* Press release…

[Yesterday], U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) called on Marie Newman and Iymen Chehade to publicly release the details of the settlement at the heart of the US House of Representatives investigation into Rep. Marie Newman for promising federal employment to Mr. Chehade in exchange for his political support.

“I first ran for Congress in 2018, in part in response to the ethical lapses of Donald Trump,” said Rep. Casten. “Public service is a trust, and our entire democracy is jeopardized when voters have reason to believe that any elected officials are placing our personal self-interest above the public good. Ethics matters.”

“Until now, I have declined to comment on the investigation into Marie Newman to give her the opportunity to clear the record herself. It has been over five months since the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics unanimously voted to further the investigation into Marie Newman. Five months of silence is unacceptable. It is time for her to level with the public.

“Here are the facts:

• The nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics found “substantial reason to believe” Marie Newman bribed a political opponent. (Page 1)
• Congresswoman Newman signed a contract with Iymen Chehade, promising him a taxpayer-funded job paying at least $135,000 (Page 11).
• In email exchanges shortly before the contract was signed, OCE’s investigation revealed that Mr. Chehade proposed he would not ‘announce or submit his candidacy’ for the 3rd Congressional District in exchange for the position Congresswoman Newman later promised him (Page 10).
• Iymen Chehade is now on Marie Newman’s campaign payroll and was paid over $54,000 between July 1 and December 15th last year. (Source)

“On multiple occasions, Congresswoman Newman has dismissed these credible charges against her as partisan – taking zero accountability even as a left-leaning ethics organization has repeatedly expressed alarm at her actions.

“In eight days, the next quarterly FEC report is due. Congresswoman Newman still faces questions voters deserve to know the answer to. How much of the money entrusted to her by her campaign donors has she promised to pay Iymen Chehade? Has she made any promises to pay him with taxpayer-provided funds? Does the settlement provide Mr. Chehade with any input on her policy positions or impact on her votes, as suggested may be the case based on her email exchanges with Mr. Chehade? What did Mr. Chehade commit to provide Congresswoman Newman in exchange for the cash payments?

“Rep. Newman can answer these questions, and owes it to the voters to do so. They have given us their trust. They deserve the truth. That starts with releasing the details of her settlement with Iymen Chehade and releasing Chehade from his non-disclosure agreement so he may fully cooperate with the investigation.”

* Lynn Sweet with react and some more context…

Newman’s campaign has not answered repeated requests to explain if there was a connection between the lawsuit settlement and Chehade’s new job. On Thursday, Newman campaign spokesman Ben Hardin said in response to Casten’s disclosure call, “Our campaign cannot legally comment on the settlement that Rep. Casten is referring to.” […]

Chehade said in a statement, “It’s disappointing” that Casten “is using a labor agreement as a cheap tool for political gain at a time when so many working people in Illinois are facing hardships.” […]

The OCE report included an e-mail exchange between Chehade and Newman. At 1:57 a.m on Oct. 27, 2018, Chehade sent his employment proposal to Newman, where he states he agreed not to run for Congress and “in exchange,” Newman will hire Chehade, as her chief foreign policy adviser to focus on Palestinian-Israeli issues.

He made the highly unusual demands for him to never have to meet with any representative from the Israeli government and to have the final word on her policy positions.

Chehade’s statement equating his sweet little “labor agreement” to struggling workers is just absurd.

* Related…

* Press release: Casten Lambasts GOP Hypocrisy on Today’s Gasoline Prices & Energy Efficiency: Imagine a world where the Republican party praised the President for raising the price of oil by 24 percent. That sounds crazy, right? And yet it’s exactly what happened two years ago this month when Trump threatened to remove U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia unless they cut oil production. Oil prices are not set by the President; they are a function of global supply and demand. But when the President pressures another country to slash supply, the price at the pump – and oil industry profits – surge accordingly. That’s exactly what happened in April of 2020. The GOP praised Trump’s approach. What’s more, nearly 50 of my Republican House colleagues wrote a letter directly to the Saudi Crown Price demanding that he cut crude output. They wanted higher oil company profits, so they forced a reduction in supply to make it happen. Fast forward today: the same Republicans who pressured Saudi to cut oil supply and increase prices just two years ago are now berating President Biden for using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to BOOST supply AND opposing every effort to boost our energy efficiency and cut fossil fuel demand. So why, you might ask, would a party that fought to raise oil prices two years ago also be fighting to raise the price of oil today? Because given a choice between your wallet and the fossil fuel industry, the GOP will always take from you to subsidize them.

*** UPDATE *** The gloves are definitely coming off…

Congresswoman Marie Newman’s campaign spokesperson Nick Uniejewski released the following statement in response to Congressman Sean Casten’s call for her to disclose a settlement agreement:

“As Rep. Casten is aware, this settlement can not legally be discussed. Voters should, however, be aware of several recent lawsuits encompassing Rep. Casten, after being accused of an effort to enrich himself at others’ expense as well as the current federal investigation in which Rep. Casten is accused of a federal felony for illegally coordinating his campaign and his father’s Super PAC against former female primary opponent Kelly Mazeski.”

“Casten’s fossil fuel company, Recycled Energy Development (RED) was sued in 2015 and 2016 for gross mismanagement and using investors’ money to line his family’s own pockets. After allegedly transferring money to his own family, misreporting on financial reports, and shafting individual investors, the lawsuits were settled.”

“If anyone has a pattern of questionable ethics in this race, it’s Rep. Casten. The unanswered questions about Rep. Casten’s ethics, transparency, and accountability need to be answered:

• Rep. Casten never answered questions about his current and active FEC complaint and investigation into the allegation of a federal felony where he, his campaign, and his father’s Super PAC illegally coordinated to oust a progressive female primary opponent, all under one roof.
• Sean Casten has never had to answer for his numerous lawsuits where he is accused of fleecing investors, in some cases draining them of their entire retirement savings.

…Adding… From the Casten campaign…

Hey Rich,

I saw Newman’s response to our release and wanted to clarify something. There is no “federal investigation” into Rep. Casten. A Newman donor did file an FEC complaint against our campaign, but to say that Rep. Casten is being “investigated” for anything isn’t just misleading, it’s factually wrong.