A House Democratic lawmaker says it’s OK to have private security amid her calls to defund police departments.
Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri explained her stance during an interview with CBS on Thursday. Bush, elected in 2020 and a member of the far-left “Squad,” was asked if it was hypocritical to spend $70,000 on private security while she called for defunding the police in municipalities across the country.
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“I’m going to make sure I have security because I know I have had attempts on my life, and I have too much work to do,” said Bush, who this week earned waves of media coverage campaigning out on the Capitol steps in an effort to prevent a nationwide eviction moratorium from expiring.
“There are too many people that need help right now for me to allow that. So if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend $10 more on it, you know that I get to be here to do the work,” Bush said. “So, suck it up. Defunding the police has to happen. We need to defund the police and put that money into a social safety net.”
Bush took heat for her stance on cutting the budget of local law enforcement after campaign filings showed she spent around $70,000 on private security as she was advocating defunding the police. According to the filings with the Federal Election Commission, her campaign paid $54,120.92 to RS&T Security Consulting and $15,000 to Nathaniel Davis for “security services” between April 15 and June 28.
The Missouri Democrat, along with progressive members of the “Squad,” have taken a similar stance in the last few years, causing problems for the Democratic Party at large as it tries to present a more centrist image. Defunding the police became a battle cry for activists on the Left following the death in Minnesota of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of a white Minneapolis officer.
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However, House Republicans successfully used the “defund the police” mantra against their Democratic opponents during the 2020 election cycle, which contributed to Democrats’ losses in the chamber of nearly a dozen seats.
