GIVE ME A BREAK
Jesse Jackson Jr., fighting g to reduce his child support payments in divorce battle, says he’s being ‘ attacked from all angles’
A haggard Jesse Jackson Jr., speaking publicly for the first time about his divorce, said Monday he feels he’s being “attacked from all angles” despite the fact he’s “never missed a payment to my children.”
But court records from the divorce case in Washington, D. C., show the corrupt former congressman is seeking to sharply reduce the amount of temporary child support the court there ordered him to begin paying to estranged wife Sandi Jackson in a ruling three weeks ago.
On Feb. 7, a judge in Washington decreed Jackson, 51, must pay $ 1,529 a month in child support to crooked former 7th Ward Ald. Sandi Jackson starting in March.
Nine days later, a lawyer for the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson filed a motion arguing the judge had failed to properly take into account the $ 1,200 a month the couple’s two children receive in Social Security Disability Insurance “derivative benefits” from him.
That money, totaling $ 14,400 a year for the children, is part of the more than $ 138,000 a year in disability checks Jackson gets for having bipolar disorder and depression.
The derivative benefits should be counted toward his child support obligations, which would slash his payments to Sandi Jackson, his Washington lawyer contended in a filing on Feb. 16, court records show.
“Thus, [ Jesse Jackson Jr.’ s] temporary child support obligation should be reduced by $ 1,200 per month for a temporary child support obligation of $ 329 per month,” wrote the lawyer, Ann Marie Jackson, who is not related to the couple. Sandi Jackson’s lawyer, Chandra Walker Holloway of Silver Spring, Maryland, called that argument “clearly erroneous” in a filing Friday. Walker Holloway did not return calls seeking comment.
On Monday evening, Jackson’s attorney in Chicago said his client was merely seeking clarification from the court and already had made the full $ 1,529 child support payment for March, which is due Wednesday.
“I can tell you Jesse has made that payment and it is in transit to Sandi,” said the lawyer, Brendan Hammer.
Hammer said Jackson pays about $ 1,100 a month for school tuition for his 16- year- old son and 13- year- old daughter, in addition to the derivative benefits.
“If the judge orders $ 1,500 and change in child support on top of that, then you’re talking about a total of more than $ 3,800 a month,” Hammer said.
But he added that Jackson would “continue to make whatever child support is ordered by the judge in D. C.”
“He’s not attempting to not pay support,” Hammer said.
Facing a dozen or so reporters outside a Daley Center courtroom, Jackson said he is not a deadbeat and he felt under siege by his estranged wife’s attorneys in Washington and the media in Chicago.
“In the Washington case . . . my wife is asking for everything,” he said. “In the Chicago case, and in the Chicago media, I don’t even deserve what I got. . . . Again, attacked from all angles.”
He said his famous name makes him newspaper fodder.
“For whatever it is, you know, I
guess I help sell papers, and I guess I help make news,” he said.
Jackson’s emotional remarks came after a Cook County judge ruled that, for the time being, former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and two other former policemen don’t have to respond to subpoenas issued by Jackson’s attorneys in Chicago. Attorneys for the targets of the subpoenas say their clients have nothing to do with the case. Jesse Jackson’s Chicago attorney has told the Chicago Sun- Times that the subpoenas were issued to shed light on “acts” the former congressman’s lawyers attributed to his estranged wife, Sandi Jackson, in an earlier filing.
Cook County Judge Carole Bellows said Monday she first wants to resolve the issue of whether the case should be heard in Chicago or Washington, D. C. Sandi Jackson wants the case heard on the East Coast, where she lives with the couple’s two teenage children. Jesse Jackson Jr. wants the case heard here, where his attorneys say “the acts” occurred.
In his words to reporters Monday, Jesse Jackson Jr. spoke vaguely about “issues” in the divorce case that he doesn’t want made public — to save his teenage kids from unnecessary anguish.
Jackson made reference to “issues” his 17- year- old daughter has been aware of “for a number of years, including while I was in prison and before my incarceration.”
“I’m very protective of my children,” he said. “That which I know and that which I discovered and do not want to make available to the public, I have pursued in this process. I don’t want to see some of it in a grocery stand line in a tabloid.”
Monday’s court hearing revealed nothing about the basis for the subpoenas. Judge Bellows initially postponed the morning hearing after she said she didn’t have the necessary documents to make a decision. Sandi Jackson’s attorneys had sought a hearing to try to quash the subpoenas for McCarthy, Rick Simon, a former Chicago Police sergeant, and former Chicago Police Officer James Love.
After about an hour break, the attorneys met behind closed doors, returning to tell reporters that the judge had issued a written order.
“We are very pleased with the outcome,” said McCarthy attorney Morgan Stogsdill. “As I’ve said before, Mr. McCarthy has absolutely no involvement with this matter, and he will not have any involvement in the future.”
Jesse Jackson took the opportunity Monday to talk about his time in prison. He and Sandi Jackson both pleaded guilty in August 2013 to various schemes relating to the looting of his congressional campaign fund. The former South Side 7th Ward alderman and the former 2nd Congressional District lawmaker each went to prison for diverting $ 750,000 from campaign funds for their personal use between 2005 and 2012.
On Monday, Jesse Jackson described the split from his wife as “very difficult.”
“I’ve been with Sandra for 30 years,” he said. “On June 1, we would have celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.”
He also praised her for helping keep his family together while he was locked up.
“Every month for 24 months, Sandra brought my children to visit me,” he said. “For the bulk of her incarceration, I too brought our children to visit her.”
Asked how he is feeling, he said, “I feel fantastic. There are up and down days. Anyone ever been through a divorce?”
FORMERU. S. REP. JESSE JACKSON JR. “EVERYMONTH FOR 24 MONTHS, SANDRA BROUGHT MY CHILDREN TO VISIT ME. FOR THE BULK OF HER INCARCERATION, I TOO BROUGHT OUR CHILDREN TO VISIT HER.”