Tuesday, September 21, 2010
File photo: Jesse Jackson Jr.
September 21, 2010 (CHICAGO) -- Rod Blagojevich's name won't be on the ballot when Chicago votes for a new mayor early next year. But as U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was reminded Monday, the disgraced governor's shadow still could play a role in the race.
When Jackson's wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, appeared at a rally on the city's far South Side, she was peppered with questions about her husband's relationship with the former governor, who is facing federal corruption charges.
The alderman said her husband backed out of his planned appearance at the rally because he was ill, and refused to comment on his contention that he knew nothing about a businessman's alleged offer to raise $1 million for Blagojevich if the governor appointed Jackson Jr. to President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat.
Jackson said both she and her husband are thinking about running for mayor, after Mayor Richard Daley announced this month that he would not seek a seventh term in February's election. And she trumpeted the congressman's qualifications.
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"My husband absolutely has that kind of gravitas," she said.
Jackson said she and her husband would likely make an announcement this week. There is a growing field of possible contenders. On Monday, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun said she was circulating petitions for a possible campaign.
After months of silence on the matter, Jackson Jr. acknowledged in a radio interview Friday that he met with the Indian-American businessmen mentioned in federal prosecutors' case against Blagojevich. But the son of the civil rights leader said he never heard them talk about a donations-for-Senate-seat exchange, and at one point didn't understand a word they said because they spoke in a foreign language.
Exactly what he knew about the vacant Senate seat could be at the top of the list of questions for Jackson if he runs for mayor. He did not testify during Blagojevich's first trial, which ended with the jury hung on 23 of 24 charges -- including allegations Blagojevich attempted to sell or trade the Senate seat appointment.
Blagojevich, who has denied wrongdoing, was convicted of lying to the FBI. A second trial is expected to begin in early January, and Jackson could be called to testify.
"It's not good, a month and a half before the election, that your name is being tossed around at a federal trial for the second time," said Paul Green, a Roosevelt University political scientist.
Jackson's comments Friday suggest he is not only trying to win support among voters, but also hoping to get ahead of an issue that promises to come up again and again if he runs.
Michael McKeon, a pollster and political strategist in suburban Chicago, suggested that Jackson's challenge to prosecutors during the radio interview -- to charge him if they have evidence against him -- might be savvy.
"There's always been ongoing distrust between the African-American community and law enforcement ... and when he says 'Come and get me if you've got anything,' it resonates with that community," McKeon said.
But Jackson's comments also give political opponents an opportunity to raise questions and poke fun at him.
After his comments about the Indian-American businessmen switching to a foreign language -- possibly Hindi, Jackson said -- his Republican challenger in the race for his congressional seat this fall, Isaac Hayes, sent out a news release offering Jackson a free book on the Hindi language.
Blagojevich also presents a problem for another possible mayoral contender -- White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, whose name also came up during Blagojevich's first trial.
One aide to Blagojevich testified that the governor wanted him to tell Emanuel, then a congressman, that he would not release a grant for a school in Emanuel's district unless Emanuel's Hollywood-agent brother raised campaign cash for the governor.
There was never a fundraiser and neither Emanuel nor Jackson have been accused by prosecutors of any wrongdoing, but analysts said having their names associated with the retrial would not be a plus in a campaign.
"You don't want to be running (for mayor) from the Dirksen (federal courthouse)," McKeon said of the building where Blagojevich will stand trial again. "That's tough."
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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