Illinois Democrat Representative Jesse Jackson Jr.
Despite the fact that Federal authorities have already questioned Illinois Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. and other cooperating witnesses about an attempt by friends of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to raise funds for Blagojevich to encourage him to pick Jackson for the U.S. Senate, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) is conducting its own investigation. Randall Samborn, a spokesman for U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald, declined to comment on whether the federal office would cooperate with the OCE.
The Office of Congressional Ethics is a new body established in 2008 by Rep. Jackson and others to vet allegations against fellow lawmakers and staff to determine whether they merit a more comprehensive investigation by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Rep. Jackson probe was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, which marks the first effort by OCE that has already leaked into public view.
Federal prosecutors allege Blagojevich was considering awarding the seat to Jackson in return for a Jackson associate offering $1.5 million in campaign cash. Governor Blagojevich was indicted last week on corruption charges.
A federal grand jury handed down 19-count indictment against Blagojevich, his brother, two former aides and two businessmen last Thursday. It accuses Blagojevich of corruption involving billions of dollars in state pension bonds.
Rep. Jackson has repeatedly insisted he has done nothing wrong and issued a statement saying he is cooperating with the preliminary review by the Office of Congressional Ethics. He said he is "eager to answer any questions and provide any information to the OCE about my actions related to last year’s vacant Senate seat."
Representative Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. began service in the United States House of Representatives on December 12, 1995, as he was sworn in as a member of the 104th Congress, the 91st African American ever elected to Congress.
Representative Jackson currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee, serving as the 5th ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education as well as the 2nd ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs. His leadership created the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health in 2001, hailed by many minority health experts as the most important civil rights legislation since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Representative Jackson also secured funding for the Institute of Medicine’s 2002 report on health disparities, "Unequal Treatment.’
Prior to his congressional service, Representative Jackson served as the National Field Director of the National Rainbow Coalition. In this role, he instituted a national non-partisan program that successfully registered millions of new voters. He also created a voter education program to teach citizens the importance of participating in the political process, including how to use technology to win elections and more effectively participate in politics.
Born in the midst of the voting rights struggle on March 11, 1965, Representative Jackson spent his twenty-first birthday in a jail cell in Washington, D.C. for taking part in a protest against apartheid at the South African Embassy. He also demonstrated weekly in front of the South African Consulate in Chicago. Representative Jackson was on stage with Nelson Mandela during his historic speech following a 27-year imprisonment in Cape Town.
In 1987, Representative Jackson graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A & T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management. Three years later, he earned a Master of Arts Degree in Theology from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and in 1993, received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Law. He has also been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from the Chicago Theological Seminary, Governors State University, North Carolina A & T State University, Charles R. Drew Univ. of Medicine and Science, Meharry Medical College and Morehouse School of Medicine. Representative Jackson has co-authored A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights (2001) with Frank E. Watkins. He has also co-authored Legal Lynching II (2001), It’s About the Money (1999) and Legal Lynching (1996).
Representative Jackson resides in the Second Congressional District of Illinois with his wife Sandi, daughter Jessica Donatella, and son Jesse L. Jackson, III.
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