Newman responds to allegations that she bribed her main adversary

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Newman is currently in a heated primary battle that has pitted her against Democratic U.S. Representative Sean Caston in the newly remapped 6th congressional district, where much of her base who helped her beat Dan Lipinski in the primary and 2020 elections, has been significantly reduced by the remapping of the neighborhood.

As Patch reported in May 2021, Iymen Chehade, assistant professor of history at Columbia College, sued Newman for breach of contract. According to the complaint, Chehade began mulling a race in the 2020 Democratic congressional primary. Newman also planned a second race for Congress in the 3rd district, after losing the 2018 primary district by a narrow margin to the holder Dan Lipinski.

>>> Rep. Marie Newman sued for ‘breach of contract’ for district job

Aware of the large Palestinian-American community in the IL-03 district, Chehade said Newman approached him in 2018, offering him a paid position on his team that reportedly paid six figures, in exchange for dropping out. the primary. Chehade maintains that he accepted his offer and dropped out of the primary race, which Newman claims Chehade was never a strong contender for.

Chehade and Newman signed a contract, drafted by his lawyer, supposedly sealing their deal. When she failed to hire him for a position after winning the 2020 election, he sued for breach of contract.

Election laws prohibit candidates from using future taxpayers’ money to reward someone for the work they do during their campaign.

Newman’s attorney said in a response to the House Ethics Committee last November that Chehade had never filed a case with the Federal Election Commission, nor had he publicly announced his intention to run. in the primaries. Instead, his attorney argued that Chehade mentioned his interest in running for the Illinois State Senate.

When Chehade raised the possibility of running in the next primary in an October 2018 email, Newman “reacted negatively” and said there could be no deal, his lawyers said.

The journalist’s spokesman, Pat Mullane, told Patch that Chehade’s lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, but was taken up by a conservative watchdog group, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, which filed a “complaint to political motivation” to the Congressional Ethics Office regarding the dismissed lawsuit. .

“The documents produced during the OCE review overwhelmingly demonstrate that the ethics complaint is completely without merit,” Mullane said.

The Congressional Ethics Office, an independent, nonpartisan entity charged with investigating allegations of misconduct against members of the House, officers and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in its report :

“Rep. Newman, during a successful campaign for election to the United States House of Representatives, may have promised a federal job to a primary opponent in an effort to garner political support. Newman used her candidacy to promise federal employment, she may have violated federal law, house rules or standards of conduct.”

The OCE board, by unanimous vote of its six members, recommended that the House Ethics Committee further investigate the allegations against Newman, “because there are substantial grounds to believe that Rep. Newman may have promised a federal job to a primary opponent in an effort to garner political support.”

Only the House Ethics Committee has the power to punish a legislator for wrongdoing. The ethics office delivered its report to the house committee on Monday. Instead of rejecting it, the congressional committee extended the review process.

“The [House Ethics] The Committee notes that the mere fact of conducting a further review of a referral, and any mandatory disclosure of such further review, does not in itself indicate that a violation has occurred, nor does it reflect a judgment on behalf of the Committee,” according to a House ethics committee. Press release.

Newman cooperated with the investigation and turned over documents regarding what happened between her and Chehade.

The first-term Democratic congresswoman is known for her progressive views on race, health care, jobs and the environment. She racked up numerous endorsements from pro-choice, labor and suburban mayors in the upcoming June primary for the Democratic nomination.

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