Four janitorial companies and executives sharing in $330 million in new contracts with the Chicago Public Schools to clean hundreds of buildings contributed to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign fund several months before the bidding got underway last year, records show.
The contributions were subsequently returned by Friends of Brandon Johnson the day before the bid process began and a day after the Chicago Sun-Times asked about the parent company of one of the four businesses — Chicago-based United Service Cos. — giving $2,500.
Johnson’s campaign aides won’t respond to questions about why the money was returned and, if it was because of the contracting process, how they knew which companies were interested in bidding before the process started.
But they defend Johnson’s decision to keep a $1,000 campaign contribution from another janitorial company executive, Marc Brooks, who has two businesses that were part of a losing bid submitted by CPS’ janitorial contractor at the time, Aramark.
“That contribution is in complete compliance with all rules and regulations,” Johnson campaign spokesman Bill Neidhardt says.
Ethics rules allow the mayor to accept campaign money from companies and people doing business with CPS even though the mayor oversees the school system.
Neidhardt won’t say whether Johnson — a former CPS teacher and employee of the Chicago Teachers Union, one of his major political backers — would support imposing a ban like the one City Hall has. An executive order issued in 2011 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel bars city contractors from giving money to a mayor’s campaign fund.
A Chicago Sun-Times investigation last year showed Johnson violated that executive order by accepting contributions from companies doing business with his administration. He ended up issuing dozens of refunds.
“The CPS contracting process is completely separate from the political fund,” Neidhardt says, “and the main government workers who select and negotiate CPS contracts are not involved nor made aware of . . . the campaign’s fundraising in any way. As for the CPS contracts in relation to the campaign fund, the mayor does not manage the campaign fund, which is standard among this level of political campaigns.”
Johnson’s largest campaign giver — the Service Employees International Union — represents CPS janitors and was pushing for the school system to dump Aramark, saying the Philadelphia company was doing a bad job at keeping schools clean and wasn’t being responsive to complaints over the decade or so the firm was overseeing custodians.
Soon after Johnson was elected in 2023, his transition team put out a report recommending a review of “the existing private management of facilities to assess whether management could be brought in-house at CPS (e.g. custodial work, supplies and equipment).”
CPS’ bidding process for new janitorial contracts lasted from Nov. 10 to Dec. 15, and CPS announced in February that Aramark was out, and seven others were in — which SEIU Local 73 touted as a victory, saying, “After ten years of fighting a $16 billion for-profit management company, we won.” The union also said at the time that CPS janitors would be “back under the supervision of CPS instead of Aramark.”
The CTU celebrated Aramark’s ouster, saying: “Elections matter. Union leadership matters. Aramark is out! Thanks to the unflinching and uncompromising leadership of SEIU Local 73 and the leadership of Mayor Johnson, CPS facilities will manage janitorial staff, supplies and equipment directly, ending the district’s contract with Aramark.”
Charles Mayfield, CPS’ chief operating officer, says the unions weren’t the only ones unhappy with the work by Aramark at the system’s schools.
“I would say any complaint — from a principal, a parent, a union — matters,” he says. “School cleanliness for our students, it’s got to be topnotch” to help “get them to academic success.”
CPS officials say Johnson’s office was briefed on the janitorial contract but that the mayor wasn’t involved in the decision-making.
The seven companies selected each include a prime contractor, and most also include subcontractors. All will share in $330 million over three years.
Records from CPS and the Illinois State Board of Elections show:
Johnson’s campaign got a $1,000 contribution on Aug. 7, 2023, from Marc Brooks, who is affiliated with two maintenance companies that were part of Aramark’s proposal, including Hyde Park Hospitality. Friends of Brandon Johnson hasn’t returned the money.Twin Cleaning Professionals, Inc., gave $1,500 to Johnson’s campaign on Aug. 21, 2023, and the campaign returned it Nov. 9, a day after the Sun-Times asked about city contractors giving money to Johnson, and United Service’s contribution because of controversies involving its top executive Richard Simon. Based in Oakbrook Terrace, Twin Cleaning is a subcontractor for two of the newly hired contractors, Wood Dale-based Total Facility Maintenance, Inc., and United Maintenance Co., Inc., an affiliate of United Service.Vargas Group, Inc., gave $1,500 to Johnson’s campaign Aug. 21, 2023, and the money was returned Nov. 9. The Chicago business is also a subcontractor for Total Facility and United Maintenance, along with another one of the seven new prime contractors, GDI Services Inc., which has offices in Alsip.Total Facility Maintenance’s president Jimmie Daniels gave $1,500 to Johnson’s campaign on Aug. 21, 2023, and the money was returned Nov. 9.United Service Cos. contributed $2,500 on Aug. 21, 2023, and the money was returned Nov. 9.
Johnson’s City Hall aides won’t comment, and Neidhardt didn’t respond to questions about whether the janitorial contributions came from a fundraising event.
None of the people or companies that contributed to Johnson responded to calls or emails seeking comment, except for Simon, who says he knows little about his company’s campaign contribution or the CPS deal: “I am as far removed from CPS — you know as much about it as I do.”