More than a month after Mayor Brandon Johnson faced questions over why his campaign fund spent more than $30,000 on personal grooming, records show he’s continuing to pay a South Side makeup artist out of his political committee.
In a disclosure report filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections on Friday, Friends of Brandon Johnson reported making 11 payments totaling $8,200 to Makeup Majic in April, May and June.
That brings the total amount paid by Johnson’s campaign to the business — based in a South Side home and run by makeup artist and self-described “skincare enthusiast” Denise Milloy — to more than $36,000 in 2023 and 2024, records show.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported in early June that Johnson’s campaign had spent significantly not only on makeup but also apparently hair care, though a Johnson aide said at the time that a reported $4,000 payment to a Palatine beauty salon was a mistake, and that expense should have been attributed on paperwork to a West Side barber shop.
The new disclosure report doesn’t reflect that mix-up, but Johnson campaign spokesman Bill Neidhardt said Monday, “The correction has been filed and will be reflected, I will have a better sense of timing later today as to when that correction will be reflected.”
Asked about the overall expenses, Neidhardt said, “I know you are very interested in the mayor’s personal hygiene but there isn’t much to say beyond that the mayor’s campaign expenditures — not taxpayer funds — are used in a similar manner to other high profile elected officials who pay people at a fair rate for their services in preparation for frequent public appearances.”
The makeup money
“It bears repeating that the mayor does not spend taxpayer dollars and instead uses his own campaign funds to pay Black- and women-owned businesses a fair wage.”
When the Sun-Times first reported on these types of expenses, Neidhardt said the payments helped prepare “the mayor and individuals associated with the campaign for public appearances, events, media segments and other availabilities.”
He still won’t identify those other “individuals associated with the campaign.”
While there’s wide latitude in Illinois on how political figures can use their campaign cash, there are prohibitions against using it as a personal piggy bank.
Campaign committees are supposed to also provide some level of detail about their expenditures in elections board filings, and prior to Johnson’s 2023 election his campaign described some of the payments to Makeup Majic accordingly:
“Candidate makeup for TV.”
“Candidate makeup for debate.”
“Candidate makeup.”
“Makeup retainer.”
After Johnson took office last year, payments to Makeup Majic got more vague, with “event expenses” the only description.
That’s how the most recent 11 payments were described.
Five of them are from April totaling $3,550, four are from May totaling $3,300 and two are from June totaling $1,350, records show.