Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) Since the day she was sworn in, Cori Bush (D-Mo.) has been at the center of controversy for her radical stances regarding, among others, defunding police.
Bush believes that defunding the police is a way to reallocate a portion of their normal funding. This is contrary to some Democrats who believe in this.
Bush has been repeatedly criticized for funding private security with hundreds of thousands of dollars from campaign funds. She also advocates for cutting off police funding, which would leave communities, including those she claims she wants to protect, more vulnerable to violent crime.
She made a huge embarrassment of herself in August 2021 and caused headaches to her party members when she stated that she didn’t care if she looked like a hypocrite during an interview.
“I will make sure that I have security, because I know I’ve had attempts on my life. There is too much work to be done. I can’t allow this to happen because there are so many people who need my help right now. If I spend $200,000 on something, what if it costs me ten dollars more? I get to work. You can’t help but take it all in. We must defund the police. That money should be put into social safety nets because we are trying to save lives.
Cori Bush: I’m going to make sure I have private security but defunding the police needs to happen. pic.twitter.com/6jbv4HLlGs
— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) August 5, 2021
It turns out that Bush was also getting another perk from hiring private security officers. We learned this Sunday when it was reported she had married one of them in a St. Louis earlier this month in what was described by the media as a “private wedding”.
Sources claim that Bush was married in a private ceremony in St. Louis last weekend. According to records, Bush signed her marriage certificate in a pact she made with Cortney Merritts just a few days prior to their wedding.
Merritts is a U.S. Army veteran who served as a security guard for Bush’s campaign. According to campaign finance records, Merritts was paid $62,359 in direct payments by the Bush campaign in 2022. The majority of payments were made for security services and $2,359 were for cash reimbursements.
Merritts’ social media accounts show that he was with Bush during her January 2021 inauguration, to the Ed Sullivan Theater to record her appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and to Central America as part of a congressional delegation.
After their relationship started, the first campaign payments to Merritts were reported in 2022.
According to Breitbart News, “the payments could potentially interest the FEC and the Congressional Ethics Office, which prohibits campaign funds for personal use, but the law does give some leeway for family members who perform a ‘bona fide service.’”
Whatever the case, I am not happy with Bush’s politics. But I do hope that she finds happiness in her new marriage.
However, I send my thoughts and prayers to her new husband on the long and windy road ahead.
