Ex-congressman sentenced for stealing campaign money
’I MISLED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’
WASHINGTON— As a packed D.C. courtroom cleared Wednesday, Rev. Jesse Jackson, the legendary civil rights leader, held his namesake son in a long embrace.
Moments earlier, Jesse Jackson Jr., a once-promising Illinois congressman, had been sentenced to prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign money to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
In an emotional hearing that capped Jackson’s precipitous downfall, the longtime House member said he would serve as an example to all of Congress for failing to separate his personal life from his political activities, and that he “could not have been more wrong.”
“I misled the American people, I misled the House of Representatives,” Jackson said as he dabbed his eyes with a pile of tissues. “I was wrong and I do not fault anyone.” Jackson, 48, was sentenced to 2 1⁄ years
2 and his wife, Sandra Stevens Jackson, 49, to a term of 12 months. The couple pleaded guilty in February to using about $750,000 in campaign funds to pay for items from the pedestrian to the luxurious: car repairs and trips to Costco, fur wraps and a gold-plated Rolex watch.
As the Jackson family looked on, the former congressman asked to serve his term at a facility not near Chicago or Washington but in Alabama, “far away from everybody for a while.”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, no relation, said Jackson and his wife, a former Chicago councillor, used campaign money as a “personal piggy bank” and that they were “supposed to live up to a higher level of integrity.”
“This was a knowing, organized joint misconduct that was repeated over many years,” she said after a hearing that lasted more than four hours.
Even as prosecutors asked the judge for stiffer sentences for Jackson and his wife, they acknowledged the wasted opportunity his demise represented for someone with so many privileges and talents. Having an iconic father came with expectations and pressures, Jackson’s lawyer Reid Weingarten and the judge noted.
“While you were born into a family that could introduce you to world leaders, you were also burdened with the mantle of what you’ve called great expectations from the moment you were given your name,” said the judge.
The public fall of the Illinois Democrat began when Jackson was implicated in allegations that then-governor Rod Blagojevich tried to sell to the highest bidder an interim appointment to the Senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack Obama. Jackson was not charged, but prosecutors investigated allegations that he directed his fundraiser to bring in millions for the governor.
Jackson’s personal life was unravelling, too. Before resigning from the House in mid-November, he disappeared from Washington for several weeks. He later announced that he was being treated for depression and released a statement saying he suffered from bipolar disorder.
Nearly a dozen members of Congress wrote letters on Jackson’s behalf, as did some constituents. The courthouse also was inundated with dozens of letters from Chicago-area residents who urged the judge to send a strong message against public corruption.
In the end, the judge gave both husband and wife sentences below the federal guidelines.
The former congressman will report to prison on or after Nov. 1 and his wife will serve her term after his release. Jackson could serve less than his full sentence if he receives credit for good behaviour.