{"id":1528760,"date":"2022-06-26T10:49:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T14:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1528760"},"modified":"2022-06-26T10:50:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-26T14:50:20","slug":"democrat-congressman-used-campaign-funds-to-pay-his-wife-and-ex-con-son-thousands-records-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-congressman-used-campaign-funds-to-pay-his-wife-and-ex-con-son-thousands-records-reveal\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat Congressman Used Campaign Funds To Pay His Wife And Ex-Con Son Thousands, Records Reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrat-congressman-used-campaign-funds-to-pay-his-wife-and-ex-con-son-thousands-records-reveal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1528760&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><ul>\n<li><b>Rep. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democratic congressman, has paid his wife and son roughly $56,000 from his campaign committee since 2019, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. <\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>His son Jeffrey has notably raked in close to $45,000 for mostly \u201cfield services\u201d and \u201cfield operations services,\u201d filings show, while his wife Paulette has been paid roughly $11,000 for \u201caccounting services.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li> <b>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a common practice, but it does happen,\u201d Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.\u00a0<\/b><b>\u201cIt\u2019s illegal to pay a family member anything above fair market value for their services. The practice is frowned upon because it is really difficult to determine if it is fair market value.\u201d<\/b> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Democratic Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush, who has a documented history of funneling campaign dollars to family members, has paid roughly $56,000 from his principal campaign committee to his wife and ex-convict son since 2019, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show.<\/p>\n<p>Rush, a former Black Panther Party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/the-recast\/2021\/12\/10\/bobby-rush-black-panther-congress-chicago-495425\">leader<\/a> who has served 15 terms in the House, paid his third wife Paulette Holloway Rush roughly around $11,000 between June 2021 and March 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/disbursements\/?data_type=processed&#038;committee_id=C00257121&#038;recipient_name=HOLLOWAY%2C+PAULETTE&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">filings<\/a> show. The congressman notably made one $3,600 payment on June 17, 2021, to Paulette, who is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressreader.com\/usa\/chicago-sun-times\/20180706\/282780652260681\">church<\/a> minister.<\/p>\n<p>Rush has also paid his son Jeffrey roughly $45,000 since 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/disbursements\/?data_type=processed&#038;committee_id=C00257121&#038;recipient_name=RUSH%2C+JEFFREY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">filings<\/a> show, for mostly \u201cfield services\u201d and \u201cfield operations services,\u201d which is typically for campaign duties such as door knocking, phone banking and event work. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/04\/19\/jim-clyburn-pays-family-members-campaign-funds\/\">(RELATED: Top Democrat Funneled More Than $200,000 In Campaign Cash To Family Members)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The payments were made from the Citizens for Rush committee, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/committee\/C00257121\/?tab=about-committee\">has<\/a> a Chicago mailing address and has raised over $220,000 in the latest election cycle. Rush announced his retirement in January and is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belovedcommunitycogic.com\/\">also<\/a> a church <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Beloved-Community-Christian-Church-of-God-in-Christ-156734711028589\/\">pastor<\/a> in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>While paying family members is not illegal under the law so long as an individual is being paid fair market value, the practice is \u201cfrowned upon\u201d by ethics experts because it is \u201creally difficult to determine\u201d what that value is, Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a candidate contracts with an independent person they\u2019re not related to, obviously they\u2019re going to negotiate for the best price and the fair market price,\u201d said Arnold, whose nonprofit aims to promote accountability and transparency in government. \u201cBut when they negotiate with a family member, it\u2019s a lot harder to determine whether or not they did that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An FEC spokeswoman explained to TheDCNF that members of Congress can use funds to pay family members \u201conly if the family member is providing a bona fide service to the campaign and the payments reflect the fair market value of those services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, the regulations do not further define \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/current\/title-11\/chapter-I\/subchapter-A\/part-113\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fair market value<\/a>,&#8217;\u201d the spokeswoman added.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7459520\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7459520\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 MARCH 16: Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) attends a bill enrollment ceremony for the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act at the U.S. Capitol March 16, 2022 in Washington, DC. The legislation makes lynching a federal hate crime, after more than a century of failed efforts to pass such a measure. The bill will now head to President Bidens desk after being passed by the House and the Senate. (Photo by Drew Angerer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It is unclear what sort of accounting the congressman\u2019s wife was doing for him and what Jeffrey\u2019s work precisely entailed. A spokesman for Rush did not respond to TheDCNF\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s another thing that often comes up when we see these cases where they\u2019re paying family members, where maybe that is not their primary job,\u201d said Arnold.<\/p>\n<p>Rush\u2019s son Jeffrey was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/bobby-rush-son-sentenced_n_135001\">sentenced<\/a> in 2008 to six months in jail for having sex with female prison inmates while working as head of security at an Illinois correctional facility. In 2011, Jeffrey was arrested on a <a href=\"https:\/\/herald-review.com\/\">warrant<\/a> for violating his probation in connection with his prior sexual conviction, Herald &#038; Review reported.<\/p>\n<p>Holloway did not return a request for comment, nor did Jeffrey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNepotism has long been recognized to be a feature of dysfunctional government,\u201d Pete McGinnis, a spokesman for <a href=\"https:\/\/functionalgovernment.org\/\">the<\/a> Functional Government Initiative, a federal watchdog probing ethics in government, told TheDCNF. \u201cWhile this practice of hiring family members as campaign workers is not necessarily illegal, it can raise ethics concerns. To pay your spouse with campaign contributions can appear as a self-payment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is hardly the first time Rush\u2019s campaign has paid his family and engaged in other controversial financial activities; the Democrat paid four family members over $100,000 during the 2016 election cycle, The Washington Free Beacon <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/rep-bobby-rush-paid-family-100k-campaign-funds-2016\/\">reported<\/a>. These payments were steered to his then-wife Carolyn, who passed away in 2017, his brother Marlon, his mother Cora and also his son Jeffrey, the Free Beacon reported.<\/p>\n<p>Rush paid his then-wife Carolyn hundreds of thousands of dollars since 2002, the Free Beacon also <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/rep-bobby-rush-paid-wife-550k-campaign-funds-kicked-190k-church-founded\/\">reported<\/a>. He cut \u201cconsulting services\u201d checks for Carolyn, paid his son Flynn for petition and polling drive services, his sister Judy for receptionist work and office management and also steered $190,000 to a church that he founded, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7459509\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7459509\" class=\"wp-image-7459509 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-25-at-4.18.18-PM.png\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-25-at-4.18.18-PM.png 1864w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-25-at-4.18.18-PM-282x97.png 282w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-25-at-4.18.18-PM-620x213-1.png 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-25-at-4.18.18-PM-768x264-1.png 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-25-at-4.18.18-PM-1536x527-1.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-25-at-4.18.18-PM-2048x703-1.png 2048w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7459509\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">June 17, 2021, $3,600 payment from Citizens for Rush to Paulette Holloway for \u201caccounting services.\u201d (Credit: FEC)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 2016, the FEC sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/pdf\/042\/201605150300047042\/201605150300047042.pdf\">letter<\/a> to Rush\u2019s campaign treasurer <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/kPBLY\">demanding<\/a> further details pertaining to his campaign finance report showing thousands of dollars spent on \u201ccampaign visibility\u201d and \u201cservices rendered,\u201d as well as other vague categories, the Chicago Tribune reported. But the congressman\u2019s office said at that time that it \u201cis not in receipt of an FEC letter and thusly\u2026 unable to comment on the details of such letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Rush\u2019s campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/pdf\/904\/201609099030755904\/201609099030755904.pdf\">responded<\/a> soon after, acknowledging several errors on its part, according to a letter.<\/p>\n<p>Rush is not alone among lawmakers in helping out family members from campaign funds. Democratic South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn has <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/04\/19\/jim-clyburn-pays-family-members-campaign-funds\/\">funneled<\/a> $200,000 in campaign money to entities managed by several relatives since 2018 and Democratic Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes has paid her family tens of thousands of dollars since 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/02\/01\/fec-records-jahana-hayes-campaign-funds-family-david-crenshaw-asia-clermont\/\">The Daily Caller<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>House Republicans put <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/gop-bill-ban-lawmakers-paying-family\">forth<\/a> a bill in June that would prohibit any candidate running for federal office from paying family members for related services.<\/p>\n<p>One of the co-sponsors of the bill, Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, told TheDCNF \u201cit is important for the public to be specifically aware of where funds go\u201d and that \u201ctransparency is integral to election integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democratic congressman, has paid his wife and son roughly $56,000 from his campaign committee since 2019, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. His<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1528760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1528760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1528760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1528760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1528760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}