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Maybe this is why Jesse Jackson, Jr. is feeling ill

Maybe this is why Jesse Jackson, Jr. is feeling ill

Anne has been following the bizarre Jesse Jackson, Jr. saga for months, and has noted that the medical excuses and disappearing act likely was hiding some other problem

When The Chicago Tribune refused to endorse Jackson, it was clear something was brewing.

Now we know what, via The Chicago Sun Times, Feds probe ‘suspicious activity’ in Jesse Jackson Jr.’s finances:

Spelling potentially new trouble for U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., federal investigators have launched  a probe into the South Shore congressman’s finances — a completely new area of scrutiny, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The investigation — based in the Washington, D.C., FBI field office — is not related to the attempted sale of the U.S. Senate seat that figured in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption conviction, but is focusing on  “suspicious activity” involving the congressman’s finances related to his House seat and the possibility of inappropriate expenditures, sources said.

The probe was active in the weeks prior to Jackson taking a leave from his U.S. House post on June 10, a leave his office ultimately attributed to his need for treatment for a bipolar disorder, the sources said.

Bonus question:  Will voters in his district care?

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Comments

Are you kidding? He will still win. We had Mel Reynolds (contributing to the delinquency of a minor) and Gus Savage (fraud) before him. He will win in a landslide.

Meh!

I hate this district, they vote color and color only.

    walls in reply to herm2416. | October 12, 2012 at 11:15 pm

    Of course he will be elected! Adam Clayton Powell was re-elected after he was thrown out of Congress [if my aging memory is correct].

    NC Mountain Girl in reply to herm2416. | October 13, 2012 at 12:25 am

    Your recollections aren’t quite accurate. Black nationalist Gus Savage barely survived several primary challenges. When his racist rants became too over the top the state legislature decided to solve the problem by extending his district into the suburbs in the hopes he would not survive the next primary challenge from a perrenial challenger and media favorite. Savage didn’t survive the 1992 primary but the media favorite in 1988, 1990 and 1992 had a great resume and a truly rotten character. Mel Reynolds was the type of African American candidates the media swoons over- a Rhodes Scholar and an assistant Professor of Political Science at Roosevelt University. (Sound familiar?) In terms of his voting record and public statements Reynolds wasn’t all that bad, but he also turned out to be a crook with a weakness for 16 year old girls. Enter JJJr as winner of special election to fill Reynolds’ seat in early 1996.

    Had all this been known in time for the primary I suspect that like Savage, Jackson would have been defeated. The problem is that Illinois wants to have it both ways. They want to have their presidential primary early enough to be relevant to the process but they are too cheap to hold a separate primary for state and local races. That means the filings for office holders to be on the early March primary ballot are due more than eleven months before the general election! That’s a long time in political terms. Both parties have been burned by this. Jackson is just the latest example. In states that hold later primaries for down the ballot race this probably wouldn’t happen. Primary challengers would have come forward.

Doesn’t Taranto has a “Life imitates the Onion category? You can’t make this crap up. Recall Justice Dept Says Without Party Labels on Ballots, Blacks Won’t Know Who to Vote For. Was the professor serious in asking if the voters would care? No they won’t. Next question?

Blacks don’t realize that if they were open to both parties, both parties would court them. Voting steadfastly for Democrats means the Democrats can abuse them.

Wally Kalbacken | October 12, 2012 at 9:53 pm

Chalk up example #760,384 in an unending series of examples of hiding behind a medical excuse, in the knowledge that no journalist could possibly corroborate or challenge the story.

    two.bit.score in reply to Wally Kalbacken. | October 13, 2012 at 12:32 am

    Don’t all these thugs run to mama or the hospital when they get in trouble? He can’t hold office after he is convicted so his district gets to move another crook up one rung.

It’s amazing how folks who were perfectly healthy suddenly become ill when their sins catch up with them

    stevewhitemd in reply to Neo. | October 12, 2012 at 11:02 pm

    John Kass of the Tribune has a name for this medical problem:

    Fed-itis.

    As in, the mortal fear of being put away in the Grey-Bar Hotel.

    Organized crime capos have the same problem. They’re the picture of health while running their syndicates, but the moment they’re indicted they have all sorts of serious medical illnesses crop up. Fortunately the federal prison system maintains an excellent hospital.

“Bonus question: Will voters in his district care?”

Why should they? It’s not like it’s their money. It comes off the Magic Money Tree™ out back of the White House, and anyway, Jesse’s stickin’ it to the MAN.

Financial problems go hand-in-hand with alcohol abuse, substance abuse, and bipolar disorder.

Lately, every time I such a story i’ve got to think (in no particular order) Herman Cain, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Mia Love, Bobby Jindal, Niki Haley, Mitt Romney
You get the idea?

    ALman in reply to ALman. | October 13, 2012 at 9:17 am

    Each of these persons is an example of what I consider to be the fine leadership that does exist in our country. When I hear stories about the questionable acts or crimes of politicians, such as this one, I have to, more and more, remind myself of the good ones dedicated to the well-being of our country. Otherwise, it’s easy, at least for me, to slip into the habit of thinking “what do you expect; they’re all the same.” Obviously, they are not.

      creeper in reply to ALman. | October 13, 2012 at 9:41 am

      It’s a good thing you clarified that ALman. Wish you’d done it before I hit the thumbs down. My apologies.

      From long experience on the net I have learned that it doesn’t pay to tap-dance around your point and it’s always best to recap it clearly if you do.

        creeper in reply to creeper. | October 13, 2012 at 9:43 am

        P.S. At least nine of us here were willing to suspend what we know of you. I thought you’d gone bonkers and read your post four times before downing it. Would that I had read the one below.

        ALman in reply to creeper. | October 13, 2012 at 9:59 am

        The long and short of it: I bungled the original post and nine (9) of you, at last count, helped set me straight. Thank you.

No, they won’t care.

I live in the neighboring district (CD1). I was formerly in CD11 but got redistricted, and so no longer have the excellent Adam Kinzinger as my Congressman, but now will have the execrable Bobby Rush who has been there forever. The Pub candidate, Peloquin, was just endorsed by the Tribune that but won’t be enough.

Likewise, the lack of endorsement won’t prevent JJJr from winning. The 47% are about 80% of that district.

    herm2416 in reply to stevewhitemd. | October 13, 2012 at 7:58 am

    I’m thinking Jesse wins, steps down, and then we are saddled with….either Bobby Steele-the mother, Bobby Steele-the son, or….Todd Stroger.

    I’d bet money on it.

O could mention marrion barry ….cold cash jefferson ….. charlie rangel ….. or point to Detroit as an answer but I think this sums it up nicely ….it does not matter the level of criminality or just plain stupid a black democrat displays he will be re elected at 1:18 in and yes he was re elected

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg

Not only will they re-elect him but they will admire for his engenuity. They like reps who stick it to the man. And look at who his father is. Extortionist extraordinaire. One of the biggest crooks still walking free. Admired by the black masses.

NC Mountain Girl | October 13, 2012 at 1:11 am

This district as redrawn after the 2010 census is only about 55% African American.

I think Congressman Jackson truly is sick. The little that has been said about his condition sounds like catatonic depression. That isn’t something to make jokes about. But politics always rule in Chicago. Had Jackson’s family pulled him out of the race this summer there was a risk his replacement would be his primary challenger, former Congresswoman Debbie Halverson. Halverson has clout among the county chairmen and suburban township committeeman who would have named a replacement. She was the first female Majority Leader of the Illinois State Senate. It’s not just that Halverson is white, she and Jackson had clashed over the years on a variety of development issue for the south suburbs, including a third airport for Chicago.

Here’s what I think is happening. If it is catatonic depression the odds are Jackson will never come back to Congress. But family and black political allies wants a voice in who replaces him. If he resigns and a special election is held they will have far more say than they would have had if he had been replaced on the ballot late this summer by ward and township committeeman in a district that is only 55% black.

    Juba Doobai! in reply to NC Mountain Girl. | October 13, 2012 at 1:33 am

    Put simply: it’s a black seat and they want to rig the system so they get a black guy in there. They don’t want any white boys representing them. Racists!

“Bonus question: Will voters in his district care?”

I’m sure they will be shocked – shocked! – to find corruption going on with their elected officials. How could such a thing ever happen in Chicago?

    NC Mountain Girl in reply to Estragon. | October 13, 2012 at 1:50 am

    Actually quite a lot of the district is now suburban to rural. It extends all the way to Kankakee. Of course, for a long time Kankakee was controlled by Republican George Ryan, who currently resides in the Federal Prison in Terra Haute, Indiana. When Ryan was first Secretary of State and later Governor many residents of Kankakee were on the state payroll. So no, black or white, Democrat or Republican, many of them don’t care about corruption. Under Ryan they issued driver’s licenses to people who couldn’t pass the test in order to collect bribes to get money to pay into Ryan’s political war chest. So what if six kids burned to death because the illegal alien truck driver didn’t understand the warning messages other truckers sent him.

Has anyone seen him seen he first disappeared and then showed up in Arizona?

I mean a disinterested party that is not obligated to protect his privacy. Say like a papparazzo?

Has he physically been seen by anyone not his family and not employed or contractually obligated to him or his family?

I’m STILL saying he’s either got a disease or is in a coma and this is all window dressing to get his seat past an election so that the Ill Gov can appoint a successor or hold a special election that won’t depend on the fate of Obama.

I’m on record for this and will gloat heavily if I am proved correct.

    Estragon in reply to jakee308. | October 13, 2012 at 2:28 am

    Nah, where Jackson is concerned, simple theft is probably the answer. Or extortion. When you hear hoof-beats, think horses and not zebras.

    When Jesse was interested in minority management hiring at Anheuser Busch, his son Yusef, a recent college grad with no experience off the football field, received a coveted Budweiser territory in Illinois.

    The acorn does not fall far from the tree.

      jakee308 in reply to Estragon. | October 13, 2012 at 4:15 am

      I understand that he would hide from questions but to not be seen at all? He could hide just as effectively in ways other than the one he’s chosen. Plus, this is free country, he doesn’t have to answer any questions by anybody and he can use all sorts of excuses for not doing so.

      BTW if you’re on the Serengeti Plain and hear hoof beats, it’s okay to think Zebras (or wildebeest).

      So, though I understand the idea, I still may be correct.

Short answer: No.

Long Nswer: hell, no!

    jakee308 in reply to Juba Doobai!. | October 13, 2012 at 4:17 am

    Pols and ward heelers love party loyalists and blacks are some of the most faithful.

    They’ve been getting screwed in Chicago long before Kennedy and Johnson et al and they still vote straight Democrat.

    Roosevelt’s been dead 70 years and they still think the Democrat leaders love them and will take care of them.

TrooperJohnSmith | October 13, 2012 at 2:31 am

They will care as much as they cared about OJ whacking his wife and Ron Goldman.

    O.J.’s verdict and the partisan loyalty that blacks showed over it was the beginning of the cracks in the Nations sympathy for the black experience and the willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt about so many of their failings.

    Eventually, we’ll finally realize that they’re just human and have no hotline to justice and fairness and mercy just because they’re ancestors experienced slavery and abuse.

    Then each race can maybe finally treat each other on a “now” basis instead of what blacks think they’re owed or what they think was done to them and what whites think they owe or what how responsible they are for blacks’ current problems.

    Then and only then will we finally be equal.