Former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. may be “facing significant jailtime” if he accepts a plea deal currently on the table, according to a source quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. resigned from Congress last November after a bizarre months-long absence accompanied by rumors of mental illness, and just days after being reelected. He has been under federal criminal investigation for misuse of campaign funds.
Jackson’s wife Sandi, who resigned her position as a Chicago alderman in January, is now also under separate investigation for her use of her husband’s campaign money.
There is a special election underway to replace Jesse Jackson with the primary to be held February 26. IL-02 is one of three vacancies in the U.S. House, along with MO-08 and SC-01. The newly redrawn district had been specifically created to just eke out a Jackson win, and includes urban, rural, and suburban areas across three Illinois counties. For that reason, the federal election is hotly contested, with 22 candidates having filed in the race.
The media have only focused on the Democrat primary, where the Chicago Democratic Machine is having difficulty exerting its control.
It appears that The Machine is pulling for Democrat candidate Robin Kelly after another series of attack ads have been broadcast from Mayor Bloomberg’s super PAC Independence USA, a spend now estimated at $382,000. David Axelrod has tweeted out an attack on Halvorson. Further evidence of The Machine’s pick is Daily Kos’s unrelenting promotion of Robin Kelly and attacks on Debbie Halvorson, who has been the frontrunner, and Toi Hutchinson, another strong Democrat contender:
The Machine may be doubling its efforts after the candidacy of Paul McKinley, running in the Republican primary, has taken off. His anti-Democrat Machine message has been resoundingly successful across the political spectrum. From the crowds at Jeremiah Wright’s church to the rural GOP debates, McKinley is defining the race for IL-02 as one of the 60 years of Machine control vs. the new way, the conservative way.
The other candidates for the Republican nomination, most active being Lenny McCallister and Eric Wallace, are strong on content but have failed to bridge the gap between the rural, suburban, and urban communities, choosing to take their message only to already Republican areas. They are the type of candidates that might appeal to a strictly rural district, but more than likely lose were they to be the nominees in this uniquely carved 2nd district. McKinley, on the other hand, has won over all three crowds and has been tirelessly getting his message out by attending events across the district.
At the recent bi-partisan debate in the heart of the urban area of the district, Paul McKinley was the only Republican candidate who attended to promote conservative ideas and an anti-Machine message. Watch his performance here:
Jackson’s potential jail time and his the investigation of his wife are clear examples of the type of Machine ethics that the Democrat party have forced on the people of the 2nd District. As Daily Kos, Axelrod, and Bloomberg unite to force the next Machine pick upon the people, it’s a clear choice between the same ways of the past or a chance to change the direction.
The machine don’t like you, and it don’t like me….I am not running against a particular person. I’m running against a machine that has gobbled my community up….if you think it’s normal for your neighborhood to have only vacant houses and only poor people walking around that’s broke and ain’t got no money. Only in our community, where you can walk down the street and you see 8 or 9 or 15 people standing on the corner, you have to ask yourself, ‘what’s wrong with me to make me think that this is alright. What’s wrong with me to think that this is normal for my community to look like this’ You need to ask yourself why do I keep voting for the same people. Listen, if you go along with these people, if you go along with this stuff, it’s your fault. It’s your fault.
Consider supporting McKinley’s campaign here; it’s a grassroots effort, staffed by volunteers. Two weeks to go to the primary.
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