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Oh MY MY: Meet “Senate Candidate 5?: Chicago Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Jesse Jackson Sr Retains Legal Council And Reid Tells Blag Not To Let A Republican Have The Seat!

By: Pam On: Dec/10/08 - Leave Your Comment

Meet “Senate Candidate 5?:

Chicago Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) is the anonymous “Senate Candidate #5? whose emissaries Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich reportedly claimed offered up to a million dollars to name him to the U.S. Senate, federal law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

According to the FBI affidavit in the case, Blagojevich “stated he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided ROD BLAGOJEVICH” with something “tangible up front.”

Jackson Jr. said this morning he was contacted yesterday by federal prosecutors in Chicago who he said “asked me to come in and share with them my insights and thoughts about the selection process.”

Jackson Jr. said “I don’t know” when asked if he was Candidate #5, but said he was told “I am not a target of this investigation.”…

“It is impossible for someone on my behalf to have a conversation that would suggest any type of quid pro quo or any payments or offers,” Jackson Jr. told ABC News. “An impossiblity to an absolute certainty.”…

The FBI says in an October 31, 2008 conversation, Blagojevich described an approach from an associate of Senate Candidate 5: “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I mad him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”

Yahoo:

A lawyer for U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. says the congressman is the “Senate Candidate 5″ mentioned in the federal corruption complaint against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Attorney James D. Montgomery Sr. said Wednesday that Jackson never had a “pay-to-play” conversation with Blagojevich.

The governor is accused of trying to profit from his authority to appoint a replacement to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

Montgomery says Jackson “never authorized anyone to seek the governor’s support” for anything of value.

And he says Jackson isn’t aware of any associates having made such an overture on his behalf.

Montgomery says Jackson learned he was mentioned in the complaint against Blagojevich the night before the governor’s arrest on Tuesday.

Remember me saying just the other day that his father’s presence at that factory shutin looked like a shakedown..all too orchestrated!  BTW, where does the Governor stand on the shutin now?

Obama wants Blagojevich to resign as governor of Illinois:

President-elect Barack Obama is calling for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resign. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs says the president-elect agrees with other prominent politicians that “under the current circumstances, it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois.”

Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday, accused of scheming to enrich himself by selling Obama’s vacant Senate seat. The governor has authority to appoint the replacement. He denies any wrongdoing.

Jesse Jackson, Sr. just retained legal counsel

In two other interesting developments Wednesday, NBC Chicago learned that Jackson Jr. was given a phone call from the U.S. Attorney’s Office the night before the governor was taken into custody, advising him that the arrest was imminent. Also, the congressman’s father, Jesse Jackson Sr., has retained legal council following the Blagojevich arrest.

As Chris Cillizza reports, Reid wants Blagojevich out of the way now so the Illinois legislature won’t have the chance to call a special election that Democrats could lose:

The momentum for a special election to replace President-elect Barack Obama ran into a major hurdle late this afternoon in the form of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) who penned a letter today to scandal-tarred Gov. Rod Blagojevich making clear he would prefer the incumbent step aside and let Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn make the appointment.

“It is within the authority of the Illinois legislature to remove your power to make this appointment by providing for a special election,” wrote Reid in a letter obtained by The Fix. “But a decision by you to resign or to step aside under Article V of the Illinois Constitution would be the most expeditious way for a new Senator to be chosen and seated in a manner that would earn the confidence of the people of Illinois and all Americans.”

Reid adds that his preference for an appointment by Blagojevich’s successor rather than a special election is driven by his belief that it is “imperative” that a new senator from Illinois be seated as soon as possible. An appointment by Quinn, a Democrat, also avoids the possibility that Democrats could lose the seat in a shortened special election campaign.

The timeline being floated in Illinois political circles would be for party primaries to take place on Feb. 24 with a general election on April 7 — a schedule that would leave the Senate seat vacant for at least three months.

Ed:

Reid knows that an election in Illinois will put the seat at risk of Republican takeover after the Blagojevich scandal plays all the way out.  Illinois needs to clean house, and that’s the first opportunity they will get.  You can bet that Reid wants to avoid that as much as any Democrat, but this tone-deaf plea to a corruptocrat for a back-room deal smells bad enough to stink up the entire 111th Congress and give everyone else the same idea for the 2010 midterms.

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Posted on: December 10, 2008 |

Posted in: Barack Obama, Democrats, General Politics, Media, National News, Politicians, Presidential Election '08, State/Local Elections '08, The Constitution

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