Ethics panel probes whether Democratic lawmaker broke law by offering federal job to rival in bid to get him to drop out primary race – then retracting it after she won
- The House Ethics Committee is probing whether Democratic Rep. Marie Newman of Illinois promised a government job to a rival
- Investigators looking at whether she promised employment to Iymen Hamman Chehade in exchange for him not running against her in the 2020 primary
- Newman denies any quid pro quo
- She signed an employment contract with Chehade and then didn’t hire him
- He sued her for breach of contract after she won the 2020 election
- Her response said she couldn’t hire him as the contract violated House rules
The House Ethics Committee is probing whether Democratic Rep. Marie Newman of Illinois promised a government job to Iymen Hamman Chehade in exchange for him not running against her in the 2020 primary.
If that is the case, she would have broken federal law and House rules, the ethics panel said in a 13-page report released on Monday.
The panel said they had ‘substantial reason’ to believe Newman made such a move and recommended a further review from the Committee on Ethics.
The report has a profound impact on the political futures of both.
In October, Newman announced she would challenge fellow Democratic Rep. Sean Casten in the 6th congressional district after the state’s redistricting process placed her ina district represented by Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García of Chicago that is nearly 67% Latino.
And Chehade is running in the Democratic primary for the open seat in the newly created 3rd Congressional District. That district is Newman’s old district.
The ethics probe found that during the 2020 primary contest, Newman made Chehade ‘certain promises about future employment in her congressional office’ that were given in a written contract signed by both parties.
Newman denies a quid pro quo, arguing she was not a declared congressional candidate when she signed the contract. Federal Election Commission records show her campaign paid Chehade $24,500 for foreign policy consulting in October, November and December and $29,500 in July, August and September.
The House Ethics Committee is probing whether Democratic Rep. Marie Newman of Illinois (above) promised a government job to a rival – she denies charges
Investigators looking at whether Rep. Newman promised employment to Iymen Hamman Chehade (above) in exchange for him not running against her in the 2020 primary
The contract stated Chehade, a Palestinian-American professor of history, would have a start date of January 3, 2021 and continue as long as Newman remained in Congress. His salary would be between $135,000 and $140,000 per year.
But, after Newman won the congressional election, she did not hire Chehade, who then sued her for breach of contract.
Chehade claimed he didn’t run in the 2020 for Illinois’ 3rd congressional district, which covers the Southwest side of Chicago as well as its surrounding suburbs, because of Newman’s promise to hire him as a foreign policy advisor and either District Director or Legislative Director in her congressional office.
In a twist, Newman, in a motion to dimiss case, acknowledged that her contract was violative of House employment and federal contracting rules. Her legal counsel was the General Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The case was eventually settled and both of them signed nondisclosure agreements as a part of the settlement.
Newman claimed she wanted to hire him because of his policy expertise. She told ethics investigators that in her 2018 primary race, which she lost, that ‘one of the failures that I had personally that I’m accountable for is that I did not understand the Palestine-Israel issue very well.’
But negotiations conducted over email show one of the conditions of his employment was that Chehade ‘agrees not to announce or submit his candidacy’ for the third congressional district.
Ethics investigators noted Chehade did not cooperate, citing the nondisclosure he signed, and recommended he be subpoenaed.