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![Ga. Rep. Bishop awarded scholarships to family]()
So Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas wasn't the only lawmaker who was helping himself and his family to Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation scholarship money against the rules.
Rep. Sanford (Sandy) Bishop of Georgia (pictured right) also had his hand in the scholarship cookie jar, steering money in 2003 and 2005 to his stepdaughter Aayesha Owens Reese, niece Emmaundia J. Whitaker and the Bishop's district staff director Kenneth Cutts' wife.
The CBC Foundation prohibits scholarships from benefiting lawmakers' families and associates, but Bishop said the rules were unclear when his family members got his gift.
What's unclear to me is how Bishop expects that lame excuse to work. It shouldn't take a rule to know that foundation money is meant to go to needy constituents, not family members and friends looking for a handout.
Under the scholarship program, the foundation provides $10,000 a year for CBC members to give to college-bound constituents.
Last month, Johnson disclosed that she passed scholarship money on to her relatives and was forced to pay it back; Johnson will likely follow suit.
But unlike Johnson, who is running for reelection in a relatively safe district, Bishop's race for reelection is considered a close one, especially for a nine-term incumbent.
Last year, Bishop made headlines when he was accused of steering $200,000 to a nonprofit youth program that employed two of his relatives, though they lived 100 miles away from the facility. Authorities did not charge Bishop with any wrongdoing in the case.
That does not mean, however, that constituents are going to take kindly to the fact that Bishop, like Johnson, used their political connections to line the pockets of their relatives.
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So Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas wasn't the only lawmaker who was helping himself and his family to Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation scholarship money against the rules.