It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Hopefully it will lead to a spirit of openness and cooperation.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush has filed a complaint saying he was racially profiled by Chicago police after two officers pulled him over while driving on the South Side in August, according to police sources and city records.

According to the sources, the Wentworth District officers were running plates while on patrol on Aug. 4 because of a rash of vehicle thefts in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

The officers ran the plate on Rush's Lexus and were told it was registered to a Cadillac, the sources said. The officers then stopped Rush shortly before 3 p.m. in the 4700 block of South King Drive, according to the sources and city records obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Rush, 69, was let go without a ticket being issued.

About an hour later, Rush filed a complaint about the alleged racial profiling with the Independent Police Review Authority, the city agency that investigates more serious allegations of police misconduct, according to the records. An IPRA supervisor reviewed the complaint the following day, and on Aug. 8, the matter was transferred to the Police Department's Bureau of Internal Affairs, according to the records.

The Chicago Democrat drives a maroon Lexus SUV with an Illinois license plate of "1." The words "U.S. Congressman" are displayed under the "1" in smaller letters.


According to Illinois Secretary of State records, another "1" vanity plate is registered to a 2016 Cadillac owned by a man who lives in the Near North neighborhood.

Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department's chief spokesman, confirmed that officers made a traffic stop on that date and at that location, but he declined to identify Rush as the driver.

"We take the allegations very seriously," Guglielmi said. "We do have an internal affairs investigation, and we will do a very methodical review of the evidence, including the body camera footage and interviews with the complainant."

The police sources defended the officers' conduct, saying at least one of them wore a body camera equipped with both video and audio that captured the stop.

Police officials, citing a new state law, said the Tribune would be able to obtain the camera footage only if Rush gave permission for its release.


But efforts by the Tribune to contact Rush have been unsuccessful. The Tribune sent repeated emails to top Rush staffers seeking to interview the congressman about his racial profiling allegations. A reporter also attempted to interview him at his South Side home, but Rush sent him away, telling him to contact his staff to arrange an interview. But continued requests to his aides went unanswered.

Rush uses taxpayer dollars from his congressional office budget to pay nearly $1,000 a month to Lexus Financial Services for an automobile lease, government records show. The model is not specified in those records.

The onetime co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party has been in Congress since 1993, representing parts of the South Side and Cook and Will counties. He was a Chicago alderman for a decade before that. He lost a race for Chicago mayor in 1999.

An ordained Baptist minister, Rush handily defeated Barack Obama in a primary challenge for the congressional seat in 2000, Obama's only electoral loss.

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I don't understand . Where's the profiling ?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Why are there two idiots with "1" as their license plate?

By which I mean, not only how unimaginative and shallow does 'one' have to be to ask for a "1" vanity plate, but also why did the state issue two "1" license plates?

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

$1000/month for a lease on a Lexus?

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it's usually embarrassing for an elected official to be driving a foreign car, especially a democrat and any one who takes union money

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I like the other Bobby Rush better. I wish he were a congressman.

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An ordained Baptist minister co-founded the Illinois Black Panther Party? He should be singing Kum Bah Yah with Rev. Wright.

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God is the uncaused cause of the universe. He had no beginning and has no end. He is not bound by the laws of the universe he created.

They are different kinds of plates

You may be able to get the 1 plate of special issue plate (university, bears, etc.) and someone else have the standard issue 1 plate.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Could they issue the same vanity plate on different types of plates? Could you have a Blackhawks plate with 19 and a Bears plate with 19?

Edit: NM dolphin got it.

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God is the uncaused cause of the universe. He had no beginning and has no end. He is not bound by the laws of the universe he created.

I wonder if Ed Hanrahan ever had a vanity plate.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Seems damn dumb to me. Anything for a buck I guess, ergo it makes some degree of 'sense'.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Instead of a vanity plate,I had my real name changed to Ytz 57693.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I think he preceded the vanity plate thing.

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never heard of this guy but this is great:

Dolphin has the Loyola "1" plate.

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My guess is Rush is avoiding interviews because he knows if the videotape of the encounter surfaces, it will show the policemen as respectful and perhaps even apologetic, which goes against his profiling accusation (and he may also be shown to have acted a fool).

As for the plate number, I thought they don't issue the same number across the various plate designs, but that might have changed or I was mistaken.

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There just was a story on 5 news that tickets were issued to Illinois auto's because Truck plates can have the same number.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

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Even people of quality like us are mistaken from time to time.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

i saw that movie a lot growing up, on network tv. watched the unedited version some years recently ago. Not the kids movie I thought it was growing up. Same for the original Bad News Bears.

Also, Behind the Green Door? Not a Pee Wee Herman vehicle.

I'd have thought it was st iggy

If Bobby Rush doesn't whoop State Senator Barack Obama in the 2000 Dem primary for his district, we may be finishing out the 2nd term of the 2nd Clinton Administration. So thank you, Congressman Rush!

I do have a Loyola plate. It cost pretty much the same with the difference going to the school

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

They don't have them but I would

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

His plates probably say YES DEAR

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Shots fired by Francis!!

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Here is the thing that I don't get. They run the plate it come back to a different car and he does not get a ticket? A black man? at 47th and King Drive? In Chicago? He should have never opened hi s mouth,cops if anything showed favoritism.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

You didn't even read the article. Or some of the other posts as well.

There was an excellent reason he didn't get a ticket.

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