Thread: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. under federal investigation over financial improprieties

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. under federal investigation over alleged financial improprieties

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News national investigative correspondent

Federal prosecutors and FBI agents in Washington have launched a new criminal investigation of Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. involving alleged financial improprieties, including possible misuse of funds monitored by Congress, law enforcement sources tell NBC News.

The probe prompted lawyers for Jackson — who has been on a leave of absence from Congress since June for medical treatment — to meet with federal prosecutors this week in an attempt to persuade them not to bring charges against the congressman, sources said.

The sources said it was unclear whether Jackson, who has not been seen in his office for months, would be charged before the November election — a subject that was discussed between Jackson’s lawyers and the prosecutors this week. Jackson’s lawyers urged the prosecutors not to file charges before the election — but prosecutors refused to make any commitments, the sources familiar with the meeting said.

Either way, the new investigation could ratchet up pressure for Jackson to step aside. Despite his illness — which his office has said involves his treatment for bipolar disorder — Jackson is running for re-election, seeking a 10th term. His lawyers did not return email and phone call request for comment.

Frank Watkins, Jackson’s congressional spokesman, says he has not reached out Jackson and has not spoken to him about the investigation, and that the first he heard of the investigation was when he was contacted by the Chicago Sun Times, which first reported the story. He said he believes Jackson is still in DC.

View NBCChicago.com's complete coverage of Jackson investigation

The sources, confirming the account in the Sun-Times, said the new probe is being run out of the U.S. attorney's office in Washington DC. They said it is unrelated to previous allegations that Jackson was part of a scheme to persuade ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to name him to the Illinois Senate seat of Barack Obama in exchange for $1 million in campaign contributions from a top fundraiser.

The sources did not specify the financial irregularities being investigated. But the Sun-Times said the case involves misuse of funds or an account monitored by Congress. It comes weeks after a report that Jackson and his wife, Chicago alderwoman Sandi Jackson, put their Washington DC home on the market for $2.5 million. A campaign spokesman said at first the home was put on the market to pay for medical bills, but the Jackson later took it off the market.

Jackson, the son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Sr., stopped working June 10, his staffers revealed two weeks later. He first obtained treatment at a facility in Arizona before transferring to the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where doctors said he had "depression and gastrointestinal issues."

He left the Mayo Clinic and went back to Washington, D.C. in early September but has not returned to work.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. under federal investigation over alleged financial improprieties - Open Channel

Nov 21, 2012 6:29pm


Jesse Jackson Jr.’s Resignation Could Cost Taxpayers $5.1 Million

Jesse Jackson Jr.’s resignation from the House could cost Illinois taxpayers more than $5.1 million, according to the state elections board.

Jackson, Jr. offered his resignation today to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Jackson has been absent from the Capitol for months while undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder at the Mayo Clinic. In addition, his use of campaign funds is being investigated by federal authorities.

Looking at two special House elections held in Illinois in recent years — those to replace GOP House speaker Denny Hastert and Democratic congressman Rahm Emanuel — the Illinois State Board of Elections calculated those elections cost $2,700 to $4,000 per precinct. With 590 precincts in Jackson’s 2nd Congressional District, an election would probably cost around $2,575,000, the state board told ABC News.

Illinois will hold two special elections to replace Jackson, a primary and a general, and the state board projects that replacing Jackson could cost $5.15 million total.

That’s just a projection, and it assumes that the 2nd Congressional District will hold the special elections on their own days. State law will likely allow for the primary, but not the general, to be held alongside already-scheduled votes for state and local offices.

Jackson hasn’t officially won re-election yet, as the state won’t certify election results until Dec. 2. Officials are unsure of whether that will affect how Gov. Pat Quinn handles Jackson’s resignation, an official with the state elections board said. Jackson handily defeated Republican lawyer Brian Woodworth with 63 percent of the vote, according to the still-unofficial results.

Quinn, a Democrat, must set a special-election date within five days, under Illinois law. The election must be held in the 115 days after that.

Jackson may have cost taxpayers extra by resigning so suddenly.

To save money, the 2nd District could hold its special election on Illinois’ consolidated election schedule at the same time as lesser races throughout the state.

But that doesn’t seem possible under Illinois’s statutory special-election timeline. Illinois primaries will happen Feb. 26, but the April 9 general-election date falls outside the 115-day special-election range. Counting Thursday as day 1, March 21 is the earliest the 2nd District special election could be held.

Had Jackson waited until Dec. 15 to resign, Quinn could have scheduled the general special election for April 9, along with Illinois’ other general elections.

The cost of the special elections will be borne by the counties in Jackson’s district, as well as by the state.
Holding a statewide special election to replace governor Rod Blagojevich cost the state between $90 million and $100 million, according to estimates, the state elections board said.

Jesse Jackson Jr.’s Resignation Could Cost Taxpayers $5.1 Million - ABC News

Chicago's Sandi and Jesse Jackson Jr. - the perfect "Machine" Democrats



Photo: AP
Thursday, November 15, 2012 - Middle Class Guy by Peter Bella

Peter Bella

CHICAGO, November 16, 2012— The sordid tale of Chicago Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife Alderman Sandi may not be as internationally alluring as Benghazi, the Petraeus scandal, Fast and Furious, the fiscal cliff, and other adminstration failures, but it should have Chicago media screaming loudly.

You remember Congressman Jackson don’t you? The congressman from Illinois who disappeared? The scion of the Right Reverend Jesse Jackson?

The House Ethics Committee was investigating Congressman Jackson over various improprieties. Then, when things looked grim and rough, he disappeared, poof, vanished into thin air.

First Jackson turns up in a rehab clinic in Arizona. Then he turns up in the esteemed Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Who knows where he was or what he was doing while crisscrossing the country. After much speculation, deliberation, and negotiation, it was determined that the best story to put out is he suffers from bi-polar depression.

If they say so it must be true.

Now we learn that his lawyers have been negotiating with the Department of Justice. Seems Congressman Jackson was also being criminally investigated for dipping into campaign funds to pay for the lavish lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Fancy home remodeling, blonde girlfriend on the side, expensive cigars, consulting salary for his wife, and other fine things in life.

Jesse Jackson Jr. is not just negotiating resigning from Congress and the length of his prison sentence. The congressman has applied for disability benefits. That’s right folks, congressmen are eligible for disability benefits for being the focus of an investigation that leads to depression over going to prison. Being a legislator is a tough life.

Congressmen are eligible for welfare, entitlements, and safety nets. That goes along way to medicate his depression, oppression, repression, or whatever is bothering him.

But there is something the media, especially the Chicago media, is ignoring. They are ignoring the congressman’s wife, Sandi.

Sandi Jackson is a Chicago alderman, a member of one of the most corrupt criminal groups in the nation. Thirty-two Chicago aldermen have been hauled off to prison over the past four decades. Others have resigned in disgrace. There is always some kind of federal investigation of the Chicago City Council going on.

The Chicago City Council is the overworld to the crime syndicate’s underworld.

What is the problem with Sandi Jackson? She does not live in the city of Chicago. Her full time residence is in Washington D.C. Her children go to school in Washington D.C. She only comes into Chicago for important things, like political fundraisers, where she refers to the media as jackals.

The media bows in gratitude for the insult.

It is reported she has missed several City Council meetings. She did not attend the meeting Thursday, where the city budget was voted on. Being an alderman and a member of the Jackson family means you can do whatever you want.

Chicago alderman make over one hundred thousand dollars a year. They also have lavish expense accounts, Cadillac pensions, and Rolls Royce medical insurance. There are other perks and pleasures they receive.

For all of that is it too much to ask that an alderman reside full time in Chicago? Apparently it is when it comes to Sandi Jackson.

No one, not the media, the residents or other Chicago politicians, are calling on Sandi Jackson to either live in the city full time or resign. No one dares. Not the mayor, not the people, not the Chicago media, not even the so-called political watchdogs like the Better Government Association or the Illinois Policy Institute.

When it comes to the Jackson’s there is a certain level of cowardice that prevails in media and watchdog circles. No one wants to offend them. The right reverend gets his dander up, angrily spouts poetically, cries havoc, and unleashes the dogs of racism. Everyone scurries for cover.

Fearless reporting in Chicago is an oxymoron.

Whenever the Jackson family is involved in sordid behavior the Chicago media and political watchdogs turn into quivering, wiggling, quavering, gelatinous blobs. They still believe the reverend is a respected civil rights leader. They refuse to believe he is just a self-promoting huckster and extortionist. He is their creation and now they must live with the monster or he will destroy them.

Chicago city workers must reside in the city of Chicago. The other 49 aldermen and mayor* live in the city of Chicago. They send or sent their children to Chicago schools. Why does Sandi Jackson get the special privilege of living full time in Washington D.C.?

This is a perfect hat trick. The people in the Illinois 2^nd Congressional District have a congressman missing in action. The people in Chicago’s 7^th Ward have an alderman who can’t be bothered to live amongst them. The media and watchdogs are silent.

This has been an amazing year of scandalous silence. Congressman Jackson is being investigated eight ways to Sunday yet he is getting fawning hands off sympathy and respect. His wife, a city alderman, does not live in Chicago and you hear crickets. All because they are Jacksons.

Sandi Jackson should move to Chicago full time or resign her position. The media and watchdog groups should go on the attack. They should force the issue. The Chicago media and political watchdog groups are committing malfeasance and malpractice. They are treating the Jackson family as if they are too big to bring down.

No one is to big to fall.

If the Jacksons are seeking sympathy they should look in the dictionary. They can find it between swindler and syphilis.

*Please spare the tin foil hat theories about Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s residency problem when he ran for election. He was rightfully exempted, by law, due to his service in the White House.

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