Former Democratic congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. pled guilty on Wednesday in federal court to criminal charges that he spent $750,000 in campaign funds for his personal use, reported The Washington Post’s Anne E. Marimow.
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“For years, I lived in my campaign,” Jackson said as he dabbed his eyes with a tissue before pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to one felony count of conspiracy to commit false statements, mail fraud and wire fraud, according to the report. “I used monies that should have been used for the campaign.”
Jackson faces a prison sentence of 46 to 57 months. Jackson’s wife, Sandra, a former Chicago alderman, was charged with filing false income-tax returns from 2006 through 2011. She also pled guilty Wednesday afternoon.
Marimow wrote that “court documents outline how extensively Jackson and his wife used campaign funds for personal expenses, from the extravagant to the mundane. In addition to high-end items such as cashmere and fur wraps, the Jacksons used campaign cards to pay for movie tickets, health-club dues and trips to Costco.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, “It was the kind of runaway spending usually reserved for someone with newfound riches — a holistic retreat, a cruise, pricey restaurant tabs, flat-screen televisions and even a pair of stuffed elk heads.”
In recent years when Jackson was in Congress and his wife was on the Council, the couple’s combined annual salaries as public officials totaled more than $270,000, the Tribune reporters pointed out.
Jonathan Allen and John Bresnahan of Politico noted that, “unlike many scandals that have ensnared elected officials, this brazen tale of personal enrichment doesn’t involve public money.”
Of course, everyone has a take on the fall of the Jacksons.
“For many people, it can be hard to resist the urge to pretend you’re rich when you’re around so many people who are truly wealthy,” I wrote in my column on Wednesday. “Not an excuse, just an observation.”
“Jackson’s story is a tale often told in Washington: A public official amasses power and comes to think the rules don’t apply to him,” wrote The Post’s Dana Milbank.
One reader, in an e-mail, wrote: “People with bipolar disorder have a
tendency to go on severe shopping sprees, spending money that they
don’t have or that isn’t theirs to spend. My brother is bipolar and when he has a manic episode it is oftentimes accompanied by purchasing things he won’t even remember buying. Part of what’s wrong with our mental health system is that nobody gets what happens during episodes of mental illness, and instead all the ‘bad’ things mentally ill people do are associated with their personal character. I think it’s unfair that nobody is paying more attention to Jesse Jackson’s mental illness.”
Jackson’s attorney, Reid Weingarten, said that Jackson’s “serious health issues” are “directly related to his present predicament,” Marimow wrote.
But many others aren’t buying that a mental disorder spurred Jackson to spend so.
During an interview with NPR’s Carrie Johnson, Melanie Sloan, who leads the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the Jacksons’ behavior is just out-and-out theft.
