Wednesday August 14, 2013, Former Illinois State Representative Jesse Jackson,
Jr. and his wife Sandra Jackson were sentenced to 2 ½ years and 1 year
respectively. The son of famed civil rights activist Jesse Jackson
pleaded guilty to charges of scheming to misappropriate $750,000 of campaign
funds.
According to court
documents the couple conspired to spend the funds on furs,
Rolex watches, lavish dining, alcoholic beverages, spa treatments, nightclubbing and assorted other things. |
| Jesse Jackson, Jr. and his wife receive jail time.. AP |
Mrs. Jackson’s conviction
is primarily due to grossly understating their income in their joint filing of tax returns. She is also alleged to have personally spent in excess of
$5000 herself.
Jackson 48, who once
negotiated with convicted former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich for the
senate seat vacated after the election of President Obama, apologized and said,
he wanted to take complete responsibility for his actions. Expressing
remorse, shame and regret, Jackson also stated, “I misled the American people.”
Hoping to spare his family any additional hardship, especially his children, Jackson said, he hoped his wife would be granted probation. He
requested, “Give me her time.”
U.S.
District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that as a public official, Jackson
was expected to “live up to a higher standard of ethics and integrity.”
Morally,
I agree with Judge Amy Berman Jackson, but at the same time I would love to
peep in the judge’s skeletal closet.
On a final
note, as tempting as access to such large sums of money may have been, one would have expected Jesse Jr. would have known better. He never should have assumed he could get away with such a caper. Too many public figures have had their careers shortened by the "misappropriation of funds" (for a congressman it's misappropriation of funds; for the average Joe Blow, it's stealing). Such actions should have served as examples to the Jacksons.
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