Schilling Campaign: Bustos Staffer Claims Rockford Constituents Spend More Time In Jail Than Church

UPDATE:

A statement from Rep. Bustos says the staff member on the recording offered her resignation and no longer works in the office.

Original post below...

The Bobby Schilling campaign has released audio purportedly of a staff member in the office of Rep. Cheri Bustos making the claim Rockford residents in the 17th Congressional District spend more time "in jail than church."

Breitbart.com reports that a constituent was asking the staff member about an issue when the topic of Rockford came up. Here's the audio posted by the Schilling campaign:

The Illinois 17th Congressional District includes virtually all of Rockford west of the Rock River and a good portion of the near east and southeast sides. As you can hear, the staffer described those areas of Rockford as "very urban" and "very underprivileged." Then she says, "Not people that, um, spend a lot of time in church [laughter]. More in jail [laughter] than church.”

Breitbart also reports:

According to the Schilling campaign, this conversation was recorded last winter in one of Rep. Bustos' district offices. These offices are not part of the campaign operation and are funded by government appropriation. The staff member in the recording, then, would be a Congressional employee and not a campaign volunteer.

There's no word on exactly what issue was being asked about when the comment was made. The name of the staffer also is not identified in the article.