Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) wears a hoodie in support of teen Trayvon Martin who was killed during an attack on a neighborhood watchman.
An ethics inquiry began against Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL).
The Hill reported:
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) said the Office of Congressional Ethics is reviewing him after reports in December about a $1 million grant his non-profit organization received more than a decade ago.
Rush told the Chicago Sun-Times he has been cooperating fully with the review and has asked others around him to do the same. He said he has not yet been interviewed by the independent panel.
“I have been just totally, totally cooperative, open and cooperative and I encouraged anybody they wanted to talk to [to be] honest and frank about it,” Rush said.
He said he hoped the OCE would find he has not violated any rules. If the review advances, it could head to the House Ethics Committee for further review or dismissal.Rush’s campaign fund has paid $5,000 to a law firm to handle the review. His attorney, Scott Thomas, said he expects Rush to be interviewed and hoped the matter would be fully resolved “without any need for sanction.”
Thomas said the review likely stems from a Sun-Times report in December that found a $1 million grant from telecommunications company SBC, now AT&T, given to Rush’s group to build a community center to teach technology skills never resulted in a finished center. And as the report points out, “it’s unclear what happened to the money.”
Rush said all the money went to computer training at other locations in the community.
At least one-third of sitting Black Caucus members, a Democratic group, have been named in an ethics probe at some time during their career.
