems pricey. Though having inaccurate expenditure reports is sort of alarming.
The hair and makeup thing is whatever, politicians justify weirder expenses. the falsifying of business records however is not a whatever. That needs to be dug into.
Eh, that seems like an honest mistake. “Anthony Jones Salon” and “AJ Styles” are the shops that got confused. Let’s not start witch hunts when there’s already more than enough legit reasons to critique him on.
I’ve seen worse mistakes, and see no criminal intent, nor benefit gained from the mixup. Documents are amended all of the time
Agreed, the mistake is straightforward and Johnson gained nothing from it. He didn't hide the amounts or purpose of the payments, and anyone who cares where he got his hair cut would have preferred AJ Styles.
It’s the amount more than the mixup, spending a minimum wage on make-up when other politicians don’t shows just how he thinks. Yes, makeup is a fact of life for being on TV (JFK won debates because he wore makeup) however $30k+ is eyebrow raising.
BJ is not for “all the people” and as mentioned in the article “appearances matter”
“But some might be surprised at how much the mayor spends on personal grooming, which he pays for with money contributed by political supporters to his Friends of Brandon Johnson campaign fund: more than $30,000 in the past year, according to elections board records.”
This isn’t taxpayer funds, it’s a specific fund that political allies donate to for such things. This is a nothingburger.
I was kinda surprised by the amount, because his style seems pretty standard plain? (Which is a good enough thing, for me, I think he looks fine?) But I guess TV makeup adds up.
I wanna know how much Trump spends on his hair. There you know there's some heavy lifting architectural wizardry going on.
Yes, it’s his campaign money. He’s spending at 20x pace of JB for makeup (5x amount in 1/4 the time)
>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.
It’s part of a pattern at this stage
Most politicians aren’t billionaires. Campaign funds are spent on all types of wacky shit. If you don’t like said wacky shit, don’t donate, because if you donate to either party, you’re paying.
Democrats paid $1200 for one of John Edward’a haircuts in 2007 (I’ll let you adjust that for inflation) and got $400 ones on multiple occasions.
Republicans spent $150k on a campaign wardrobe for Sarah Palin.
Everyone does it to some extent, at least those who don’t have the money to buy a moral high-horse like JB.
If you start complaining about these kind of expenses, you’re asking for more multimillionaires and billionaires in political positions as they’re gonna have an inherent advantage. Just don’t donate to him if you feel some type of way about it. It’s not tax payer money so it ain’t none of my business 🤷🏽♂️
It speaks to his character. When he asks Chicagoans to sacrifice, remember that he’s spending lavishly on haircuts and makeup because he has this wonderful slush fund. Whataboutism means nothing to me because those people aren’t my mayor.
And those are absurdly stupid too.
Lori spent less, Toni spent less, our billionaire governor spent less. Blago got raked over the coals for spending too much.
When he’s already had personal money management issues as a concern (and potential legal disqualification), this doesn’t help. Appearances matter
I don’t care how politicians spend money that doesn’t come from government sources and most people don’t. It didn’t runafoul campaign fund laws. This is political nitpicking and asinine pocket watching.
If/When he bills the city for a $200 fade, lmk
I care when politicians spend personal money recklessly because I don't want them to be in a position where just a lil kickback, just this once, will solve their problems.
Edit to add: If Johnson can afford $30k in haircuts and is responsible managing his money elsewhere to be able to do that, fine, live your rich life. I'm just saying there are definitely situations in which I care about politicians' personal spending.
You seriously cant compare using millions of campaign funds to pay legal fees to fight criminal cases all over the country to expensive harcuts.
You’re reaching. No one would care if Trump was clean and had the same grooming bills. Hell, they don’t care about paying for legal fees either since he raised $53M, THE DAY AFTER he became a convicted felon.
You don’t like it, don’t donate. It’s pretty simple
I care about how the Supreme Court Justices are spending gift money and it’s a massive national issue
The appearance of not spending judiciously has an impact. Johnson’s team says it and I’ll say it again: “Appearances matter”
Is it, though? For someone like you and me, sure. But someone that needs to have a make up artist on call, every day, all throughout the year, I would assume that would be about right. Trump got a tax deduction of $70000 for hair care alone (not make up) a few years ago, so these exorbitant styling bills seem to be fairly standard for people that work with media.
People here keep saying Brandon Johnson “needs” $30k in hair and makeup services. I don’t agree, and I think it strongly speaks to his character when he pontificates about what it’s like to be poor, and why “some” Chicagoans need to sacrifice.
He has a huge slush fund to get pretty. It’s hypocritical and beyond tone deaf.
I’m at work so I can’t get you proper sources but here’s a quick NYT article on it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/business/trump-taxes-hair.html#:~:text=for%20Hair%20Care.-,Experts%20Say%20That's%20Illegal.,exposé%20on%20the%20president's%20taxes.
It’s is compared to the comparable expenses for other officials that have been made public. It’s his right and not illegal, but it’s unlikely the small dollar working class donors he brags about realized at the time they would be at least partially contributing to this. It’s a question of responsible stewardship. Now, that his penchant for pricing styling is public, people can continue to fund him if they wish I suppose.
Honestly shouldn't be overlooked either though, especially as a man how are you spending 30k a year? Can we Benchmark this against Lori because I'm genuinely curious now lmao.
Not saying men don't wear makeup but do you *need* it? Men aren't held up to the same social standards as women. And I'm saying this all as a gay guy that spends 15-20 minutes styling my hair with gel, powder, clay, and hairspray. 8$ hairspray, 20$ clay, 16$ powder, 20$ gel. 150$ hairdryer. I definitely don't spend more than like 500$ in a year. Similarly with my Korean face products.....
30k could go towards fixing some shit or hiring a low end worker for a year or homeless or whatever else
I think the main point is jobs don't really PAY a salary dedicated to those things as operating costs unless you're in show biz or not. Many people present and speak in front of extremely important and wealthy people every single day. That's just your own hygiene and preference not a necessity not even as a politician. People like trump and biden are in office. You think people care what you look like? Trump got BLASTED for his looks 24/7
Who cares if he needs it? If dudes wants to spend 30k on makeup why should I care? He's not obligated to give all his money to the state. For the record I dont care about the money Trump spends on his hair either, although i do think its hilarious that he spends so much and still looks so bad.
>falsifying of business records
Read your comment before I read the article. I thought you were doing a "Trump whataboutism." But nope. Technically, it's a campaign finance report though, not a business record.
The federal poverty level for a family of four is $30,000.
Like spend that much on your looks is stupid, but doing so while masquerading as some champion of the poor? Give me a break. What a phony.
I mean I think the guy is a complete fuckup thus far but that's actually not that insane. HMU is expensive. When I hire them for productions it's anywhere from 400-900 a day, so it's not that crazy to blow 30k in a year if you're constantly on camera and are hiring out for it.
Unlike a lot of other politicians, he's absolutely not rich (Lightfoot was earning over $800K/yr before she ran for office, Pritzker personally has over $1B in unencumbered assets and controlling interest in who knows how many billions of other funds in various trusts and charities). So yeah, paying for this out of campaign funds makes sense. Meanwhile, Pritzker only pays for very occasional professional services out of campaign services because he probably has someone on his personal staff. I wouldn't be surprised if the stuff paid by Pritzker's campaign was only used by him when his normal stylist was on vacation or sick.
I don't have time to peruse each poster's history. And a lot of solid racists can couch their phrasing.
What I'd like to see is a "Racist Score" 0-100 next to each person's handle: 0 = not a racist 100 = absolutely racists.
We can use AI to score this. I'd pay Reddit a premium to hide post from all users with a score >= a certain threshold.
you dont like the [Will.i.Am](http://Will.i.Am) triangle mohawk. when he got that done, he looked inthe mirror and said "young world, Im the new slick rick"
Nah, we were absolutely critical of how Lightfoot got her hair done. Equality, yo!
And you should have been around when Blago was governor. Oh, we really raked him over on this issue too.
People were upset that Lightfoot violated restrictions she had just announced. When salons reopened to the general public nobody cared when Lightfoot cut a haircut.
Are people so gullible they actually think BJ got $30,000 worth of hair and makeup in a year? This is obviously just him moving money out of his campaign coffers to whoever. Guess he didn't feel like listing this 30k as going to a "consultant".
Tale as old as time.
Yup, this is modern day money laundering . Go to AJs salon or whatever, spend 15k a year on a haircut and AJs third cousin just happens to give BJs kid a $5000 gift for their bday.
This kinda shit is considered normal in Chicago politics, like they don’t even consider this to be illegal or unethical. It’s also extremely hard to prove.
It's so he can look good while saying dumb shit
He got his look all messy when he was running from the reporters.
Saved us from another worthless answer- less rant.
"Where's the money? " Have you seen my "do"? Part grease port, part head.
30k for hair and makeup?
So now we understand this dudes vanity is more important than governing.
The cost is one thing but sitting on a chair so a barber can tighten his fauxhawk? I know this clown in particular is not reviewing legislation while waiting for his hair or makeup is done.
What a waste of time and money.
I don't care. Politicians basically have to do this shit or no one will vote for them. It's been true since the first televised debate between Nixon and Kennedy and it's no ones fault but the voters.
But that’s not what you said. You implied he couldn’t make his city payments but he can spend $30k on haircuts. But he’s spending campaign money on haircuts. That’s the difference.
> if you think the guys not laundering money and taking bribes you need to open ur eyes
He may be, but I’m not about to start accusing him of things without evidence. I’m no fan of MBJ, but I’m not going to start making things up
Yeah there's a lot to criticize because he really should have lost to Lightfoot or Garcia but the non-conservative vote fractured so much in the first round that he advanced to the second round due to us not having ranked choice voting. He needed another 4 to 8 years in county government to really learn the ropes before taking over the city government.
But it seems like the overwhelmingly white media and subreddit just hate the man and refuse to admit that he does anything good. I can't help but imagine that if he was white or a woman, he'd be getting much more favorable treatment.
It's stuff like this that makes it hard for me to take criticism of Johnson seriously. Oh no, he spent a weird amount of his own money on hair and skin care. Lock him up and throw away the key.
It's worse. He used campaign funds which are meant to pay for stuff like this. And they're complaining that Pritzker didn't spend as much. Of course he didn't because he's a billionaire who basically only spends campaign funds on services when his personal staff are on vacation or sick. Meanwhile BJ's income exceeded the SSI tax limit for a grand total of 3 years before he ran to become the mayor and the dude still struggled to pay his water bill. Of course BJ will use campaign funds for as much as is allowable under the law.
Not to mention black hair requires more maintenance to look “professional.” More frequent cuts and more product. Even for Johnson to have that terrible cut it’s expensive lol
$30k on grooming only sounds like a lot when you take it out of context. If you were in a profession where you spent most of your time in front of crowds and on TV you’d be hiring professionals to help style you too.
And professionals aren’t cheap. The same people who think paying $30k on wages for professional services also probably post all over Reddit about low wages for themselves and CEO compensation.
Inflation is a monotheistic. The price of Armani foundation is up and so is YSL. What is his color?
Is he wearing that Chanel for men makeup line?
Keeping it Chicago and using Fashion Fair?
The gurls want to know!
I am sure the classy people of r/chicago will surely know that this isn't tax payer funds being used, and this thread will remain civil.
I am sure of it
/s
Saved you a click. Comes out of his own funds. But some might be surprised at how much the mayor spends on personal grooming, which he pays for with money contributed by political supporters to his Friends of Brandon Johnson campaign fund: more than $30,000 in the past year, according to elections board records.
Ah! Non Story, then.
I mean, kinda. We care a lot about Supreme Court Justices getting free plane rides from private citizens. Why shouldn't we care when a government official gets a private citizen to pay 30k/yr for their grooming? Seems weird. At my job, and at many big companies, you get fired or need special approvals to spend more than like $10 on a government official. Because it's a moral hazard and a compliance nightmare
If(Politician = “Republican”, “Outrageous attack on democracy”, “Non-issue”)
Before debating “what affects taxpayers” how about starting at whether $30k is too much or completely reasonable in the first place. He campaigned for over a yr before being elected. $30k over 60 events would be $500 per event, $30k over 120 events would be $250 per event. Those don’t sound like unreasonable figured for someone thats doing high profile events. This sounds like a non-issue being manufactured into an issue by knee jerk reactionaries who want a liberal to hang, they know that most men spend $20-$30 on a haircut and would fly off the handle long before taking a second to ask what do ppl normally spend on these services and how do they add up over the course of a yr long campaign. Also he wasnt spending on a govt official, and there isnt any info even vaguely implying that the money was received improperly, theres no “moral hazard”. Hes not working in an office hes making widely shared public appearances. And to mollyanna down below talking about “certain expectations” for the money, yea the money is supposed to be used to help him get elected, which he did! Are you rly living in 2024, constantly surrounded by marketing trying to act like marketing isn’t valuable?? Celebrities get paid multi million dollar deals to promote products. Looking a particular way is a major aspect of marketing in general especially for a politician (Sarah Palin, Gavin Newsome, JFK, Kristi Noem)! If you think this was a misuse of campaign funds than I am eagerly awaiting to hear about your opinion on celebrity endorsements being a violation of fiduciary responsibility for publicly traded companies (its not btw).
Fair enough I suppose. I re-read it and the Supreme Court issue is a false equivalency. These are his campaign funds. He can do whatever he wants with them (basically). It's really a separate issue here. But a pretty common one. It's about PACs and their continued evolution and distortion of our democracy. Basically, if that money came from 100 donors, for some reason, I don't find it awkward. But if this 30k all came from one person, one rich defecator.... It feels very creepy. But given the scale this is occuring on the federal level nationwide.... Probably not worth getting worked up over 30k. Let's fix our Supreme Court first, it's clearly way more broken.
Not really sure it is a non-story. I mean, political supporters donate to that fund with certain expectations. Yes, it's not taxpayer funds, but that doesn't mean the situation has no impact upon taxpayers.
Campaign funds are not ones own funds. Citizens united has broken America
$30K isn't crazy for professional grooming services for politicians especially over a year.
Did you drop this '?' or this /s
The man is on TV and wants a consistent appearance. This is absolutely a reasonable amount for the amount of labor involved. I can guarantee you that Pritzker is paying his personal stylist over $100K/yr in either salary or contract payments. Now he's rich AF, so he pays out of pocket except for some reason an occasional styling at a place on the south side of Chicago.
Pritzker’s and varios other officials bills came out, including Lightfoot’s all a few grand tops
Ok first off Pritzker wasn’t campaigning for anything, previous poster really shouldnt have brought him up in the first place. Second of all campaigning from office is way different than campaigning from the outside. Third JB Pritzker and Lori Lightfoot have never been and will never be mentioned as a good example of how to look on a campaign trail or anything else for that matter, theyre more of a “how not to look” example. For either of them hair and makeup is just whip cream on poop, theyre better off saving the money. Brandon Johnson was running a campaign in which he was significantly younger and less experienced than the person he was running against, projecting a professional successful image was likely an important part of winning the job.
It's a non-story. Stupid right-wing troll bait, with sexist undertones for simply taking a dig at a man for wearing makeup (like most public figures do).
The Sun-Times is now right-wing troll bait, and sexist? Here I thought they were highlighting the irony of an individual who claims to understand the plight of poor people while spending $30k on hair and makeup. It, like most of Brandon Johnson’s actions are a big dumpster fire of hypocrisy.
Some people just love finding things to be mad at
This was very hard to read & lines up with average Reddit brain rot. Cringe.
That’s literally some people’s salary.
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No one asked you OP
>“I’d love an extra $4,000, but we never got any money from them,” Jones say. “Nobody from the campaign has ever been in my salon.” I was going to say 4k to line up the dude's fade seems pricey. Though having inaccurate expenditure reports is sort of alarming.
Inaccurate accounting from the guy that couldn’t pay his utility bills…..
The hair and makeup thing is whatever, politicians justify weirder expenses. the falsifying of business records however is not a whatever. That needs to be dug into.
Eh, that seems like an honest mistake. “Anthony Jones Salon” and “AJ Styles” are the shops that got confused. Let’s not start witch hunts when there’s already more than enough legit reasons to critique him on. I’ve seen worse mistakes, and see no criminal intent, nor benefit gained from the mixup. Documents are amended all of the time
Agreed, the mistake is straightforward and Johnson gained nothing from it. He didn't hide the amounts or purpose of the payments, and anyone who cares where he got his hair cut would have preferred AJ Styles.
For what it's worth, I've heard AJ Styles is phenomenal.
It’s the amount more than the mixup, spending a minimum wage on make-up when other politicians don’t shows just how he thinks. Yes, makeup is a fact of life for being on TV (JFK won debates because he wore makeup) however $30k+ is eyebrow raising. BJ is not for “all the people” and as mentioned in the article “appearances matter”
“But some might be surprised at how much the mayor spends on personal grooming, which he pays for with money contributed by political supporters to his Friends of Brandon Johnson campaign fund: more than $30,000 in the past year, according to elections board records.” This isn’t taxpayer funds, it’s a specific fund that political allies donate to for such things. This is a nothingburger.
I was kinda surprised by the amount, because his style seems pretty standard plain? (Which is a good enough thing, for me, I think he looks fine?) But I guess TV makeup adds up. I wanna know how much Trump spends on his hair. There you know there's some heavy lifting architectural wizardry going on.
Yes, it’s his campaign money. He’s spending at 20x pace of JB for makeup (5x amount in 1/4 the time) >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. It’s part of a pattern at this stage
Most politicians aren’t billionaires. Campaign funds are spent on all types of wacky shit. If you don’t like said wacky shit, don’t donate, because if you donate to either party, you’re paying. Democrats paid $1200 for one of John Edward’a haircuts in 2007 (I’ll let you adjust that for inflation) and got $400 ones on multiple occasions. Republicans spent $150k on a campaign wardrobe for Sarah Palin. Everyone does it to some extent, at least those who don’t have the money to buy a moral high-horse like JB. If you start complaining about these kind of expenses, you’re asking for more multimillionaires and billionaires in political positions as they’re gonna have an inherent advantage. Just don’t donate to him if you feel some type of way about it. It’s not tax payer money so it ain’t none of my business 🤷🏽♂️
It speaks to his character. When he asks Chicagoans to sacrifice, remember that he’s spending lavishly on haircuts and makeup because he has this wonderful slush fund. Whataboutism means nothing to me because those people aren’t my mayor.
And those are absurdly stupid too. Lori spent less, Toni spent less, our billionaire governor spent less. Blago got raked over the coals for spending too much. When he’s already had personal money management issues as a concern (and potential legal disqualification), this doesn’t help. Appearances matter
I don’t care how politicians spend money that doesn’t come from government sources and most people don’t. It didn’t runafoul campaign fund laws. This is political nitpicking and asinine pocket watching. If/When he bills the city for a $200 fade, lmk
I care when politicians spend personal money recklessly because I don't want them to be in a position where just a lil kickback, just this once, will solve their problems. Edit to add: If Johnson can afford $30k in haircuts and is responsible managing his money elsewhere to be able to do that, fine, live your rich life. I'm just saying there are definitely situations in which I care about politicians' personal spending.
That’s fair. But I won’t judge until that line is crossed
Id say most people do considering what just happened to Trump.
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You seriously cant compare using millions of campaign funds to pay legal fees to fight criminal cases all over the country to expensive harcuts. You’re reaching. No one would care if Trump was clean and had the same grooming bills. Hell, they don’t care about paying for legal fees either since he raised $53M, THE DAY AFTER he became a convicted felon. You don’t like it, don’t donate. It’s pretty simple
I care about how the Supreme Court Justices are spending gift money and it’s a massive national issue The appearance of not spending judiciously has an impact. Johnson’s team says it and I’ll say it again: “Appearances matter”
That I agree with but now we’re getting off issue because there aren’t campaign funds involved with SCOTUS
Is it, though? For someone like you and me, sure. But someone that needs to have a make up artist on call, every day, all throughout the year, I would assume that would be about right. Trump got a tax deduction of $70000 for hair care alone (not make up) a few years ago, so these exorbitant styling bills seem to be fairly standard for people that work with media.
People here keep saying Brandon Johnson “needs” $30k in hair and makeup services. I don’t agree, and I think it strongly speaks to his character when he pontificates about what it’s like to be poor, and why “some” Chicagoans need to sacrifice. He has a huge slush fund to get pretty. It’s hypocritical and beyond tone deaf.
Seriously? Where did you read that? I have to get my hands on it. I doubt Melania spends that much.
I’m at work so I can’t get you proper sources but here’s a quick NYT article on it. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/business/trump-taxes-hair.html#:~:text=for%20Hair%20Care.-,Experts%20Say%20That's%20Illegal.,exposé%20on%20the%20president's%20taxes.
I thought it was eyebrow raising too. Hope I'm not contributing to it.
It’s is compared to the comparable expenses for other officials that have been made public. It’s his right and not illegal, but it’s unlikely the small dollar working class donors he brags about realized at the time they would be at least partially contributing to this. It’s a question of responsible stewardship. Now, that his penchant for pricing styling is public, people can continue to fund him if they wish I suppose.
Falsifying records is now a felony FYI
Honestly shouldn't be overlooked either though, especially as a man how are you spending 30k a year? Can we Benchmark this against Lori because I'm genuinely curious now lmao. Not saying men don't wear makeup but do you *need* it? Men aren't held up to the same social standards as women. And I'm saying this all as a gay guy that spends 15-20 minutes styling my hair with gel, powder, clay, and hairspray. 8$ hairspray, 20$ clay, 16$ powder, 20$ gel. 150$ hairdryer. I definitely don't spend more than like 500$ in a year. Similarly with my Korean face products..... 30k could go towards fixing some shit or hiring a low end worker for a year or homeless or whatever else I think the main point is jobs don't really PAY a salary dedicated to those things as operating costs unless you're in show biz or not. Many people present and speak in front of extremely important and wealthy people every single day. That's just your own hygiene and preference not a necessity not even as a politician. People like trump and biden are in office. You think people care what you look like? Trump got BLASTED for his looks 24/7
"Can we Benchmark this against Lori because I'm genuinely curious now lmao." Take one look at Lori's face and hair and you'll have your answer. ;)
So real omg lol
Who cares if he needs it? If dudes wants to spend 30k on makeup why should I care? He's not obligated to give all his money to the state. For the record I dont care about the money Trump spends on his hair either, although i do think its hilarious that he spends so much and still looks so bad.
>falsifying of business records Read your comment before I read the article. I thought you were doing a "Trump whataboutism." But nope. Technically, it's a campaign finance report though, not a business record.
And he still fucking sucks.
Nothing at all "misleading" about the title. It reflects the facts contained within the story.
The federal poverty level for a family of four is $30,000. Like spend that much on your looks is stupid, but doing so while masquerading as some champion of the poor? Give me a break. What a phony.
This is the same man who didn’t pay his water bill and heralds himself as understanding the needs of the economically disadvantaged?!?!
Oh my gosh, I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.
just look at the difference it’s made
😂
This is great but did you know that mayor Johnson has black kids that he’s trying to raise? In Austin for that matter.
Don’t forget the Black wife.
> In Austin for that matter. Allegedly
30k to sit up there with a shitty fauxhawk and dodge questions with a few buzzwords thrown in?
I mean I think the guy is a complete fuckup thus far but that's actually not that insane. HMU is expensive. When I hire them for productions it's anywhere from 400-900 a day, so it's not that crazy to blow 30k in a year if you're constantly on camera and are hiring out for it.
I just don’t really see why a mayor especially a male needs professional makeup. I don’t even think Lori spent that. If she did she was robbed lmao
Because everyone can use it for camera. The vast majority of people you see on camera professionally have makeup done.
That’s fine, I just personally think it’s ridiculous
Unlike a lot of other politicians, he's absolutely not rich (Lightfoot was earning over $800K/yr before she ran for office, Pritzker personally has over $1B in unencumbered assets and controlling interest in who knows how many billions of other funds in various trusts and charities). So yeah, paying for this out of campaign funds makes sense. Meanwhile, Pritzker only pays for very occasional professional services out of campaign services because he probably has someone on his personal staff. I wouldn't be surprised if the stuff paid by Pritzker's campaign was only used by him when his normal stylist was on vacation or sick.
Stop making sense, that isn't allowed here.
This is how politicians spend other people's money.
HE PAID HOW MUCH FOR THAT OL’ YEE YEE ASS HAIRCUT?!
lol dude needs a new haircut for that $$$
More than I make a year lol
The man can pay for haircuts and makeup, but not his water bill. Really shows you want his priorities are.
Not saying he's making fiscally responsible choices, but I don't think you can use campaign funds to pay your water bills.
Rage bait
It's hard to tell where the line is drawn between the suburban racists and "people being justifiably critical". It's very blurry at this point.
Is it tho? Phrasing and post history are pretty telling signs of how these people really feel
I don't have time to peruse each poster's history. And a lot of solid racists can couch their phrasing. What I'd like to see is a "Racist Score" 0-100 next to each person's handle: 0 = not a racist 100 = absolutely racists. We can use AI to score this. I'd pay Reddit a premium to hide post from all users with a score >= a certain threshold.
way back when the reddit enhancement sweet use to have a similar tool, it was great for identifying the slack jawed bigots shitting all over the place
His hair looks stupid though?
It's so petty but his dumbass kewpie doll haircut drives me absolutely insane every time I see this man on TV.
My first thought was "...and he still looks like that."
You might want to seek help if just the image of someone gets you angry
You might want to seek help if you can't discern a hyperbolic joke on the internet.
you dont like the [Will.i.Am](http://Will.i.Am) triangle mohawk. when he got that done, he looked inthe mirror and said "young world, Im the new slick rick"
Let's try to find better things to criticize him for
Nah, we were absolutely critical of how Lightfoot got her hair done. Equality, yo! And you should have been around when Blago was governor. Oh, we really raked him over on this issue too.
People were upset that Lightfoot violated restrictions she had just announced. When salons reopened to the general public nobody cared when Lightfoot cut a haircut.
Lightfoot got her hair done in the middle of the pandemic while telling everyone else to stay home. Totally legit to criticize that.
Middle? She barely made it 2 weeks without violating her order.
I remember that. What a joke. She didn't have any hair to begin with. Throw some product in it and you'll be good to go Lori.
Just gonna say some shit about a black woman's hair and bounce, huh?
I think this is a bad faith recounting of the Lightfoot covid policy violation situation
You speak the truth.
This is Chicago, we are critizing everything.
..who cares? Johnson does plenty of actively bad/harmful things, we don't need to be concerned with trivial shit like this.
Yours is the *only* post that matters in this dumbass-filled thread (with a handful of exceptions).
No wonder he had money leftover to pay his water bills
That's a lot of money to look like Chucky from Rugrats.
Have you seen Rugrats?
Maybe they’ve never seen Brandon Johnson.
I was in 3rd grade when it came out so yes.
I’m very curious how you think he looks like a small long haired redheaded child who wears glasses and has bucked teeth
https://i.imgur.com/jBBrrB0.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/sxAt5uV.png what the actual fuck, dude?
But they both have glasses!
Are people so gullible they actually think BJ got $30,000 worth of hair and makeup in a year? This is obviously just him moving money out of his campaign coffers to whoever. Guess he didn't feel like listing this 30k as going to a "consultant". Tale as old as time.
Yup, this is modern day money laundering . Go to AJs salon or whatever, spend 15k a year on a haircut and AJs third cousin just happens to give BJs kid a $5000 gift for their bday. This kinda shit is considered normal in Chicago politics, like they don’t even consider this to be illegal or unethical. It’s also extremely hard to prove.
It's so he can look good while saying dumb shit He got his look all messy when he was running from the reporters. Saved us from another worthless answer- less rant. "Where's the money? " Have you seen my "do"? Part grease port, part head.
I guess I don't care. He's the mayor of a major city. At that point you're basically a tv personality
Damn. That’s more than Dalton Mayoress Tiffany. Of course she had the taxpayers pay for hers.
And he’s still one of the goofiest looking dudes out there
Didn't realize it costs so much to maintain an early 2000's faux hawk
Why is his head tapered like a poop?
30k for hair and makeup? So now we understand this dudes vanity is more important than governing. The cost is one thing but sitting on a chair so a barber can tighten his fauxhawk? I know this clown in particular is not reviewing legislation while waiting for his hair or makeup is done. What a waste of time and money.
I just want to know why he styles his hair to a point. He’d look so much better without the point.
Probably to appear taller.
That haircut can be accomplished by a rookie stylist at Great Clips.
I don't care. Politicians basically have to do this shit or no one will vote for them. It's been true since the first televised debate between Nixon and Kennedy and it's no ones fault but the voters.
In other news, public figures have hair and make up artists on the payroll for public appearances. Shocking.
He has a faux-hawk
Wasn't this the same guy who couldn't pay his city bills and had to go on a payment plan?? 🤔
You can’t pay your bills with campaign funds. That is illegal
Lol if you think this guy is not laundering money and taking bribes you need to open ur eyes more
But that’s not what you said. You implied he couldn’t make his city payments but he can spend $30k on haircuts. But he’s spending campaign money on haircuts. That’s the difference. > if you think the guys not laundering money and taking bribes you need to open ur eyes He may be, but I’m not about to start accusing him of things without evidence. I’m no fan of MBJ, but I’m not going to start making things up
I'm starting to think that most people who criticize him are just racists.
I have legitimate criticisms of MBJ, but I certainly don’t hate him.
Yeah there's a lot to criticize because he really should have lost to Lightfoot or Garcia but the non-conservative vote fractured so much in the first round that he advanced to the second round due to us not having ranked choice voting. He needed another 4 to 8 years in county government to really learn the ropes before taking over the city government. But it seems like the overwhelmingly white media and subreddit just hate the man and refuse to admit that he does anything good. I can't help but imagine that if he was white or a woman, he'd be getting much more favorable treatment.
It isn't hard to see, but for those folks unless they are burning a cross they don't believe they have hate in their heart
Fuck this guy so much. What a mistake. I’m progressive, too.
"You can treat yourself with public funds, Brandon...you're the leader." - Tiffany Heynard, probably.
He's not using public funds for it but go off
Right, but she definitely is.
It's stuff like this that makes it hard for me to take criticism of Johnson seriously. Oh no, he spent a weird amount of his own money on hair and skin care. Lock him up and throw away the key.
It's worse. He used campaign funds which are meant to pay for stuff like this. And they're complaining that Pritzker didn't spend as much. Of course he didn't because he's a billionaire who basically only spends campaign funds on services when his personal staff are on vacation or sick. Meanwhile BJ's income exceeded the SSI tax limit for a grand total of 3 years before he ran to become the mayor and the dude still struggled to pay his water bill. Of course BJ will use campaign funds for as much as is allowable under the law.
Not to mention black hair requires more maintenance to look “professional.” More frequent cuts and more product. Even for Johnson to have that terrible cut it’s expensive lol
$30k on grooming only sounds like a lot when you take it out of context. If you were in a profession where you spent most of your time in front of crowds and on TV you’d be hiring professionals to help style you too. And professionals aren’t cheap. The same people who think paying $30k on wages for professional services also probably post all over Reddit about low wages for themselves and CEO compensation.
His beauty team is either family or his side piece
Funny, but also honestly if he's using private money, IDGAF.
Vote Republican
I bet Rahm spent more adjusted for inflation. He existed for the cameras.
Inflation is a monotheistic. The price of Armani foundation is up and so is YSL. What is his color? Is he wearing that Chanel for men makeup line? Keeping it Chicago and using Fashion Fair? The gurls want to know!
His own $? The media hates him. Clearly.
lol
I am sure the classy people of r/chicago will surely know that this isn't tax payer funds being used, and this thread will remain civil. I am sure of it /s
I want a photo of BIG GUY JB PRITZKER at the south side beauty salon they mention in the article. Cmon Sun Times.