{"id":540367,"date":"2021-05-25T16:50:50","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T20:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=540367"},"modified":"2021-05-25T16:50:58","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T20:50:58","slug":"illinois-dem-offered-activist-taxpayer-funded-job-in-alleged-bid-to-clear-primary-field-court-docs-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/illinois-dem-offered-activist-taxpayer-funded-job-in-alleged-bid-to-clear-primary-field-court-docs-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Dem Offered Activist Taxpayer-Funded Job in Alleged Bid to Clear Primary Field, Court Docs Show"},"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\">32<\/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%2Fillinois-dem-offered-activist-taxpayer-funded-job-in-alleged-bid-to-clear-primary-field-court-docs-show%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=540367&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--><div readability=\"28.717948717949\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Marie Newman&#8217;s agreement with potential opponent may have violated federal law<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1229596168_736x514-1.jpeg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1229596168_736x514.jpeg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1229596168_736x514-300x210.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1229596168_736x514-703x491.jpeg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/>\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/collin-anderson\/\" title=\"Posts by Collin Anderson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Collin Anderson<\/a> \u2022 May 25, 2021 4:35 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"104.73940020683\">\n<p><span>Democratic congresswoman Marie Newman (Ill.) promised a six-figure, taxpayer-funded job to a local activist that he says was a bribe to keep him out of a tight primary race\u2014an apparent violation of federal law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Columbia College Chicago adjunct professor and Palestinian activist Iymen Chehade sued Newman in January for breach of contract. Included in the lawsuit is a <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Newman-contract.pdf\">December 2018 agreement<\/a> signed by Newman that promised Chehade a senior role in the Democrat&#8217;s congressional office should she be elected. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Newman-lawsuit.pdf\">complaint<\/a>, which was first reported by CBS Chicago and obtained by the&nbsp;<i>Washington Free Beacon<\/i>, Newman offered the contract &#8220;in an effort to induce Chehade not to run against her in the primary.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Newman has not disputed the authenticity of her contract with Chehade\u2014a campaign spokesperson instead shared a statement with the <em>Washington<\/em> <em>Free Beacon<\/em> arguing the activist did not receive the job because he &#8220;misrepresented his qualifications&#8221; and &#8220;was ill-suited for a senior role in a congressional office.&#8221; The spokesperson also called Chehade&#8217;s claims &#8220;fictitious and frankly ludicrous.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The contract could spell serious trouble for Newman, a progressive media darling who narrowly defeated pro-life Democrat Dan Lipinski in the March 2020 primary. Federal law prohibits congressional candidates from offering employment for political purposes. Should Chehade&#8217;s allegation prove true, Newman&#8217;s proposition would &#8220;absolutely&#8221; violate the statute, Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust executive director Kendra Arnold told the<\/span><i><span>&nbsp;Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to the contract, Newman agreed to employ Chehade as both chief foreign policy adviser and either district director or legislative director. The role would have paid Chehade between $135,000 and $140,000 and did not require him to &#8220;maintain specific hours at the office,&#8221; the agreement states. Newman also promised Chehade &#8220;complete discretion about the selection and employment termination of staff members under his supervision&#8221; and pledged to &#8220;use her best efforts to provide Chehade a private office within the congressional suite.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1479618\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-title.png\" alt width=\"1286\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-title.png 1286w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-title-300x110.png 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-title-1024x374.png 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-title-768x281.png 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-title-736x269.png 736w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1286px) 100vw, 1286px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1479621\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-compensation.png\" alt width=\"1322\" height=\"386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-compensation.png 1322w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-compensation-300x88.png 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-compensation-1024x299.png 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-compensation-768x224.png 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-compensation-736x215.png 736w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1322px) 100vw, 1322px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1479624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-conditions.png\" alt width=\"1290\" height=\"998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-conditions.png 1290w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-conditions-300x232.png 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-conditions-1024x792.png 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-conditions-768x594.png 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-conditions-736x569.png 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-conditions-635x491.png 635w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/contract-employment-conditions-225x175.png 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span>Chehade&#8217;s involvement in the primary would have likely siphoned votes away from Newman, who defeated Lipinski by fewer than 3 points. Illinois&#8217;s Third Congressional District holds the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the state and is home to American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a prominent anti-Israel advocacy group and leading promoter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Chehade also backs BDS and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/uspcn.org\/2012\/05\/15\/on-the-anniversary-of-the-nakba-stand-for-palestine-events-across-the-country\/\"><span>spoke<\/span><\/a><span> at an AMP-sponsored event in 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Chehade went on to assist Newman&#8217;s campaign after accepting the agreement and declining to enter the primary, the lawsuit states. According to the complaint, Chehade served as an &#8220;informal&#8221; adviser to Newman prior to the primary and &#8220;helped her craft her campaign statement on Israel\/Palestine.&#8221; That <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/marienewmanforcongress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Israel_Palestine.pdf\"><span>statement<\/span><\/a><span> included Newman&#8217;s support for &#8220;the First Amendment right to pursue the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign&#8221; and opposition to &#8220;any federal, state, or local legislation&#8221; criminalizing the BDS movement.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Newman&#8217;s taxpayer-funded congressional lawyers are seeking to dismiss the lawsuit by claiming that the Democrat &#8220;did not have authority to enter into such an agreement.&#8221; They also argue that the case should be tossed because government officials are immune to most lawsuits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;Congresswoman Newman could not breach the contract in her individual capacity because she could only hire Mr. Chehade to work in the Congressional office in her official capacity,&#8221;&nbsp; Newman&#8217;s motion to dismiss states.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Newman received endorsements from Congress&#8217;s top progressives, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), and Cory Booker (D., N.J.), as well as &#8220;Squad&#8221; members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats Marie Newman&#8217;s agreement with potential opponent may have violated federal law  Collin Anderson \u2022 May 25, 2021 4:35 pm Democratic congresswoman Marie Newman (Ill.) &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2313008,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1229596168_736x514-1.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Illinois Dem Offered Activist Taxpayer-Funded Job in Alleged Bid to Clear Primary Field, Court Docs Show","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-540367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1229596168_736x514-1.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Illinois Dem Offered Activist Taxpayer-Funded Job in Alleged Bid to Clear Primary Field, Court Docs Show","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540367","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2313008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}