Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Sayonara to Sandi! But what becomes of the rest of the Jackson family?

We bid a fond farewell on Tuesday to the “First Lady of the Illinois Second Congressional district,” even though I’m sure no one ever thought of describing Sandi Jackson in such a way until she did so herself in her letter of resignation from the City Council.

The resignation letter that the 7th Ward alderman sent last week to Mayor Rahm Emanuel (even though it should have gone to the clerk instead) saying she quit was fairly forgettable.

PERSONALLY, THE REASON I didn’t feel compelled to post commentary about the alderman any sooner than this is that I always felt her resignation was inevitable.

Once her husband, the former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., gave up his post in November, it was just a matter of time before Sandi left office.

For she never really developed any sense of being a political person in her own right. Her existence in the City Council was meant to bolster the notion that her husband was a political powerbroker on the South Side and into the surrounding suburbs.

After all, she was his voice in the entity that many Chicago political types think is the be-all and end-all of government.

I NEVER THOUGHT she’d try to run to succeed her husband in Congress. If she had, it would have just brought back to the forefront all the political problems that ultimately made Jesse, Jr., think he was better off getting out of the Capitol Hill scene.

I don’t think we’ll see an elected official from the greater Jackson family in the near future. Although I also think the people who are going about these days spouting trash talk about the Jacksons being finished are those who are letting their own personal hang-ups overcome their common sense. They might wish the Jacksons are finished!

But it has me wondering if they’re going to focus on the business end in future years. Despite early struggles, they're making themselves into the executives who have the money that gets donated to politicians – thereby giving them influence over just what actions those politicos take with their roll call votes.

Somehow, I think that has the Rev. Jesse Jackson all aglow – considering that he was the guy who was offered nothing more than a toll-collector’s job when he first came to Chicago and tried to get into politics.

  -30-

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