Monday, April 13, 2009

Jesse Jr's big Blago problem

Jesse Jackson Jr. probably wishes he never had the ambition to become a US Senator.

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's camp was told last year that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) would raise up to $5 million in campaign cash for the ex-governor if he was appointed to President Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The overture came from at least two members of the local Indian community who approached the Blagojevich fund-raising team last fall, sources say.

Besides the $5 million to be raised by Jackson, the proposal also included another $1 million for Blagojevich's campaign fund that would come from Indian donors, sources say.

This is the first revelation that a proposal for the Jackson appointment involved an alleged promise that he'd raise campaign cash for the ex-governor.

Jackson represents Illinois' 2nd Congressional District, a star-crossed patch of land. His predecessor was Mel Reynolds, who resigned his seat after being convicted of charges revolving a sexual relationship with at 16 year-old campaign volunteer. Reynolds was later found guilty of band fraud.

Prior to Reynolds, Gus Savage was the district's representative. He was a Cynthia McKinney-like race-baiting loon.

Related posts:

Run Jesse Jr. run! Jackson hit by ethics probe

Momentous special election: 1995 Illinois' 2nd Congressional race

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2 comments:

pathickey said...

Augustus Savage was a cartoon character of pure malice unmatched - think of a Hate Whitey Yosemite Sam!

El Rider said...

Hysterically Reynolds had to run 3 campaigns against Savage in order to beat him and one of those campaigns involved Reynolds likely shooting out his own windows and campaigning with a big Band-Aid on his head for the final 2 weeks of the campaign. One or two of those campaigns also featured Savage being accused of molesting a Peace Corps worker in Africa.

What a crew.