When a Socialist Goes to His Accountant...

It could be the start of a modestly funny joke: A socialist goes to an accountant and...

But of course, when the socialist is in charge of the second-largest city budget in the country, after New York City (which includes the public schools and hospitals in its own budget), it isn't funny at all. 

Chicago’s municipal budget is roughly 25 percent to 35 percent larger than Los Angeles’s despite Chicago having over one million fewer residents. It is more than double Houston's and Phoenix's budgets. Only New York City is larger, with a budget roughly seven times Chicago's — but New York City's budget covers a much larger set of public services and three times as many people. Apples for apples, as they say, Chicago's budget is about the same as or larger than New York City's. 

Developing story with @ad_quig https://t.co/wb8CMG3RDS

— Alice Yin (@byaliceyin) November 13, 2026

So it's no joke that Chicago's accountant, or in this case the chief financial officer, whose job it is to keep the city's books and ensure that they are accurate, is quitting in disgust after only three months. 

Her disgust isn't, as you might imagine, about how ridiculous the expenditures are or how much waste there is; it's for a much more "accountant"-type reason: the books can't be made in an honest fashion. 

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief financial officer resigned Friday after just three months on the job, saying she is unable to fulfill her obligation to provide “complete and accurate” statements about the city’s finances.

Ashlee Gabrysch exits her post as Johnson’s election-year budget is stalled thanks to an ongoing stalemate with aldermen. In her resignation letter obtained by the Tribune, Gabrysch signaled she was leaving due to concerns over how the city was representing financial information. “

The Chief Financial Officer’s statements about the City’s finances are relied upon by investors, rating agencies, City Council, and taxpayers, and they must be complete and accurate,” Gabrysch, who was most recently a senior director at Fitch Ratings, wrote to Johnson. “I am not able to fulfill those obligations under the conditions in which I have been asked to serve.”

That's not an ideological statement about how the city spends its tax dollars; it's essentially a statement that the books cannot be kept at all, at least not honestly under this administration. 

She is, in essence, saying she is being asked to lie about the city's financial state, and she refuses, as any honest fiduciary would. 

In a Friday statement to the Tribune, Gabrysch added, “The Chief Financial Officer’s statements about city finances are not idle chatter. … The CFO must act scrupulously to ensure they are always accurate and complete.”

“Throughout my career, I have remained committed to upholding the highest standards of financial integrity and transparency, and in my short time as Chief Financial Officer, I have faithfully discharged this duty,” Gabrysch said. “It has become apparent, however, that to continue in this role would be to compromise my integrity and professional obligations. I therefore have concluded that I must step down from my role, and hereby tender my resignation.”

The mayor now heads into month two of his fourth budget cycle without a permanent CFO. His first one, Jill Jaworski, resigned at the start of this year. Acting CFO Steven Mahr then exited in July. The city does not yet have a permanent budget director, either. Jonathan Ernst has been serving as acting director since Annette Guzman resigned in August to care for a sick family member.

If I were a professional who expects to be able to work, no less keep my a** out of jail, in a country which still has a half-functioning financial regulation system, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Mayor Brandon Johnson and his budgets or books either. 

This story will be covered as a pure process one, and likely will never rise to the public consciousness because it seems so inside baseball. 

Except it is not. Municipal bonds are one of the backbones of our financial system, and their stability and integrity rest on the belief that the books are kept honestly, not that the spending itself was particularly wise. And if the books are getting cooked, as is clearly being implied here, the entire foundation of the system itself and all that implies is at risk. 

Socialists, obviously, think that financial markets themselves are obstacles and even evil, and that resources should be controlled exclusively by them. The fact that somebody else has any money at all is a problem to be rectified, so playing with the books is just another tool to correct this flaw in the real world. 

The solution that Johnson will have to reach for, obviously, is to find a complete toady if he can. Somebody willing to lie and potentially face the consequences, or someone too stupid to realize the numbers can't be redefined however he wants. 

But that's just a personnel adjustment that will mean nothing to bond markets, which tend to be sticklers for the numbers. Look at the difference in how bond markets view AI "investments" versus the stock market; the bond traders are worried and pricing in risk, while the stock market loves the AI boom. 

Stock markets love stories; bond markets like numbers that add up. And Chicago's numbers obviously don't. 

Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has been infected by socialism, and it's spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there's nothing to worry about, but we know the truth.

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