Jesse Jackson Jr. had some cash flow problems

posted at 11:31 am on February 16, 2013 by Jazz Shaw

It seems like I can still remember back when Jesse Jackson Jr. disappeared for long stretches of time to seek treatment for debilitating health issues, becoming a sympathetic figure on the Left. Ah, good times, good times. Ed brought us up to date a couple of weeks ago, after it became obvious that there was quite a bit more to the story and that Jackson was heading for some serious legal problems. Well, now the tale is just about fully written and the details may come as a shock even to those who suspected the worst. The former congressman and his wife were dipping into the cash contributed by their supporters at a hefty pace, funding a lifestyle which was “way beyond their means” and the expected penalty is going to be high.

Former Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) will plead guilty to conspiring with his wife to illegally spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses, including a $43,000 Rolex watch, fur coats and memorabilia associated with Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Bruce Lee, according to information obtained by POLITICO.

The charges against him include conspiracy, making false statements, and mail and wire fraud…

Prosecutors will recommend a prison sentence of between 46 months and 57 months for Jackson Jr., as well as a fine of $10,000 to $100,000, and forfeiture of a yet-to-be-determined portion of the misspent $750,000 in campaign funds.

I’m not sure if Jackson really is suffering from some sort of mental illness or it was all a dodge to put up a smoke screen around an investigation that he knew was closing in on him. But either way, this isn’t going to turn into one of those cases of money getting lost in transfer or a misunderstanding of the campaign finance laws and what constitutes legitimate campaign expenditures. The details being released by the prosecutors are pretty graphic.

In one instance there was a completely bogus charge for “billboard expenses” transferred to his wife’s business and then almost immediately moved to their personal account to pay down credit card charges. Others ranged from, “airplane tickets, booze and cigars to groceries.” It would be difficult to argue that anyone seriously thought those were legal expenditures for a political campaign unless your campaign manager was Billy Carter.

But if there’s any plus side to all of this, the people of his district have probably learned a valuable lesson, and will quickly move to elect a fiscally conservative Republican with a sold background in financial management who will ….

BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Sorry… almost injured myself laughing there.

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“When the Bush administration was wracked with the leaks of classified information about its counter-terrorism policies, most notably its interrogation and electronic surveillance programs, Democrats in Congress happily took advantage of the information.

Nary a peep was heard about protecting national security and preventing the media from publishing classified information.

But now President Obama has to live in the leak-happy world that he and his colleagues created to undermine the last administration. And they don’t like it. Unlike the Bush administration, however, they are willing to go to lengths that threaten the freedom of the press to stop it — this administration has conducted far more investigations and prosecutions for leaking than its predecessors. And, for the most part, this administration has gotten away with it from the press, which has given them a pass on civil liberties compared to how they treated Republicans.

I deplore the Obama administration’s assault on freedom of the press. But I have no sympathy for the AP or the mainstream media, because this is how you get treated when you are in a politician’s pocket. If the AP’s editors and reporters and their colleagues at other newspapers had been more adversarial toward this President, as they were with President Bush, they would been treated with far more respect. The AP should wish for a return of the days of a Republican administration, which considered the press a worthy adversary, rather than a servant to be mistreated at will…” – John Yoo

http://ricochet.com/main-feed/On-the-AP-Justice-Department-Story

workingclass artist on May 14, 2013 at 11:52 AM

So four dead Americans weren’t enough to get Carl off his fat butt but a shot at the liberal media has him exorcized? Welcome to the club buddy, a bit late aren’t you?

jnelchef on May 14, 2013 at 12:01 PM

Let’s face it, when push comes to shove, the leftwing media would choose a leftist dictatorship over a Republican victory. They’ll stamp their feet a little to let Obama know he got a little too close on this one but they will go back to sleep on his lap before too long.

jnelchef on May 14, 2013 at 12:04 PM

Welcome to the party pal.

Jack_Burton on May 14, 2013 at 12:27 PM

Fox news just said that Holder has recused himself from the investigation into the phone records seizure. Said it may mean that Holder did not sign off on it.

jffree1 on May 14, 2013 at 12:34 PM

Knee jerk reaction of a dictator… yawn… His reporter butt-buds don’t mind having their ‘love letters’ spied on.

RalphyBoy on May 14, 2013 at 12:47 PM

Amazing isn’t it, how upset the media gets when it’s their ox being gored.

hachiban on May 14, 2013 at 1:05 PM

the attorney general would have had to sign off on a request to wire tap the ap phones.

2012chuck on May 14, 2013 at 1:25 PM

I don’t recall the GOP treating the press as a “worthy adversary.” The Zombie Press is concerned only the progressive side, because they too are progtards.

I call them the Zombie press because they have less use than a Corpse. At least a corpse can be used for medical research and training. The Press Corpse is utterly useless these days, unless you are a Progtard politician.

Quartermaster on May 14, 2013 at 2:21 PM

Dear Carl,

I have attended many events at which you and/or your colleague – Bob Woodward – have spoken. I’ve been a fan for many years. Sadly, I am left with the sense that your questioning intellect lacks balance in the sense that you are less willing to question those whom you like or whose ideology is one that you perceive as similar to yours.

I expected more. You should have, too.

The signs that the current occupant of the White House and his supporters are all about power – not hope, not change – were there during the first election when there were threats to jail those who said “bad things” about the candidate. You recognized similar abuses of power in 70′s. Unfortunately, you completely missed it this time.

Here’s hoping that the tapping of the AP’s phone lines will lead to your personal reformation. To paraphrase my friend Sam, “there’s no such thing as a bad questions, there are just bad answers.”

And ALL questions should be on the table . . . at all times.

EB

EdmundBurke247 on May 14, 2013 at 2:36 PM

I wonder if the media will start connecting dots between this and Benghazi, and the IRS scandals, and Operation Fast and Furious, and …

No. The MSM created Obama and they will protect their reputations by protecting Obama.

BMF on May 14, 2013 at 4:49 PM

So, Carl’s bull finally got gored.

Barnestormer on May 14, 2013 at 5:01 PM

If the Obama administration is doing this to one of its biggest cheerleaders, I can only imagine what it’s secretly doing to conservative media.

Time for conservative journalists to have face to face meetings with contacts in parks, safe houses, and inside cars with heavily tinted windows in parking lots.

It’s time for PKI to be embedded in phones and emails because you can no longer trust the government–actually, you haven’t been able to trust the government for a long time now.

BMF on May 15, 2013 at 7:34 AM

We should also check if DOJ was tapping SCOTUS too, especially around the time of the Obamacare impossible-to-fathom ruling. This president openly attacked them, so you can probably assume his minions were using the full power of the government to make sure they were one step ahead of deliberations.

I’m not saying this happened, but you have to admit the pattern of intimidation is there.

virgo on May 15, 2013 at 10:21 AM

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