Chicago’s self-professed “progressive” Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson will reportedly donate his “secret gift” cache to charity after a controversy formed around his hiding the items in a city hall storage room closed to the public and inspectors general.
The “gifts will be donated to charities on a rotating basis,” Chicago ABC affiliate WLS-TV reported on Friday.
“Starting in April, the mayor’s office will open the gift closet to the public one day per quarter by appointment, so people can come in and see the gifts for themselves,” according to WLS-TV.
In January, Chicago’s Office of Inspector General reported that it had been trying to obtain a list of the gifts and to gain access to the closed, secretive room at city hall in which they were stashed. Mayor Johnson’s office stonewalled the effort before relenting.
By law, Johnson’s office must publish a list of all gifts received by the mayor, along with their retail value. However, this rule had not been followed until the Inspector General’s office began inquiring about the high-dollar items clandestinely stored in Chicago City Hall. Some of the expensive freebies include alcohol, jewelry, Hugo Boss cufflinks, a personalized Mont Blanc pen, Gucci, Givenchy, and Kate Spade handbags, and size 14 men’s shoes. The combined items are estimated to be worth thousands of dollars.
The topic of Johnson’s gift stash arose last week when four Democratic mayors, including Johnson, were called to testify before a House Oversight Committee regarding their efforts to thwart federal immigration enforcement actions. During the hearing, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) grilled Chicago’s mayor about his city hall store.
“For those of you who don’t know, Mayor Johnson has a secret gift room that is not given access to the public,” Gill noted.
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Rep. Gill said, “Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was caught red-handed when I asked him about his luxury gift room in our Oversight hearing last week. One thing is clear — with Republicans in charge, transparency wins. We will bring to justice every mayor who seeks his or her own interest and the interest of illegal aliens over Americans first.”
Johnson’s approval rating crashed to the lowest of any major U.S. city mayor in the nation to a dismal 6.6 percent late last month.
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