Squad’s Cori Bush receives FEC complaint
It’s a bad day to be Cori Bush (or her husband.)
Bush just received an FEC complaint for her shady business relationship and “above fair market payments” to her unlicensed “security guard” husband.
‘Squad’ Rep. Cori Bush hit with FEC complaint over private security payments to husband
Fox News
Joe Schoffstall
3/2/23
A government watchdog group is calling on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate Rep. Cori Bush’s, D-Mo, campaign payments to her husband for private security services.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) on Thursday sent a complaint to the FEC’s acting general counsel, Lisa Stevenson, asking the commission to look into whether “Rep. Cori Bush and her campaign committee may have used campaign funds for personal use.”
Bush’s campaign paid her now-husband, Cortney Merritts, $60,000 for security in 2022 despite him not having a private security license, which is needed to conduct such services in the St. Louis region. While Merritts collected the payments, Bush’s campaign also spent $225,281 with PEACE Security and $50,000 with an individual named Nathaniel Davis for personal protection
Within the complaint, FACT says that committees generally may only spend funds for “bona fide campaign or political purposes” and that payments that are not for bonafide services at fair market value could fall under one of two prohibited categories, including “payments to family members” or “gifts.”
“It appears Rep. Bush’s campaign may have made payments for services that were unnecessary or above fair market value because of her personal relationship with the payee,” FACT wrote in the complaint. “If so, these payments would qualify as either impermissible payments to a family member or an impermissible gift.”
“Therefore, we request the FEC investigate whether Rep. Bush converted campaign funds for personal use by paying a salary that was not for bona fide services at fair market value,” FACT continued. “Ultimately, if one or more campaign laws are found to have been broken, we request the FEC hold the respondents accountable.”