Jesse Jackson Jr. Plea Deal Said To Include Resigning From Congress
A Chicago television station is reporting that the plea deal being negotiated by Federal Prosecutors and representatives of Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. includes the stipulation the Jackson will resign from Congress:
A former U.S. attorney representing embattled Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is negotiating a plea deal with the federal government, CBS 2 has learned.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine has the exclusive details.
The plea deal would end Jackson’s 17-year career as a congressman representing Chicago’s South Side and suburbs.
At the center of negotiations is white-collar criminal defense attorney Dan Webb, who served as Chicago’s top federal prosecutor in the 1980s, when several Cook County judges were indicted for public corruption under the “Operation Greylord” investigation.
Webb, the chairman of Winston & Strawn LLP in Chicago, has been the point person for Jackson in talks with the U.S. Justice Department in Washington.
The tentative deal includes:
-Jackson resigning for health reasons.
-His pleading guilty to charges involving misuse of campaign funds.
-The congressman’s repayment of any contributions that were converted to personal use, such as home furnishings, improper travel or gifts.
At least some jail time would appear to be inevitable for Jackson, the son of civil-rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and spouse of Chicago 7thWard Ald. Sandi Jackson.
Ironically, Jackson himself entered Congress via a special election in 1995 when Congressman Mel Reynolds was forced to resign when it became known that he had sexually assaulted a 16 year old campaign worker.
Question: Have we ever had a sitting congress critter in prison? I mean, actually in prison and in congress?
and if he’s allowed to run again he’ll be elected- it’s chicago.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I can’t speak about congress, but James Michael Curley was elected mayor of Boston while serving a prison sentence for a felony conviction.
@CSK: Oh well hell, that’s Boston…. 😉
Stay classy Chicago.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I believe that this will be the third congressman in a row from the District that Jackson represents to have gotten into legal troubles. Mel Reynolds, who preceded Jackson, served several years in gail due to sexual assault charges. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Reynolds Gus save who represented the district before Reynold was also accused of sexual assault. http://www.congressionalbadboys.com/Savage.htm
Didn’t we get one Congresscritter get voted into office even after he was dead?
Chicago, for the most part, runs as a collection of bureaucratic layers of civil servants with a thin smear of politicians on top, most of whom are irrelevant to the smooth everyday running of the system. Very much like the Japanese government, actually….The politicians are only around for amusement purposes.
(Based on my own experience working for the Japanese government, I think this is an extremely optimal way to go. Meritocracy for the bulk of governmental employees, with the politicians for entertainment, elected by popularity.)