Huge leap of faith to think JJJr not involved

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081213/ap_on_re_us/illinois_governor_jackson


On one hand:
JJJr, unequivocally, said neither he nor his brother were involved. He made this
statement knowing that any conversation could have been taped. And if contradictions
emerged it could be the end of his career.

One the other hand
1. An emissary for JJJr approached Blago about a million dollar quid pro quo - according to Fitz

2. The million dollar fundraiser actually occurred. "The Chicago Tribune reported Friday that some of the businessmen who gathered at the Dec. 6 fundraiser discussed the prospect of raising at least $1 million for the governor in return for Jackson getting the Senate seat."

3. Jonathan Jackson attended. Although "Iftekhar Shareef, former president of the Federation of Indian Associations and a prominent businessman, said he attended the fundraiser and sat at the same table as the governor, Jonathan Jackson and at least two prominent Indian businessmen.

Nobody discussed the Senate seat at the table, Shareef said.

"Honestly, I never saw if there was any talk about Jesse Jr.'s Senate seat or anything," Shareef said. "Who knows? It might be among themselves."


What you have to believe:
JJJr knew nothing about any of this.

[Vattel]

1. It doesn't look good,

but in corruption cases, nuance is everything. What precisely were Jackson's instructions to the emissary? Did the emissary exceed his or her authority in negaotiations with Blago? Did the discussion of a fundraiser just "come up" in the conversation or was it explicitly requested in exchange for the seat? We don;t have enough facts yet to draw any conclusions.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. yes, you are right. But, Jackson claimed he knew of no emissary.

[Vattel]

3. Good, I hope he's telling the truth.

[hlthe2b]

4. Even if he weathers this... I think equally hurtful to his future...

is the fact that he was apparently not on any shortlist from the Obama Camp for the position. As former Illinois campaign manager, that has got to hurt.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. interesting. Has the Emanual list been published? I actually

can see Obama not aligned with JJJr. I don't know much about him,
but just from seeing him in the last week, he doesn't strike me
as being on O's intellectual level. just sayin.

[hlthe2b]

8. Enough of it has leaked that it seems pretty clear JJJ was not

included...

[cooolandrew]

5. Sometimes a person just wants to believe good of folk. I guess that's my initial response. Still >

Jan Schakowsky

[zulchzulu]

7. The bottom line even if he is innocent, he is politically nuclear for at least a Senator's term

I personally suspect he walked right into a mess and even though he may have wanted to just play along, perception is reality. He is not going to get the Senate seat at this point. He'd be better off walking away and sitting it out for a while and if he comes clean after the investigation ends a couple years from now, he can try to run. He's a young man.