CHICAGO - Just a week ago, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. seemed confident that the U.S. Senate was within his reach.
Jesse Jackson Jr. now under a very hot spotlight
December 13, 2008 at 2:29AM
Now Jackson finds himself fighting to preserve his hard-won reputation -- his immediate Senate dreams almost certainly gone and his hopes of political advancement at risk.
No evidence has emerged of criminal wrongdoing by Jackson, who has been identified as "Senate Candidate 5" in the criminal complaint filed Tuesday against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The affidavit outlines secretly taped conversations where the governor said an "emissary" from "Senate Candidate 5" offered at least $500,000 in campaign contributions to secure the post.
The Chicago Tribune reported Friday that businessmen who favored Jackson's appointment to the Senate discussed raising at least $1 million for Blagojevich's campaign coffers.
A major Blagojevich fundraiser named Raghuveer Nayak and a Blagojevich aide Rajinder Bedi told people about the fundraising idea at an Oct. 31 meeting that Blagojevich attended, the Tribune reported.
The meeting led to a Dec. 6 fundraiser in suburban Elmhurst, two days before the governor met with Jackson to discuss the Senate seat. Nayak was a sponsor of the event and Blagojevich attended, as did Jackson's brother, Jonathan, the newspaper said.
Telephone calls to Nayak, Bedi and the Jacksons on Friday were not returned. A Jackson spokesman told the Tribune that Jackson spoke with Nayak about his interest in the Senate seat, "but he never asked him to do anything."
Jackson, 43, has denied any wrongdoing and is cooperating with the investigation.
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His political views differed from a transgender classmate’s, but they forged a bond that lasted a decade — until Vance seemed to pivot, politically and personally.
