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Home › Politics

Rod Blagojevich, Jesse Jackson Jr. | 04/09/2009 9:40 am

Feds Eye Jesse Jackson Jr.'s Role in Blagojevich Case

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
© Getty Images

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. definitely isn’t getting a pass in the Rod Blagojevich pay-to-play investigation.

Federal authorities are questioning the former Illinois governor’s associates about whether friends of Jackson’s tried to raise $1.5 million for Blago as incentive to name Jackson, D-IL, to Barack Obama’s Senate seat, The Chicago Tribune reports. It’s part of a broader corruption probe into Blago’s dealings when he was governor; he was indicted last week.

The Office of Congressional Ethics is also looking into whether Jackson violated any ethics rules. Jackson, who was identified as "Senate Candidate A" in the criminal complaints against Blago, has denied any wrongdoing.

"As I said when the Blagojevich scandal first broke back in December, I have done nothing wrong and reject pay-to-play politics," Jackson said in a statement. "I’m confident that this new ethics office — which I voted in favor of creating will be able to conduct a fair and expeditious review and dismiss this matter."

Time will tell exactly who was a culprit and who was not involved in Blago’s shenanigans. And you can be sure we’ll keep you posted!

Read more about: Barack Obama, Chicago, Corruption Probe, Ethics, Illinois, investigation, News, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Rod Blagojevich, Senate Seat, U.S.

35 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Beth Cornell
I knew he was secretly eyeing that Senate Seat, the crook!
By Beth Cornell on 04/09/2009 10:04 am
S.J. Morgan
OF course he was!! And daddy was pushing for it to happen as well!  Now he is in deep do da !!!
By S.J. Morgan on 04/09/2009 10:05 am
S.J. Morgan

Speaking of JR???  Did anyone else see and and his wife on the HGTV show where they redesigned his home to add square footage while staying in the same neighborhood? 

By S.J. Morgan on 04/09/2009 10:04 am
S.J. Morgan
They showed the Campaign WAR room in his basement…..seems he took it seriously!
By S.J. Morgan on 04/09/2009 10:06 am
DeBúrca obj
I don’t know if Rep. Jackson was involved in something wrong or not, I hope not because I like him. And if his brother was responsible for doing this without Rep. Jackson knowing about it, he will never prove he wasn’t aware so probably will always be tainted by this.
By DeBúrca obj on 04/09/2009 10:19 am
Cheryl Mitchell
JR was not hiding the fact that he wanted that seat-bad.   He was so vocal it gave me a bad feeling.
By Cheryl Mitchell on 04/09/2009 10:24 am
Mel Berg
I also like Jesse Jr. and hope he is innocent. This pay to play is really common…it happens quite a lot but not open and boldly as Blago did. If he would have done it like the rest of the politicians do he probably would never have raised red flags! I guess he just wasn’t a "back room" type!!!
By Mel Berg on 04/09/2009 10:28 am
Libra Lady
I think the Feds should have held up on the Blago arrest and waited it out to see the exchange of money taking place….then they would have had all the evidence they needed to make their case….what was the big hurry?  Blago wasn’t going anywhere, something is fishy about this whole mess, and I truly believe there are other politicians involved and the rush to arrest was to save some big names here….jmho
By Libra Lady on 04/09/2009 11:14 am
Marjorie C.

Libra:  I truly believe there are other politicians involved and the rush to arrest was to save some big names here.

Sounds quite logical to me.

By Marjorie C. on 04/09/2009 11:30 am
Lady Gator

Blago should have had an out and out auction on the steps of the Governor’s mansion.  "Sold to the highest bidder".  This story gets more ricidulous each day.  Trust the Democrats to furnish us with more comedy each and every passing day. 

Chicago politics — you can’t make this stuff up!

By Lady Gator on 04/09/2009 12:54 pm
Lady Gator

Blago should have had an out and out auction on the steps of the Governor’s mansion.  "Sold to the highest bidder".  This story gets more ricidulous each day.  Trust the Democrats to furnish us with more comedy each and every passing day. 

Chicago politics — you can’t make this stuff up!

By Lady Gator on 04/09/2009 12:55 pm
Lady Gator

Blago should have had an out and out auction on the steps of the Governor’s mansion.  "Sold to the highest bidder".  This story gets more ricidulous each day.  Trust the Democrats to furnish us with more comedy each and every passing day. 

Chicago politics — you can’t make this stuff up!

By Lady Gator on 04/09/2009 12:55 pm
Lady Gator
Sorry for the triple post! 
By Lady Gator on 04/09/2009 12:56 pm
S.J. Morgan
I believe it was the prosecutoer was afraid that when the administration changed he might lose his job!…and the Dems would drop the investigation. 
By S.J. Morgan on 04/09/2009 1:33 pm
S.J. Morgan
"Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago who brought criminal fraud charges against Rod Blagojevich, will be staying in his job in the Obama administration, even though he was appointed to the position by President George W. Bush.

U.S. attorneys are political appointees. The normal practice, when there’s a change of political parties in the White House, is for the incoming administration to replace all 93 U.S. attorneys with appointees from the new president’s party.  For now, the Obama administration has asked the current Republican-appointed U.S. attorneys to remain in their posts while it considers how many to retain.

But Fitzgerald will not be asked to move on. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois has recommended that Eric Holder, the new attorney general, keep Fitzgerald. That suggestion was "positively received," according to officials at the Justice Department and Sen. Durbin’s office. 

Fitzgerald has been the U.S. attorney in Chicago since 2001. His spokesman had no comment on Fitzgerald’s future."

 

By S.J. Morgan on 04/09/2009 1:40 pm
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