A retired Democratic congressman, who has long come under scrutiny for campaign payments to family members, dished out hundreds of dollars more from his committee to his wife before leaving Congress, records show.
Former Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars through the years in campaign funds to his family, often raising concerns among watchdog groups and campaign finance lawyers. Just before his retirement, Rush's campaign sent another $900 to his wife, church minister Paulette Holloway Rush, for "accounting services," according to Federal Election Commission filings.
RETIRING DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN SHELLS OUT MORE IN CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO WIFE, EX-CONVICT SON
"Democrats spent like drunken sailors, overheated the economy, and saddled families with skyrocketing inflation," Will Reinert, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP House members, told the Washington Examiner. "But they use their positions of power to benefit their friends and family instead of working Americans.”
Rush, who departed Congress after 15 terms serving Chicago, is also a pastor at the city's Beloved Community Christian Church of God in Christ. He has been slammed in the past for steering campaign money to the church, which is linked to a nonprofit group health center that has counted Rush's daughter, Kacy Rush, as a board member, tax forms show.
During the 2022 election cycle, the then-congressman's campaign handed $13,500 to his wife for "accounting services," filings show. She also received $300 in March 2020 for "field services," which typically constitute campaign duties such as door knocking, and reimbursements totaling over $2,200.
Sending campaign money to family members isn't illegal, however it is typically frowned upon by campaign finance and ethics experts. Excess payments beyond fair-market, which can be hard to quantify and is specific to each campaign, are meant to be classified for "personal use," according to the FEC.
"With payments to family members this can be difficult to determine because, unlike payments to others, there may be incentive to pay a family member more or pay them for work that is not needed," Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, an ethics watchdog, told the Washington Examiner. "This makes it difficult for the public to determine whether the payments complied with the law."
Another family member Rush supported while in Congress is his ex-convict son, Jeffrey Rush, who raked in around $45,000 from his father's campaign since 2019, according to campaign finance records.
Since 2002, the former congressman also cut checks to his mother, Cora Rush, his brother, Marlon Rush, and his then-wife Carolyn Rush, who died in 2017, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Rush also used campaign money to pay his sister, Judy Rush, for receptionist and office management work, and his brother, Flynn Rush, for petition and polling drive services, the outlet reported.
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In recent years, members of Congress have come under the spotlight for paying family members with campaign money. As a result, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) and other Republicans put forth a bill in June 2022 called the Family Integrity to Reform Elections Act, which would ban federal candidates from paying immediate family members with campaign funds.
"Current campaign finance law has allowed for millions of dollars to flow out campaigns and into the bank accounts of a candidate's family member with little proof of what they are actually contributing," said Fallon upon introducing the bill.