Prairie State Wire

Comptroller Susanna Mendoza fires staffer over antisemitic social media messages

Illinois Comptroller Susanna Mendoza on Thursday fired her legal counsel after learning of a social media exchange that included antisemitic messages.

According to a screenshot of a social media message, Sarah Chowdhury responded to a story on X, formerly Twitter, calling the author of the story a "Zionist Pig" and also wrote, "burn in hell."

Chowdhury's post was met with sexually explicit retorts by a person who identified themselves as Jewish.

Chowdhury, whose "X" profile describes herself as a Chicago attorney and includes "Free Palestine," responded with angry messages including:

• "All you Zionists will pay."
• "I'd rather put you in a gas chamber bet you'd like that. With all your Zionist ancestors."
• "Hitler should have eradicated all of you."

Mendoza's office reportedly learned about the social media exchange Thursday afternoon. Chowdhury was fired later in the day, according to Capitol Fax.

Chowdhury advocated on behalf of clients applying for disability benefits with the Social Security Administration, according to a LinkedIn profile that is no longer public.

Chowdhury also is listed as the Chicago Bar Association co-chairperson of its Racial Justice Coalition and serves on the associate board of the Chicago Public Library Foundation.