Rob Blagojevich says at least two people from Jackson’s staff contacted him about giving campaign money for the seat.
Jesse Jackson Junior says that is not what happened.
“Ethically and with honor. With dignity and the highest possible standards.
So you did not ask someone to organize and raise a lot of money?
I have made that perfectly clear.”
Jackson says he is confident he will be vindicated when the investigation is complete.
But in May 2011, Jesse Jackson Jr. testified at the corruption trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich that in 2003, Blagojevich implied he didn’t help Jackson Jr.’s wife because Jackson Jr. didn’t make a $25,000 donation to his first gubernatorial campaign.
Under cross-examination, Jackson Jr. testified he was asked to make a $25,000 donation to Blagojevich’s first campaign for governor but did not.
Later, after his wife did not get a job that Blagojevich had offered to help her get, he met with Blagojevich in D.C.
Blagojevich apologized it didn’t work out and as Blagojevich left the room, Jackson testified he stopped in classic “Elvis” fashion, snapped his fingers in the air and said “you should have given me that $25,000.”
Jesse Jackson Jr. commissioned a Zogby poll that showed him being the choice of most Illinoisans.
When Blago ran for governor, Jackson did not endorse him, and Rod’s ego has been bruised ever since.
Perhaps this explains Blago telling his advisers (caught on those FBI recordings) calling Jackson a “a bad guy . . . he’s really not the guy I hoped or thought he was.”
In December 2008, Blago said. “And I can cut a better political deal with these Jacksons and, and most of it you probably can’t believe, but some of it can be tangible upfront,” Rod tells his brother in a taped phone conversation.
Both Blagojevich and Jackson have a funder in common—Raghuveer Nayak, a prominent businessman.
In an FBI recording, the governor’s brother told Blago that Nayak offered to do “some accelerated fundraising” on the governor’s behalf if Jackson got the seat.
Ethics Committee Chairman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and ranking member Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) said the panel would need more time to “gather additional information necessary to complete its review of Jackson Jr. .”
Jackson is accused of offering former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) $1.5 million in campaign donations from supporters in exchange for appointment to Obama’s former seat.
The committee had previously suspended its investigation at the request of federal prosecutors trying Blagojevich, who eventually was impeached and removed from office by the Illinois legislature.
As reported in other media outlets, Jackson directed Nayak to pay for airfare to have a Washington, D.C., restaurant hostess, Giovana Huidobro, flown to Chicago twice to visit Jackson. Giovana Huidobro has been described as a “social acquaintance” of Jackson’s. If true, Jackson could face ethical scrutiny under the U.S. House of Representatives Gift Ban act.
Referencing direct verbiage from the law, Kathleen Clark, a professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis said, “It defines ‘gift’ as any ‘item having monetary value.” Jackson did not document or disclose the gift from Nayak on his House ethics statements.
Regarding the alleged relationship with his female “social acquaintance”, Giovana Huidobro, Jackson said Tuesday, “I know I have disappointed some supporters, and for that I am deeply sorry. But I remain committed to serving my constituents and fighting on their behalf.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that fund-raiser and government witness Rajinder Bedi testified in Blagojevich’s trial last week that he and another fund-raiser met with Jackson right before the 2008 election to discuss fundraising and the Senate seat.
Jackson does not deny that a conversation involving Blagojevich and the fundraisers took place, but he asserts that he was not involved in it.
Jackson also maintains that he has no idea why the offer would be made, adding, “you’ll have to ask them.”
“There is probable cause to believe that Rep. Jackson either (1) directed a third-party, most likely Mr. Raghuveer Nayak, to offer to raise money for Gov. Blagojevich in exchange for appointing Rep. Jackson to the Senate seat, or (2) had knowledge that Nayak would likely make such an offer once Rep. Jackson authorized him to advocate on his behalf with Gov. Blagojevich,” OCE stated in its July 2009 report to the Ethics Committee….
Illinois Politics 