As Gov. Rod Blagojevich was trying to pick Illinois' next U.S. senator, businessmen with ties to both the governor and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. discussed raising at least $1 million for Blagojevich's campaign as a way to encourage him to pick Jackson for the job, the Tribune has learned.
Blagojevich made an appearance at an Oct. 31 luncheon meeting at the India House restaurant in Schaumburg sponsored by Oak Brook businessman Raghuveer Nayak, a major Blagojevich supporter who also has fundraising and business ties to the Jackson family, according to several attendees and public records
« Jackson Sr. denies any role | Main | Pragmatism and evil » I think this is it for Jr.12 Dec 2008 09:19 am
At least for now. McCain came back from Keating, so who knows. I don't know how much Jrr. knew. Hard to believe he was in the dark, and even if he was, he's responsible for people doing dirt in his name. Man, this one will hurt:
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It's over for JJJ in terms of being appointed to the seat. If there is a special election and every dumbass wannabee Senator runs JJJ could win the democratic primary in a split vote.
However, if the GOP picks anyone to the left of Attilla the Hun or Donald Rumsfeld then JJJ would likely lose the general election.
There will be tears and much angst in the South Shore community, home of JJJ, in the coming days.
For me it's just another early Christmas present from Patrick Fitzgerald. Call it.......Fitzmas.
Now if only Jesse Senior could be taken down with an added side of "Da Mare" Daley.
I would be so delirious with joy that I might not recover until St. Patty's Day.
Well, Jr.'s seat in the congress is likely safe, unless he's further implicated in wrong doing, which I think is probably unlikely. But he's unlikely to be elected to the senate any time soon. But wasn't that the case already? Pay for play was probably the only way he had a chance at the appointment in the first place (shady governor notwithstanding). My understanding is that his father is still not well liked down state, and a lot of that rubs off on Jr (for right or for wrong). A governor who is concerned about the security of the seat would likely only select somebody he or she is convinced would be competetive when an statewide election finally took place.
I guess I'm in denial, because I just can't see JJJ doing this. Maybe it was Nayak? He's the businessman, with ties to both guys. Or maybe that's wishful thinking on my part. I still can't understand why JJJ would come out now and deny any wrongdoing if he knows for sure he's been caught red handed.
I don't get why everyone's assuming JJJ had anything to do with this.
I mean here's the way I see it:
1) JJJ really obviously wanted the seat (TONS of public statements to that effect).
2) Blagojevich was not so subtly shopping the thing around.
3) Some business folks hoping to beat a favor out of JJJ put out some feelers to Blago.
But I don't see any necessary or obvious connection between #1 and #3 there.
I mean if you're going to make public desire for the seat some mark of wrongdoing on JJJ's part, why isn't EVERY hopeful "tainted"? Jan Schakowsky? Valerie Jarrett? Lisa Madigan? I still don't see what HE (rather than his backers) did that was worse than any of the other hopefuls.
Its not that JJ Jr had anything to do with it. From the article it doesn't seem like he does. But percepetion IS reality when it comes to politics. Any opponent of Triple Js will of course link him to the scandal at every turn and make the point that there is no way that the Nayko guy and the other guy were acting on their own. Mind you it appears they were, but it would just be too hard to convince anybody of that, especially when your dad is Jesse Jackson Sr and is seen as having helped to ruin a bunch of rich white kids at Duke's lives over bogus rape charges. Triple J might be able to keep his seat in the House but the Senate is pretty much gone for him. And I have been taking up for him the last few days.
I don't think it looks too bad yet. Certainly not Keating bad. What we've got is an emissary said they'd help fundraise. As a qpq how bad is that?
(Hint: It seems that emissary A did not say, "and after we've raised it you can use the loot to dress the missus like Sara Palin.")
He'd likely not have won in 2010 if he ran, but he's still relatively young and has a safe seat. He'll likely never be president, but another 10 years of good effort in his seat and a name on his own rather than as Jr., and I think he's got a legitimate shot to mve up on his own chops.
& did we ever want to replace dynastic politics with "multicultural" dynastic politics anyway?
Have to agree with the consensus here. Jackson would have had a tough time in an open primary - that's why he was pressing so hard for the appointment (to the point of running the poll showing he had the most support, etc.). With this shadow hanging over him, he'd most likely be toast in a primary (unless there is a very divided field and he just manages to squeek by) and would certainly be toast in a general. I think that holds true even if he's ultimately found clean of everything - there will be a certain whiff of Blagojevich that will follow him around for a while yet.
That said, his congressional seat should be safe for years (if not decades) to come and he could probably make a credible run for mayor should Daley ever decide to call it quits. So, he may ultimately be able to come back from this. Also, at some point his father is bound to retire, at which point he will no longer have to deal with the silly things he says (e.g., cut Obama's nuts off). So in some ways, time can only help him.
You're probably right but that's really sad. There's no way the media would be making these cognitive leaps if it didn't involve a man named "Jesse Jackson."
Yeah, I do not understand this rush to implicate Jackson Jr. First of all, just from what we have heard of the governor's conversations, everything and everybody was about money for him and his wife. I think it is going to take a very long investigation to corroborate these conversations and provide indisputable evidence of who made offers to the governor on behalf of whom and with their knowledge and consent.
The governor sounds like a complete buffoon in addition to being a crook. Yet, he has/had the power to appoint a Senate replacement for Obama so there were undoubtedly some people out there willing to play his game.
I hope that Jackson Jr. wasn't a serious player in this, one who had knowledge of and consented to paybacks to one of the dumbest crooks in the nation in exchange for the appointment. I also think it is extremely unfair for media to "taint" these politicians before the hard evidence has been made available assuming there is ever is any.
If Jackson Jr. is a part of this, then he will be careered in the House for a good ten years, at least, unless he finds something more interesting to do outside of politics.
It's like a bad joke: A Pole, an African American and an Indian walk into a Chicago restaurant where they bump into an Irishman...
As far as JJJ is concerned, given the FBI bugged pretty much everything but his bathroom, all this is still speculation.
JJJ is a piece of dirt, a cockroach who should be stripped of his government powers. Also put in behind bars with Blago.
I can't imagine with the lifelong taint of his daddy's rep that this poor Jr. would be foolish enough to think he could ever get away with the highest of high profile bribes. He has lived his entire political career understanding that the shadow of his dad makes him a big target. As the years go by, less people remember when -if ever- his dad was relevant and just highlight his caricature and mistakes. This name recognition isn't like being a Kennedy. With the relationship he has with his dad, I bet he would've rather grown up with the surname Brown.
I don't live in Chicago so I can't speak to the level of corruption there. However, I imagine it would've been pretty hard for him to rise to this current level of success as a Jackson and a crook.
I've always seen his success as success in spite of his high profile name not because of.
Barring any criminal conviction, which I don't expect, JJJ, could easily keep his house seat for the next 30 years or so.
The idea of him as "Da Mare" though is probably unrealistic. The City of Chicago is seeing an outflow of blacks to the suburbs and to a lesser extent to the southern states. For the first time in a Ward election in 2007 a seat went from black to white. Gentrification and "ghetto depopulation", where large swaths of the south and west sides are simply losing population, is having an effect. Like the white middle class before it a huge percentage of the black middle class is leaving the city for the southern suburbs. Which just largely happen to be in Jackson's district.
Because of his name Jackson would have a hard time gathering the 50 percent of the vote needed in a non partisan general Mayoral election. He could certainly get to that election by running where he would almost be guaranteed to be one of the top two contenders, but I doubt he could win it.
Many white Chicagoans would happily vote for an Obama for President, but would not vote for a "Jackson" for Mayor. Hell, there are people here who consider President to be a secondary office compared to Mayor.
What she/he person said.
(quote) "Like the white middle class before it a huge percentage of the black middle class is leaving the city for the southern suburbs. Which just largely happen to be in Jackson's district." (/quote)
The south suburbs are ruined. Plain and simple.
McCain came back from Keating, so who knows.
McCain came back from Keating because the ethics committee cleared him. Let's not act like he was in Cranston's position.
He's Black, Coates.
Black folk don't come back. They can only come back with other Black folk, and Black folk were never Jesse Jr's problem to begin with.
While I will never say never, I will say this:
His ambitions have just been derailed for a decade.
He already had 1 1/2 strikes against him - his name was Jesse Jackson, Jr.
And though, there's no chance he'll lose his Congressional seat - any hope for anything statewide is now gone.
PERIOD.
And no way to Obama appointing him to anything - that road is gone too, until a second Obama term.
He just better be content with being in Congress, and that his wife has solidified her control over their Ward - she is both the Alderman and Committeeman - which means, nothing happens in that ward without her permission, and......
You can fill in the and.....
That ward sits on the largest parcel of undeveloped lakefront land.
So, you fill in the and....
The son of a famous politician who was in over his head.
Sound familiar?
"The son of a famous politician who was in over his head.
Sound familiar?"
Rich Daley.
George Bush.
Need I continue.............