Nearly half of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s senior staff and his picks to serve on key panels with citywide authority are Black and more than half are women, according to a WTTW News analysis. Throughout his two years in office, Johnson, the second Black man elected as Chicago mayor, tapped more Black Chicagoans to serve in positions of authority than Chicagoans of other races, according to WTTW News’ analysis. Johnson has repeatedly told reporters that the diversity of his closest advisers and the city’s leadership is a source of pride and evidence that he is keeping his campaign promises to work to eliminate systemic racism and expand racial equity at City Hall.
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Johnson’s hiring decisions are facing
new scrutiny after he told Byron T. Brazier, the pastor of the Apostolic Church of God, on May 18 that he had purposely surrounded himself with senior advisers who are Black. “There are some detractors that will push back on me and say, ‘The only thing the mayor talks about is the hiring of Black people,’” Johnson said. “No. What I’m saying is when you hire our people, we always look out for everybody else. We are the most generous people on the planet. I don’t know too many cultures that have play cousins.” Those remarks prompted Assistant U.S. Attorney Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, to launch a probe into whether Chicago officials, at Johnson’s direction, have “engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race” in violation of federal law. Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry, the first Black woman to serve as the city’s top lawyer, said Wednesday evening the city had not yet been notified of the probe, but “only saw it on social media.” Johnson brushed off the threat of the probe. “We’re not going to be intimidated by the tyranny that’s coming from the federal government,” Johnson told reporters May 19. “The diversity of our city is our strength.” The more than 100 appointments Johnson made since taking office in May 2023 that required confirmation by the Chicago City Council or to lead city agencies reflect the city’s racial diversity, as measured by the 2020 census, more closely than the appointments made by his two predecessors, former Mayors Lori Lightfoot and Rahm Emanuel. Approximately 47% of the Chicagoans Johnson appointed to positions of power during the past two years were Black. Another 22% were White, while 24% were Latino and 5% were Asian, according to WTTW News’ analysis. “My administration reflects the country, reflects the city,” Johnson said, after calling many of President Donald Trump’s appointees unqualified. “His administration reflects the country club.” The people of Chicago are 31.4% White, 29.9% Latino, 28.7% Black and 6.9% Asian, according to the 2020 U.S. census. The city’s overall workforce was 38% White, 29.5% Black, 26.5% Latino and 3.4% Asian American,
according to city data . WTTW News’ analysis broke down Johnson’s appointments into three categories: the mayor’s picks to lead city departments as well as boards and commissions that require City Council confirmation; his closest advisors, including deputy mayors; and his appointments to the Chicago Board of Education. The analysis does not include appointments Johnson made if those employees have left his office, which has seen a significant amount of turnover during the past two years. Members of Johnson’s senior staff include deputy mayors, who have his authority to act on a wide range of issues, including immigrant rights, community safety and labor relations. Those appointments do not require City Council confirmation, nor do the mayor’s picks to serve on Chicago’s partially elected Board of Education. Johnson replaced Comptroller Chasse Rehwinkel, who resigned in December, late Friday with Michael Belsky, who had been the executive director of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Belsky, a former mayor of Highland Park and a 30-year veteran of the municipal finance industry, must be confirmed by the City Council. Johnson also tapped Khari Humphries to serve as his deputy mayor for education, replacing Jen Johnson who resigned in October. Brandon Johnson has not replaced Bridget Early, who served as his deputy mayor for labor. In addition, seven city agencies and departments, including Animal Care and Control, do not have a permanent, City Council-confirmed leader. The other departments are: the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the Department of Family and Support Services, the Chicago Film Office, the Chicago Housing Authority, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Transit Agency. Johnson has made one appointment to the City Council, tapping Ald. Anthony Quezada (35th Ward) to replace Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who Johnson picked to lead the Chicago Park District. Of the nearly 75 appointments Johnson made that required City Council confirmation, 48% were Black. Another 23% were White, another 23% were Latino and 5% were Asian, according to WTTW News’ analysis. The appointments were evenly split between men and women, according to the analysis. Nearly half of Johnson’s 25-member senior staff is Black; the staff is nearly equally divided between men and women, according to the analysis. Latino Chicagoans make up 24% of his senior staff, with White Chicagoans making up another 24%, according to the analysis. Johnson has one Asian American among his senior staff, according to WTTW News’ analysis. In all, 105 people serve in the mayor’s office, according to an analysis released by Johnson’s office in the wake of the announcement of the federal probe. They are 34% Black, 30% White, 24% Latino and 7% Asian American, officials said. After the members of Chicago Board of Education that the mayor appointed in July 2023 resigned in October amid a budget crisis, Johnson appointed 13 members to replace them and serve on the first partially elected board to run Chicago Public Schools. Approximately 46% of the Chicagoans Johnson appointed to the school board were Black, including board president Sean Harden. Another 30% were Latino, another 15% were Latino and 8% were Asian, according to WTTW News’ analysis. Nearly 70% were women, according to the analysis.
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