A federal grand jury is looking into U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski's hiring practices and reports that he paid workers who never showed up, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Rostenkowski's lawyer, Robert Bennett, declined to comment Saturday. A spokesman in Rostenkowski's Washington office Monday referred questions to Bennett.Quoting anonymous workers in Rostenkowski's Chicago district office, the newspaper said Sunday that the wife of a Chicago alderman remained on Rostenkowski's payroll for five years after she quit, earning $79,000 in taxpayer money during that time.

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The Justice Department is already investigating whether Rostenkowski, a Democrat, improperly received up to $21,300 from the House Post Office in a stamps-for-cash scheme.

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