Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is running for reelection in Illinois’s second congressional district. Except he’s not exactly running.
His name is on the ballot. But Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. hasn’t made a campaign appearance since the primary.
The Democratic congressman from Chicago is running for re-election for his seat in the House of Representatives, but has been out of sight for the last three months, being treated for bipolar disorder.
Campaign advisers told the New York Times, which noted that the campaign’s office was locked shut, that the candidate is waiting for the doctor’s approval to campaign again.
In what other field is an employee allowed to take an indefinite leave of absence without penalty?
And what does it say about his district that its voters will almost certainly reelect (overwhelmingly) a man who hasn’t shown up for work in months, tried to hide from them the ailment that has kept him away, can’t demonstrate that he’ll be capable of representing them when and if he ever returns, and shows such undeniable contempt for them by failing to offer even an explanation?
Then there’s this:
The Jacksons recently put up their $2.5 million Washington, D.C., home for sale, to help pay medical bills, they said. The family has a house in Chicago too.
Hang on. The Jacksons have a second home worth two and a half mill? Congressmen are paid less than $200,000 annually. To buy a second home worth that much (let alone a first one that’s presumably as nice), Jesse must have really raked in some private-sector dough before becoming a congressman. Maybe, like fellow Chicagoan Rahm Emanuel, as an investment banker, right?
Well, no. His congressional bio says that he has both a masters in theology and a juris doctor, but he’s apparently never preached or practiced law (he’s not even licensed in Illinois). Hmmm. Could the source of his wealth be this:
Prior to his congressional service, Representative Jackson served as the National Field Director of the National Rainbow Coalition. In this role, he instituted a national non-partisan program that successfully registered millions of new voters. He also created a voter education program to teach citizens the importance of participating in the political process, including how to use technology to win elections and more effectively participate in politics.
The Rainbow Coalition, you’ll recall, is the organization founded by Jackson’s father, Jesse Sr., about whom Kenneth Timmerman wrote Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson, which documents “connections with criminals and [claims] that Rev. Jackson practised extortion of businesses.”
There’s also this tidbit, found on Wikipedia:
Jackson’s earliest public controversy came when he was linked to alleged Nigerian drug trafficker Pius Ailemen. Ailemen was supposed to be Jackson’s best man at his 1991 wedding, but canceled at the last minute due to supposed passport-related issues.
It’s also possible that Jackson’s wife is the big earner. Let’s check….
Nope, she makes only $115,000 a year. Of course, that’s just her salary.
As an alderman.
In Chicago.
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Comments
“Their Kind of Town, Chicago is.”
“This town is our town
It is so glamorous
Bet you’d live here if you could
And be one of us.”
—THE GO-GO’S
Great tune! Just heard it on my Spotify shuffle. Made me nostelgic for the 80’s, as I get some work done before the debate tonight.
And as a lifelong observer of the Chicago Way, those lyrics couldn’t be more appropriate.
A sewer, and nothing less — and a long-term project for the US Attorney General, if we ever have one again.
Again: where is Squeaker of the House John Boehner on this?
Don’t whine about criminals committing crimes when you allow the cop you hire (Boehner) to spend the night hiding out in a donut shop.
Big surprise, his democrat district will vote democrat. Why bother running anyone? They could use a cardboard cutout with a donkey on it and people would vote for it.
Another big surprise, a multimillionaire congressman who’s never worked outside government. None of them are poorer for their time in congress. Where do any of them get their money?
This just proves my point I made in the last comments thread. The left will vote for the left regardless. I’m sure that they are concerned that Obama might lose .00001% of his previous 99.9% of the black vote.
He’s selling his second home in order to bay medical bills? Really?
I am pretty sure his congressional health insurance would cover all of his treatments for bipolar disorder, however there are plenty of conditions that even this insurance won’t cover. Long inpatient stays for treatment for something like ‘exhaustion’ are probably not covered. Or they’re paying cash so there is no information sent back to the insurance provider. Interesting reason, no?
Chicklet – I think there is more to this story than we know. I’ve wondered if he has a gambling problem, and he got in over his head.
Jesse’s a community activist donchaknow.
He made his money the old fashioned way; he conned, scammed, coerced and bamboozled others out of it.
P.S. I still say that he will soon take “unexpectedly” a turn for the worse and be found dead of “natural causes”.
But after he’s won the election. Do they appoint Representatives like they do Senators? We know how well THAT worked out last time.
I still contend that Jesse is clinically brain dead and is on life support until they can arrange for him to “pass on” without too much damage to the brand.
You just described half of Congress, especially the Senate.
Junior is practicing representative/voter apartheid.
And JJ, Jr. will probably be re-elected.
And you said that the public schools were failures. For you, maybe. For Democrats, wild, unbelievable SUCCESS STORIES !!!
Hey, as long as your ideology is correct, aren’t you allowed considerable leeway on ‘indiscretions’?
Engel states he will likely win reelection. Is it even contested at this point? Are there any other Dem or GOP rivals? I’m just curious.
Q: “And what does it say about his district that its voters will almost certainly reelect (overwhelmingly) a man who hasn’t shown up for work in months, tried to hide from them the ailment that has kept him away, can’t demonstrate that he’ll be capable of representing them when and if he ever returns, and shows such undeniable contempt for them by failing to offer even an explanation?”
A: In this district the 47% constitutes 100% of the voters.
Here’s my issue: the national GOP won’t give a dime to Brian Woodworth, Junior’s opponent. Jessie’s old 2nd district boundaries went from the southeast side of Chicago to the Indiana Line and included some southern suburbs; the new 2nd district begins in the South Shore neighborhood and goes south past Kankakee. I used to work in the South Shore neighborhood, which is more middle-class and has generally been able to avoid the problems of some of the other south side neighborhoods (although not altogether and certainly not lately). A strong campaign could have put this district in play, given the incumbent’s current personal situation, but Woodworth hasn’t a dime, and so he hasn’t a chance.
While Kankakee voters are no strangers to corruption-it is disgraced former governor George Ryan’s hometown, after all, I tend to agree with your analysis the race could be winnable under these circumstances. I suspect the problem with funding is a win would strictly be a one term deal, like that of Michael Patrick Flanagan against Dan Rostenkowski in 1994. With control of the House not being seen as an issue the national party is concentrating on seats that are more likely to stay in Republican hands for several terms.
This district almost seems to be jinxed. Jackson replaced the embarrassing Mel Reynolds who replaced the embarrassing Gus Savage.
A guilty conscience has gotten the best of Junior. Blago is sitting in jail and Junior still has the $2.5M crib! Naw, probably not!
For the Nomenklatura of BOTH parties, the hereditary principle of succession holds; albeit more strongly in the Democrats. For the Democrats to cease re-electing JJ Jr. while he is still moving air would be equivalent to removing Prince Harry from the British line of succession completely for his Vegas party.
Subotai Bahadur
“QUESTIONS FOR CONGRESSMAN JACKSON”
We just heard you are back, after some kind of attack,
We rejoice with your family and friends.
Public service is rough, and we know it is tough,
To return and begin to amend,
All those things left behind, that unsettled your mind,
And required you to flee from the fight.
But with your return, there are things we must learn–
Only truth can now set you aright.
You campaigned for a post, so much harder than most!
You then said you were willing and fit.
There was “fire in your veins”, and they sang your refrains,
Of your powers, your plans, and your wit.
“Jesse Jackson’s the man, with whom we will stand,”
Was the war-cry throughout your home state.
Then, your future was bright, and it looked like you might,
Be the hero to make Illinois great.
But some questions arose, and now nobody knows,
If you can do your job at this time.
We are just not at ease, that this “mental disease”,
Isn’t pretext for hiding a crime.
Private souls can decide, to disclose or to hide,
Every SPECK of their own private lives.
But if the public you’ll serve, then YOU MUST HAVE THE NERVE
TO MAKE ALL YOUR LIFE PUBLIC—you can’t hide!
No rights reserved. It’s ”public”—you can critique the poem; copy it; amend it; augment it; or just disregard it!
Perhaps he gets a dollar for every voter…
Who knew race-baiting and “community organizing” work paid so handsomely?
Oh, those selfless public servants. No wonder Michelle Obama likes to go to college campuses and give speeches urging students to go into “public service.”
Per the Daily Caller, keeping Michelle and Barry and their crew living in high style cost U.S. taxpayers a cool $1.4 Billion last year. By contrast, British taxpayers paid only $58 Million keeping their royal family living in style.
Whoever said crime doesn’t pay?
His family owns Budweiser distributorships…..all through shakedowns by Papa. Hence, expensive homes…and girlfriends.
You write
Answer: Federal judge.
The JJJ family has amazingly found even more ways to make money at the expense of the Chicago black community they represent. Wife Sandi is a city of Chicago alderperson who magically represents her district from Washington where her children attend school.
Not to worry about Jesse Junior because he will be elected without campaigning – and when he wins, he will request that his lovely wife be appointed to the House in his place.
All this will give give Junior more time to spend with his Argentine girlfriend.
The Jackson family has long led a liquor distributorship operation, which in Illinois (thanks to exquisite rent seeking on the part of the distributors at the legislature) is a license to print money.
Not sure how Junior shares in the family business, but it’s worth looking into.
Yusef Jackson (JJ Sr.’s youngest son) is principal of River North Sales…the Budweiser distributor for the north side…for about 15 years.
I was with you there for awhile, but I see from his Congressional bio that Jess, Jr., authored or co-wrote (with his father) a few books. It is very possible, if not likely, that those book contracts paid father and son A LOT of advance money, regardless of sales. Obama was a multimillionaire before being elected president, and the only thing he ever accomplished before his election was writing two books about his favorite subject (himself).
I’ve made my living as an author for quite a long time, which is why I didn’t include the books as a possible source of wealth in the post. It is inarguably impossible that the books brought him any substantial income.
One of them, apparently, was self published. All of them have multiple authors (four on one), not counting ghost authors. And none of them sold more than a few copies, even the one with his father about capital punishment, which is the one that had the most legitimate publisher. Publishers don’t overpay on purpose for books just so they can be in business with Jesse.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_3?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Jr.%20Jesse%20L.%20Jackson&ie=UTF8&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156649186X/ref=dp_proddesc_1?ie=UTF8&n=283155
Keep in mind that a big hardback bestseller is 100,000 copies sold. (Am all but sure that the three together didn’t sell a third of that.) Which will bring the author, at most, $300K.
Obama was the sole-named author of his books that didn’t begin selling until he was on the national stage after 2004. He made a couple of million from them.
Its a usual and customary thing for Democrats to do what Jackson is doing currently. Young Paddy Kennedy (D-RI) did almost the same thing in 2004 when he was discovered, clad only in his shorts, repeatedly ramming his car into the concrete barriers, one hot July after midnight, in downtown DC. He blamed his erratic driving behavior on the promethazine cough syrup his doctor had ordered for him. No one even mentioned the alprazalalazam or the quart of scotch consumed earlier in the evening. “Like father, like son.” When police suggested he ride with them downtown to further discuss his driving, young Paddy told them they could do no such thing for he was on his way to cast his vote in the House of Representatives. After previously being involved in another accident several weeks before in his downtown Providence, RI district, young Paddy checked himself into a rehab clinic and failed to make a single appearance in behalf of his own re election campaign. The good voters of Providence, RI handily returned young Paddy to office for they readily recognized a knight in shining armor when they saw one. Even if the the knight might occassionally have troubles standing up erect for any length of time.
Well, of course. As Obama said in the 2007 video released last night, poor people cannot be expected to know how to behave properly in the most fundamental areas. One shouldn’t expect them to know that they should show up for work on time, know how to dress, know how to interact with other humans, etc.
What Obama was really saying was that we should hold the poor “folks'” parents, schools, and churches innocent of their failure to inculcate any civilized standards into their charges. Those people need the Feds to correct 20+ years of abhorrent neglect in each case.
I’d emigrate to Canada if there weren’t so many Muslims there.
An automatic Democrat US congressional seat occupied by a representative who is unable to vote on anything sounds like the best possible scenario for Republicans and conservatives.
What exactly is our beef here again?
Why does he need help with medical bills? I’m willing to wager both he and his wife have the best most comprehensive least Zeke Emanuel health coverage government money can buy.
a man who hasn’t shown up for work in months
If more Democrats had been responsible enough to shirk going to work in 2009 and 2010, we wouldn’t be stuck with Obamacare today.
Oh, come on now, it’s not like Jackson is extraordinarily wealthy or anything. I’ll bet he still has a few payments left on it.
I’m sure he received one of those really sweet DC deals, the kind reserved for our great statesmen who devote their entire lives to promote the greater good.
All he asks for in return is what – a few measly mansions and a paltry few hundred million in the bank? Shame on you all, stone throwers…
Although, looking back, putting his soul up as collateral may have been a bad idea…