Illinois Congresswoman Under Investigation For Allegedly Promising Employment To Political Opponent

By Adam Andrzejewski for RealClearPolicy

Illinois is the Super Bowl of corruption.

Illinois Congresswoman Marie Newman, a Democrat from Illinois’ 3^rd district, is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly convincing a potential political opponent to not to run against her by promising him a job on her staff if she won.

The Office for Congressional Ethics, an independent watchdog group, released a report explaining their “substantial reason to believe” that Rep. Newman promised federal employment to Iymen Chehade, and referred her case to the House Ethics Committee, who will begin an official investigation.

According to the report, Rep. Newman promised Chehade (then a 2020 campaign advisor to Newman) federal employment if she won the race. Chehade claims that he didn’t run against Newman in the 2020 primaries because of that promise of a position in her Congressional office. The two even signed a contract!

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When Chehade did not receive a position with Rep. Newman’s office after she won, he sued her for breach of contract, which is how the Office of Congressional Ethics caught wind of this in the first place. Newman’s own attorney admitted that this contract was in violation of House employment and federal contracting rules.

The breach of contract case has been settled with a non-disclosure agreement. The investigation now centers around whether “Rep. Newman may have promised Mr. Chehade federal employment for the purposes of procuring his political support,” which could be a violation of federal law.

A spokesperson for Newman said that the OCE review stemmed from a “politically-motivated” complaint from a right-wing organization and that the materials produced during the probe “overwhelmingly demonstrate that the ethics complaint is completely meritless.”

Syndicated with permission from Real Clear Wire.

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