[SUNTIMES] For the past dozen years, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., hasn't reported paying any rent for his campaign office, records show, in what experts say could be a violation of federal election law or House ethics rules.
It's one of a series of questionable practices an investigation by the Better Government Association and reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
Sun-Times found involving Citizens for Rush, the South Side congressman's campaign committee. Rush's campaign also has:
◆ Subsidized the South Side church founded by Rush, who is the congregation's pastor, giving Beloved Community Christian Church more than $196,000 since June 2004.
◆ Paid Rush's wife Carolyn Rush a year-round salary since January 2007 totaling $404,000 as a consultant. That's nearly a quarter of the $1.6 million the congressman's campaign fund has raised in that time.
| Jesse Jackson Jr. had a similar arrangement for his lovely wife, who was also a Chicago alder-critter... |
The 11-term congressman and former Chicago City Council member said through an aide he "tries to comply with all applicable House ethics, codes of conduct and campaign rules and regulations."
| No. Do, or do not. There is no try... |
Through his spokeswoman Debra Johnson, Rush answered a few questions about the campaign office in the Lake Meadows strip mall at 3361 S. Martin Luther King Drive by email. Asked about not having reported paying rent -- currently pegged by his landlord at $20,958 a year -- he suggested there's a loophole in the law that allows him to use the storefront for free or at a discounted rent -- though he did not say whether he gets the office rent-free or at a discount.
| Can I get the same loophole? |
He also said he doesn't think he needs to include the campaign office -- which he has used since he was 2nd Ward alderman and which has his name on the glass and his campaign posters from the 2012 election in the windows -- in his campaign-finance reports because he uses it largely for storage. 
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