WASHINGTON — The Federal Election Commission has questioned House Democrat Bobby Rush’s campaign over a campaign-finance report that showed thousands of dollars spent on vague categories such as “campaign visibility” and “services rendered.”
In a letter sent on Sunday, the FEC asked Rush’s campaign for more details about expenditures in those categories and others and warned an audit could result if questions weren’t answered.
The FEC singled out Rush’s report covering Feb. 25 through March 31. One area of FEC interest was cash disbursements, including “Cash to Pay Election Day Workers.” A $23,000 cash disbursement on the day of the primary went to campaign treasurer Sheila L. Jackson for that purpose, reports show.
The FEC’s letter gave the campaign a June 20 deadline to respond.
A spokeswoman for Rush said that, as of Monday, the lawmaker “is not in receipt of an FEC letter and thusly … unable to comment on the details of such letter.”
Rush, who is from Chicago’s South Side and took his congressional seat in 1993, easily won a March primary election. His campaign paid his wife, Carolyn, $50,000 in 2015 for consulting, and his brother, Marlon Rush of Lansing, $13,000 in 2016 for two months’ work as campaign manager, according to FEC reports. Four others with the surname Rush were paid a total of nearly $14,000 this year, the reports show.
Without naming the Rushes, the FEC questioned the lack of specificity in some of those payments, including one listed in the report as “Services Rendered – February 2016.”
The FEC does not take issue with relatives working on campaigns if they are qualified and paid at fair-market value.
However, watchdog groups frown on the practice when payments grow large. Craig Holman, an ethics expert with Public Citizen, said Tuesday that he does not take issue when a newcomer to politics brings on a family member who works for little cash. But, he said, “any full-time professional salary concerns me.”
“If a campaign has that kind of resources, it should hire someone else to do the job. They can afford it to get away from the nepotism,” Holman said.
Holman noted that members of Congress are not allowed to put family members on their congressional staffs. But on the campaign side, they can “literally put hundreds of thousands of dollars in their own family’s pocket,” he said.
Rush’s spokeswoman Debra Johnson did not answer a question on Rush’s relation to those on the campaign report who share his last name.
Rush has raised about $417,000 since his re-election in 2014 and spent about $461,000. On March 31, his campaign was technically in the red: $22,000 in cash on hand and debts of almost $26,000.
Rush, a former Black Panther and Chicago alderman, nearly failed to make the ballot late in 2015 because of problems with nominating petition signatures. But he won the primary after a late cash infusion from donors, including political action committees representing labor and industry groups.
He beat Ald. Howard Brookins Jr., 21st, in the primary to advance to the general election on Nov. 8.
Brett Kappel, a Washington lawyer with the firm Akerman LLP, reviewed the FEC letter and said Tuesday: “These are the type of FEC reporting errors typically seen on the reports filed by a first-time candidate, not a member who has been in Congress for more than 20 years.”
Twitter @KatherineSkiba
