Rush acknowledged in April that the Office of Congressional Ethics was conducting an inquiry into his conduct. The office can’t discipline House members, though the committee can recommend punishment for those who run afoul of the rules or the law.
Rush said he thought the inquiry was triggered by a Chicago Sun-Times/Better Government Association investigation of him published in December.
That investigation examined Rush’s campaign spending, his personal finances and a nonprofit he founded. He is a minister with a church that has social-service agencies.
The Sun-Times probe of Bobby Rush reported that he had little to show for a $1 million grant secured from Southwestern Bell (later rebranded as AT&T) for a nonprofit he founded in Englewood.