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Jackson admits misusing campaign funds

February 20, 2013
Washington Post

GARY CAMERON/REUTERS - Former Chicago congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. enters the U.S. District Federal Courthouse in Washington on Wednesday.

By Ann E. Marimow

A remorseful and emotional Jesse L. Jackson Jr. faced the criminal charges against him in federal court Wednesday, admitting to misusing campaign funds to benefit himself and his wife.

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Jackson may lose federal pension

February 19, 2013
Chicago Tribune

Ex-congressman planning guilty plea could get up to 5 years in prison

By Katherine Skiba, Chicago Tribune reporter

WASHINGTON—
— Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who plans to plead guilty to using campaign dollars to buy more than $750,000 worth of luxury items, memorabilia and other goods, is at risk of losing his freedom and a federal pension estimated at $45,000, observers said.

Jackson, 47, who could be in court as early as this week, faces up to five years in prison, according to federal prosecutors.

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Supreme Court to consider limits on individual political contributions

February 19, 2013
Washinton Post

By Robert Barnes

The Supreme Court reentered the controversial field of campaign finance Tuesday, agreeing to consider a Republican challenge to decades-old limits on the total amount a person can contribute to candidates, political parties and political action committees.

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Bloomberg's choice for Congress (editorial)

February 19, 2013
Chicago Tribune

Voters will decide if his super PAC message sways them

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super political action committee, Independence USA, is spending at least $2.1 million on the special election campaign in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District, and Debbie Halvorson is not happy about it. With her A+ rating from the National Rifle Association, she has been the target of the ads, and one of her Democratic primary opponents, Robin Kelly, has won the endorsement of the super PAC.

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Supreme Court to consider eliminating political contribution limit

February 19, 2013
Chicago Tribune

By David G. Savage

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court has agreed to go beyond its controversial Citizens United decision and consider striking down the limit on the total amount that wealthy persons may give to candidates and political parties.
The justices voted to hear an appeal from an Alabama donor and the Republican National Committee, which contends the total contribution limit of $123,200 per election cycle is "unconstitutionally low."

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Federal charges filed against Jesse Jackson Jr., wife

February 15, 2013
Chicago Tribune

By Katherine Skiba Tribune reporter

WASHINGTON— Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was charged today with violating federal law by misusing campaign funds.

Jackson, 47, a Democrat from Chicago, faces felony charges, including conspiracy, in a criminal information filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Typically, federal prosecutors use an information to charge defendants when a plea deal has been negotiated.

His wife, Sandi Jackson, was charged in an information with one count of filing false tax returns.

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2nd district candidate Toi Hutchinson`s paid campaign staff includes mom

February 14, 2013
Fox 32 Chicago

By Dane Placko, FOX 32 News Investigative Reporter - bio | email

FOX 32 has learned that one of the candidates running to replace Jackson has been paying thousands of dollars in campaign cash to her mother.

Democratic State Senator Toi Hutchinson didn't hire some kid as her campaign scheduler; she hired her mother, Janice Heno. State Board of Election records show between January of 2010 and December of 2012, Hutchinson paid her mother more than $57,000 out of her campaign fund for "contractual services."

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In Montana, Dark Money Helped Democrats Hold a Key Senate Seat

December 27, 2012
ProPublica

by Kim Barker

In the waning days of Montana's hotly contested Senate race, a small outfit called Montana Hunters and Anglers, launched by liberal activists, tried something drastic.
It didn't buy ads supporting the incumbent Democrat, Sen. Jon Tester. Instead, it put up radio and TV commercials that urged voters to choose the third-party candidate, libertarian Dan Cox, describing Cox as the "real conservative" or the "true conservative."

Where did the group's money come from? Nobody knows.

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