Chicago alderman calls for probe after CFO's resignation

Moving on over to some of our other reporters who are following really important stories today. One of them is Brandon Pope. Yeah, Brandon, I know you have a big one-on-one coming up today. Yes, I do. I thought I was going to ease into the day with just the one-on-one with Alder, not Alder, with former Comptroller Susana Mendoza. We'll be talking with her about her mayoral ambitions as part of the first in our mayoral series. And I'm looking forward to that discussion. Wow, you talk about a bombshell news day, guys, with the announcement that Mayor Brandon Johnson's chief financial officer is going to be resigning from the administration just about three months into the job during a key period, budget negotiations. She actually submitted a statement to us all about this. Her name is Ashley Gabrish. ...obligations. Once again, she said staying on would compromise her integrity and her professional obligations. In the resignation statement, she also stressed that taxpayers, aldermen, and investors rely on the city's financial numbers being accurate and complete. Now, we did hear her publicly disagree with the mayor's budget math. Just last month, as budget hearings just got underway, the administration said... Its plan closes 76% of this more than $400 million budget gap, and she said it's more closer to 56%. That may have been our first sign that there may have been some disagreements between her office and the mayor's office on this. Now, the mayor's statement coming out. Pretty hot as well against what Ashley is saying. Johnson says his office will report the CFO to the inspector general, alleging that she broke the law by authorizing what city council wanted, which was a $75 million pension payment in addition to the pension payment that Johnson had budgeted already in his proposed budget. They say that she was required to wait for the mayor to sign or veto the legislation or alternatively for it to take effect. The suspect automatically at the next city council meeting and they're saying she did not do that. So they are reporting her to the inspector general and they accept her resignation. They also allege that Ashley was largely absent during critical periods of the city's budget preparation process. And they say they made multiple attempts to meet with her to discuss the action and seek an explanation, but there was no resolution to them. Once again, this information coming to us by the minute as we're all kind of processing it in the newsroom right now, which is the benefit of a show like this, because you're getting things up to the minute and by the hour. Now, for once again, context here, she's the third person to leave the CFO job this year, counting the acting CFO who stepped down back in July. I'm already hearing from aldermen who are organizing right now. And saying they want to have a hearing on this now, the CFO resignation. They want to bring Gabrish in and hear from her and figure out what exactly went on here. The other thing, too, Alderman Bill Conway right away coming out with a call for an independent investigation into the mayor's office and their financial statements. He's saying, hey, if you're making false financial statements, that could be against the law as well. Lots of things swirling right now. Now the mayor's office saying they believe that Gabrish broke. We'll be following this. We'll talk with Alderman Bill Conway. He's on an airplane right now, but we're going to be sure to hit him up when he lands. We're also going to talk to the Civic Federation and get their take. On all this budget drama, you're going to hear that stuff at the 4 o'clock and the 5 o'clock. And then, of course, I've got my interview with Susana Mendoza later today. A busy day here for our Friday, politically. We'll get some caffeine. Yeah, for real, for real. Brandon, you kind of mentioned it about the other CFO resigning back in July. Another one before that in January. If you could just kind of give us a little bit of context, because there really have been quite a few notable departures in the mayor's office, even just this year in 2026. Yeah, lots of notable departures and notable departures in the financial side of the mayor's office, right? That's not typical. That's not normal. And, you know, elders I talk to have expressed concern and doubts about this. Now, this resignation here kind of adding to the drama here, but also becoming a little bit of a he said, she said. The mayor's office claiming that this chief financial officer broke the law. And what she was doing in authorizing this $75 million additional pension payment without going through the proper process. Meanwhile, she's alleging that she felt like she was sacrificing her integrity by making statements or, I guess, being swayed to make statements that she did not think were exactly true. So pretty sharp. There's allegations on both sides here that are pretty big bombshells either way, no matter which one is true here. We're just trying to get to the heart of it all. But, yeah, this is unconventional, absolutely. And so, you know, it's coming at a really rough time. The city is trying to get a budget together. December 31st is when this is due. And it kind of complicates things. City Council already calling a special city council meeting for Wednesday on ShotSpotter and the millionaire's tax. Now they want another one. Around this issue, we got a lot to follow here and all while he's trying to be reelected as well. Brandon Pope. Thank you, sir. Thank you in politics for us.