* Russell Lissau at the Daily Herald…
A suburban congressional candidate is awaiting trial in a federal fraud case alleging she misused COVID-19 relief funds.
Tedora M. Brown, a Palos Park resident who’s seeking the Republican nomination for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District seat [against US Rep. Bill Foster], maintained her innocence during a lengthy telephone interview Thursday.
“They came after me because I’m a Republican and I’m an American Black woman,” Brown said. “If I was guilty, why would I run for Congress? Why would I put myself in the limelight? It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Brown and husband Christopher Scott fraudulently obtained at least $742,000 in small business loans and grants from the federal government for businesses that didn’t exist or weren’t operating, prosecutors alleged after their indictments in 2023.
Brown is charged with 13 counts of wire fraud. Her trial is set for June 22, 2026.
Scott, then of Hazel Crest, was charged with nine counts of wire fraud. He pleaded guilty in April to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced in August to nearly six years in prison. Currently incarcerated in West Virginia, Scott also was ordered to pay $567,333 in restitution.
* Former US Rep. Melissa Bean…
Today, Congressman and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-05) and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) endorsed Melissa Bean in the race for Illinois’ 8th Congressional District seat.
Statement from Congressman Steny Hoyer:
“As Democrats fight to protect progress and fundamental American values, we need strong, experienced leadership in the House. That’s why I am proud to offer my full support to my friend and former colleague Melissa Bean in the race to represent IL-08 in Washington. Throughout her time in Congress, Melissa’s work ethic and her ability to win tough fights made her an effective and formidable leader, and I am confident that she will help us defend our progress for American families.”
Statement from Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz:
“I’m honored to support Melissa Bean, a dear friend and true fighter. An incredible mom with a razor sharp business intellect, the 8th district in Illinois will get the best representative out there. From our early days in Congress to our work together on historic legislation like the Affordable Care Act, I’ve seen her compassion, integrity, and legislative effectiveness up close. Melissa leads with principle and purpose — and that’s exactly the kind of leadership Congress desperately needs today. I would be thrilled and proud to serve alongside her once again.”
Yesterday, Kevin Morrison announced an endorsement from former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, who held the seat from 2011 to 2013 after knocking off former Rep. Melissa Bean.
* AP…
Hoan Huynh was going door-to-door informing businesses of ramped up immigration enforcement on Chicago’s North Side when the Democratic state lawmaker got an activist notification of federal agents nearby.
He followed agents’ vehicles and then honked to warn others when he was pulled over. Masked federal officers pointed a gun at him and a staffer, attempted to break his car window and took photos of their faces, before issuing a warning, he recounted. […]
Huynh, who was elected to the Illinois House in 2022, is also running for Congress to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schawkosky, among four open House seats in safely Democratic territory. Other candidates in the crowded primary have also publicized their opposition outside a federal immigration processing center, including Kat Abughazaleh who was thrown on the ground by federal agents as she protested. […]
“My family came as refugees from the Vietnam War where people were being picked up by the secret police all the time. We believed in the American ideal of due process,” he said. “It is very concerning that in this country right now and very disturbing right now that we are living under this authoritarian regime.”
* 7th Congressional District candidate and state Rep. La Shawn Ford in the Tribune…
Unfortunately, hospitals in Illinois are seriously abusing the 340B program. Some of our largest and wealthiest hospital systems are reaping millions of dollars from marking up discounted drugs meant for our underserved patients and funneling those profits into high-end suburban facilities, where they charge wealthy, fully insured patients full price and pocket the profit. This intentional exploitation of the program leaves the very communities the program was designed to help even further behind.
And yet, today, despite this far-from-stellar track record, hospital lobbyists have the audacity to be pressuring lawmakers in Springfield to expand 340B and are even asking them to remove transparency safeguards on the program. They paint this effort as a fight for patients. But to truly fight for patients, we must take an honest look at how the system is being abused today. Illinois hospitals are siphoning dollars away from poor communities to build cancer clinics and infusion centers in some of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the state. […]
We should not and cannot allow corporations to continue gaming the system. Before the General Assembly even thinks about expanding 340B, lawmakers — both in Congress and Springfield — must make sure 340B dollars are being spent on the underserved.
They must demand transparency on where hospital 340B revenues are going, require hospitals to reinvest profits in the communities that qualify them for the program, and end the abusive practice of linking South and West Side hospitals to suburban luxury clinics.
* CBS Chicago…
More than a dozen members of Congress will be in Chicago on Friday morning to push back against the immigration crackdown happening across the state.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Mayor Brandon Johnson are among the lawmakers who are expected to attend. The list also includes U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, who is a ranking member of the immigration integrity, security and enforcement subcommittee, and representatives Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia, Delia Ramirez, Robin Kelly, and Danny Davis.
They’re calling the shadow hearing “Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Assault on Chicago.” Organizers said the goal is to dive into what they describe as President Trump’s “unlawful and aggressive actions in Chicago.”
Witnesses will speak to what they call the personal trauma, constitutional violations, and labor implications of the immigration crackdown, which started about a month and a half ago.
- Gimmie Gimmie - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 11:26 am:
The ole’ “politicians don’t commit crimes” defense, well played.
- Candy Dogood - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 11:30 am:
===“If I was guilty, why would I run for Congress? Why would I put myself in the limelight? It just doesn’t make any sense.”===
There has literally been no better time for a person charged with a series of felonies, especially for financial crimes, to run for congress as a Republican.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 11:31 am:
===Yesterday, Kevin Morrison announced an endorsement from former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh===
Man, the ads will write themselves. “Morrison is supported by an extremist who said ‘Life of the woman is not an exception’ for abortions.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/10/19/163239925/life-of-the-mother-never-a-reason-for-abortion-congressman-says
Don’t need to mention the name, just run the quotes. And he said a LOT of things that won’t go over well in a Democratic primary.
- Pundent - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 11:34 am:
=If I was guilty, why would I run for Congress.=
Sounds like a better argument to make with a judge. Get back to us if he/she buys it and we’ll talk.
- Steve - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 12:10 pm:
Having the Joe Walsh endorsement is very, very funny stuff. The grift is eternal.
- Pam - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 12:19 pm:
What’s happening is horrifying. It’s hard to take Delia Ramirez and Chuy Garcia seriously when they didn’t campaign for Kamala Harris. After the election, both were rewarded with prominent roles in the Progressive Caucus. If you don’t support a Black woman at the top of the ticket in Illinois, don’t be surprised when your local candidate isn’t supported.
We as Democrats need to own our part in this mess. Their efforts now are admirable, but they’re falling on deaf ears especially after their teams refused to help and treated people so rudely.
- Pundent - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 12:35 pm:
Having Joe Walsh’s endorsement in a Democratic primary would seem to be a boat anchor. It really calls Morrison’s judgement into question. Some tents shouldn’t be made bigger.
- Walker - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 1:04 pm:
Lashawn Ford is right on it. How the wealthier hospital corporations have leveraged the 340B program (initially a good concept for the needier public), into a gigantic money machine for their investors, is a disgrace. And the IHA appears to be spending piles of money to get their bill thru — a small investment with big payoffs for their members. Transparency is a minimum requirement and is not negotiable.
- Irreverent - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 1:18 pm:
Laura Fine getting flooded with AIPAC support because neither Biss nor Kat is willing to bend the knee.
- Telly - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 1:29 pm:
I don’t doubt that the hospitals are gaming the 340B program, but the argument Rep Ford and Pharma put forth in that op/ed is a bit of a stretch. The revenue collected from insured patients at those new suburban locations actually balances out the financial losses those hospital systems experience at their locations in poor communities. Without the 340B cash, the big hospital systems would likely look to cut expenses by closing their locations in the poor communities Rep Ford wants to help.
- here we go again - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 1:39 pm:
Ms. Brown’s explanation for why she couldn’t possibly be guilty is a defense lawyer’s nightmare. Some work to do there.
- Interested Bystander - Friday, Oct 24, 25 @ 1:50 pm:
==I don’t doubt that the hospitals are gaming the 340B program, but the argument Rep Ford and Pharma put forth in that op/ed is a bit of a stretch. The revenue collected from insured patients at those new suburban locations actually balances out the financial losses those hospital systems experience at their locations in poor communities.==
Sounds a lot like “trickle-down economics”
Hospital systems buy one safety net or critical access hospital because that’s how they gain access to 340(b) for all the entire system. There’s no incentive for them to use those profits for the community served by the one hospital in their system who actually qualifies for the discount.
Rep Ford is absolutely right.