Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL) is at it again with his failure to pay his taxes and other assorted debts. The former Defense Minister of the Black Panthers-turned-Illinois Congressman has represented the first congressional district – which includes my hometown of Beverly – since 1993. Rep. Rush has been a pet project of mine since 1994 when I barged into his press conference waiving copies of his back property tax liens totaling more than $58,000. The Chicago media were not planning on reporting his tax troubles during that 1994 election either.
Here is the video from Rush’s ill-fated press conference in 1994:
Some things never change.
On Wednesday, November 3, 2010 – just one day after the recent midterm elections – Chicago-based New City bank filed a lawsuit for more than $500,000 against Congressman Rush and his wife, Carolyn. Instead of a front-page spotlight, the Chicago Sun-Times gave paragraph mention of the story on page 10 of its daily paper and other media outlets followed suit. New City’s lawsuit claims it has repeatedly asked Rep. Rush to pay his property taxes plus interest and he has failed to do so. The Congressman owes $11,466.68 in property taxes on a private gated property in Michigan and $2,172.81 in taxes on a Chicago condo. Due to the failure to pay, the bank exercised its right to call in the full amount of the bank loans – including $227,632 for the Michigan property, $341,357 for the Chicago property, and a $37,000 home equity loan.
On Thursday, Rush spokesperson Stephanie Galdin called the lawsuit “puzzling” and then attempted to blame bank practices for Rush’s behavior. According to Gadlin, the suit illustrates “the callous and often times, extreme, non-negotiable practices of some banks that have contributed to millions of families in Chicago and the nation losing their homes.” So now the bank is abusing Rep. Bobby Rush? Apparently, he does not believe that he should have to pay what he owes. That the rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to him.
from Chicago’s Cook County Record of Deeds
Recent records from the Cook County Recorder of Deed’s Office document Rep. Bobby Rush’s checkered past of federal and local liens and lawsuits forcing him to pay what he owes:
Federal Liens:
– Doc. No. 93149155 in the amount of $27,186.00. Released on 1/2/1996 Doc. No. 96028474
– Doc. No. 90202763 in the amount of $27,942.00. Released on 10/4/1994 Doc. No. 96028475
State Liens:
– Doc No. 04044304 in the amount of $2,812.00. Released on 1/11/1996 Doc. No. 96028476
– Doc. No. 92299670 in the amount of $1,978.00. Released on 12/29/1995 Doc. No. 96028477
Judgments Entered Against Bobby L. Rush:
6/17/96 In the amount of $4,442.00 in favor of Plaintiff Peoples Gas
10/14/00 In the amount of $9,953.00 in favor of Plaintiff Lucent Tech
Back Child Support
In 1994, charges against him were leveled that the Congressman had failed to pay his child support payments. An order dated March 30, 1995 states that Bobby Rush had finally satisfied his obligation of support owed to Sandra Rush and the Illinois Dept of Public Aid for the care of Jeffrey and Flynn Rush.
More Foreclosure Lawsuits
The Chicago Sun-Times also reported that in December 2005, Washington Mutual filed two foreclosure lawsuits against Rush.
Parking Tickets
As an Alderman, Rush was named to a City of Chicago list of 157,000 scofflaws. The list included Alderman Dorothy Tillman (3rd) and Alderman Percy Giles (37th), Cook County Commissioner Danny Davis and former Ald. Juan Soliz (25th), who together compiled more than 200 unpaid parking tickets. In 1994, Rush’s unpaid parking tickets again became an issue. However, Rush filed an affidavit that same year saying that he had paid all of outstanding obligations in order to buy a city-owned lot near his home on the South Side.
In 1999, the Chicago’s Revenue Department, released records on Rush’s unpaid tickets still indicated that Congressman had accumulated $750 in fines for 12 tickets from 1991 to 1998. He denied that he owed tickets for five other cars despite that the City of Chicago said he was responsible for them. In this, as always, Rush plays the race and victim cards.
In 1994, when he was finally questioned by the media, Rush referenced the names of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, who was killed in a police raid, and accused murderer O.J. Simpson. Dodging legitimate questions about his unpaid bills he said, “My name is not Popcorn Willie. I will not be intimidated by the press, nor by the powers that be. I was not intimidated by Mayor Richard J. Daley. And I’m certainly not intimidated by the son. I’m not intimidated by the press, and I’m not intimidated by slanderers and falsehoods.”
In 2010, when the mainstream media put a national spotlight on U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, they made her house foreclosure front-page news. The critics came out with their daggers, tarring and feathering O’Donnell as an incompetent buffoon as a result of the kind of financial troubles everyday Americans are now experiencing. In contrast, long-time congressmen like Rep. Bobby Rush and Rep. Charlie Rangel have been given a full media absolution. Where are the front page headlines day after day? Why do voters find out about Rep. Bobby Rush’s indiscretions after elections and buried in newspaper paragraph mentions intended only to cover the media’s journalistic asses?
In 1994, I ran against Bobby Rush for U.S. Congress but it was not a race I could have won. The Chicago media need not have worried. The first congressional district has the highest percentage of African-Americans (65%) of any district in the nation and being Irish does not seem to play well for a majority of voters who live there. The racial tensions and resentment between the poor and middle class still, unfortunately, exist.
So, why does the Chicago media continue to protect Rep. Bobby Rush, who co-founded the Black Panther Party’s Illinois branch, which was known for intimidating local businesses into making “donations” to Panther charities? Where is the drumbeat calling for him to account for his actions and resign? Why isn’t Rep. Bobby Rush, who went AWOL from the U.S. Army and served six months in jail on an illegal weapons conviction, held to the same standards as we would be for not paying his taxes?
As Defense Minister of the Black Panthers in the 1960s, Bobby Rush advocated killing police officers and the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government. Now, he is a media- protected member of the U.S. Congress. Where are the real reporters? Apparently not in Chicago.