Will we, the people of the United States of America, ever get reimbursed for the losses Jackson, Jr., allegedly cost us?

There may be only one thing more bizarre than the load of kitschy items former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., allegedly violated the law with when he used campaign funds to buy them.

JACKSON: Will we ever see money?

That would be the inability of the federal government thus far to get much restitution from Jackson for the financial losses – supposedly, $750,000 – our society suffered.

THAT IS THE reason this is considered a criminal act – the fact that money donated to a campaign fund ought to have been used strictly to support Jackson’s re-election bids, and not to pay for personal purchases.

Even though one could make a serious argument that the token opposition Jackson would get from the Rev. Anthony Williams (sometimes a Democrat, or a Republican, or a Libertarian or a Green – if not an independent) wouldn’t have required much of any money for “Jr.” to win.

Does that mean any campaign spending on Jackson’s part was wrong?

Jackson popped back into the news on Friday when officials let it be known that they wanted the congressman’s home in the Adams-Morgan section of Washington (think of something not quite as tony and upscale as Lincoln Park in Chicago) sold – with the federal government keeping the money as reimbursement for what he supposedly owes.

IT HAS BEEN reported that the home once had a $2 million-plus value on it. Even in today’s real estate market where it is unlikely Jackson would get full value, he ought to be capable of coming up with enough to pay off this particular expense.

Unless it turns out that officials would rather NOT have him be able to come up with the money. Would they really rather keep him indebted to the United States for many years to come – so as to inhibit his ability to ever fully recover in life?

I don’t know what to think.

But it does strike me as odd that the auction that was supposed to occur of all the actual items Jackson purchased was never able to take place.

I UNDERSTAND THAT there is reason to question the legitimacy of some of the items that qualify as memorabilia (a guitar once played by Eddie Van Halen back when he cooperated with Michael Jackson).

It may be enough of a taint to prevent any of the items from being able to get full value from the collector-types who will pay the big bucks to assuage their egos by saying they own the actual item that was used in some pseudo-significant moment.

But I notice that the feds say they have no intention of giving back any of the items that were confiscated – even though they’re not going to sell any of them.

So what happens with the alleged Muhammad Ali boxing gloves or the hat worn by Jackson – or even the pricey gold-plated Rolex watch or multiple fur coats, whose memorabilia value would have been that they once belonged to Jackson himself?

SOMEBODY COULD GET a laugh that they now own the watch that got Jackson put in prison – particularly if they wound up paying far less than the $43,350 that the former Congressman himself allegedly paid to get it.

Does this literally wind up being packed away in a federal warehouse reminiscent of that final scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark? It would be a waste if that happened – although it would be even more appalling if some federal bureaucrat somehow wound up with the items.

That would be more criminal in nature than anything Jackson might have done to warrant the 2 ½-year prison term that he will have to start serving (in North Carolina, it seems) in coming weeks.

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EXTRA: Promontory Point – the ‘third rail’ of Democratic slating session?

What Hyde Parkers dream about having with 'the Point.' Photograph by Inetours.com

SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill. – Anti-labor proposals. Abortion. Gay marriage. Foreign aid to countries like Israel.

All were among the issues that were brought up Saturday when Democrats tried unsuccessfully to come up with a single candidate for next year’s special elections to fill the vacancy created when Jesse Jackson, Jr., resigned from Congress.

YET WHAT WAS the issue that wound up creating the biggest stink, and may well have been the “kiss of death” for at least one Congressional dreamer?

Promontory Point!

Yes, I’m referring to that man-made place that juts out into Lake Michigan at 55^th Street in the Hyde Park neighborhood, and that offers up some of the most unique views of the lake and of the downtown skyline. It is a place that every Chicagoan ought to check out (I’ve only been there once in my life), yet many don’t even realize exists.

And it was the issue that 5^th Ward Committeeman Leslie Hairston turned into her ultimate weapon against the candidates who partook in the slating session held Saturday in the south suburbs.

FOR HAIRSTON DEMANDED that all 16 of those who wished to be slated give her an answer as to what kind of help the candidate would offer from Congress for the restoration of Promontory Point – which has been a hot-button issue in Hyde Park for the past decade.

It didn’t matter where in the 2^nd Congressional District (it stretches as far south as the Kankakee/Iroquois County border) one came from. She demanded an answer.

HAIRSTON: All had to answer about "the Point"

“If these people want to represent my community, I want to know where they stand on an issue of concern to us,” she said.

For his part, would-be Congressional candidate Donne Trotter (the state senator who once lived in Hyde Park) describes the point as, “the place where we went to have fun when we were young,” with a wicked laugh as he said it.

FOR THE RECORD, Hairston said she thinks Jackson was negligent in doing anything about the issue during his time in Congress. She also wants the Point rebuilt with limestone – as opposed to those people who would prefer a cheaper alternative such as concrete.

“Limestone” became the magic word. Anybody who wouldn’t say they would support rebuilding with it was dead in the water, as far as Hairston was concerned.

It almost became humorous at times, such as when would-be Congressional candidate Joyce Washington guessed “limestone. I got it right?,” she said, while people watching the slating hearing applauded.

And when former state Rep. David Miller of Lynwood tried saying he would “support what the people want” without being specific, she ultimately pressured him into saying, “limestone.”

“GOOD CHOICE,” HAIRSTON told him.

Did 'Point' kill Williams?

This issue may also have become the death of perennial candidate Rev. Anthony Williams, who admitted he wasn’t familiar with the issue, and refused to take a guess at what it was that Hairston wanted to hear. “I don’t have a position,” he said.

 

Although for others, his comment against building an airport in Peotone and spending the money to revitalize such southern suburbs as Dixmoor, Harvey and Dolton was likely the kiss of death. Of a new Chicago-area airport near Peotone, Williams said, "Gary/Chicago is your third airport."

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Jesse, Jr., coming back. Or is he?

Some political observers are getting all worked up over the situation affecting Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., who may well go through the campaign cycle without making a single appearance.

JACKSON: Should he stay, or go?



His aides say he “sounds fine” when they talk to him via telephone from Chicago to his house in the District of Columbia – where he has been staying since his release from the Mayo Clinic.

BUT WE DON’T really know anything firsthand – as in any observations we could make for ourselves or any words from his own mouth.

It has some people claiming he ought to resign. It has others saying we ought to give serious thought to voting for any of the three people wishing to challenge him in the Nov. 6 elections (although one of those people is not actually on the ballot – fans of the Rev. Anthony Williams will have to write him in).

We’re hearing a lot of rhetoric about how some sort of scam is being pulled on the public – either in the form of putting a member of Congress in place who isn’t capable of serving, OR setting up some sort of bait-and-switch in which the political powers-that-be will replace Jackson AFTER Election Day!

Anything is possible in the political world.

BUT I HAVE to confess that my reaction to the rhetoric being spewed is to wonder why people are getting so worked up. They’re going to stress themselves out over something that they really can’t impact.

Perhaps if they had put such effort into the primary election cycle, they might have been able to give some support to Debbie Halvorson – the former member of Congress who wanted to have a political comeback by challenging Jackson.

HALVORSON: We took a pass



She could have been a credible alternative – unlike any of the people now facing Jackson on a general election ballot.

I wonder if we’d be worse off if we had a “Rep. Anthony Williams,” a member of Congress who has run a half-dozen campaigns under every political party viable – and is now a write-in largely because no party really wants much to do with him.

FORMER POLITICAL SCIENCE professor Brian Woodworth of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais may be more out-of-touch with the Far South Side that comprises the bulk of the Illinois Second Congressional District as the people who live down around Kankakee will claim that Jackson is with their home area.

And as for Marcus Lewis, a political independent? I wonder if he might be the only one worth taking seriously. He works for the U.S. Postal Service – which means he may have a clue on what a bungled bureaucratic mess our federal government is capable of being.

I can’t say that I think any of these people (even the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday couldn’t bring itself to endorse any of them) warrants a vote over Jackson – which may well be a matter of voting to let the Democratic Party organizations in Cook, Will and Kankakee counties decide who should represent the district in Congress until said date that a special election can be held.

A financial waste such an election would be, particularly since the congressional term is only two years. Come 2014, we’ll be picking yet again.

I’M NOT TRYING to be a Jackson apologist. I wish I had a better handle on what his condition truly is, and if he himself is capable of serving his own term.

JACKSON: The next Stroger, if not careful

I’d hope that the Jackson camp (which is rumored to be considering putting his wife, Sandi – the 7^th Ward alderman – in the post if Jesse, Jr., really steps down) recalls how badly such a maneuver backfired when Todd Stroger ascended to replace father John as president of the Cook County Board. Does Sandi want to be thought of as lowly as many of us regard Todd these days?

But I also keep in mind that much of the rhetoric we’re hearing being spewed these days is coming from people with their own partisan agendas. Remember early on the speculation that all this talk of Jackson being ill was really just a cover for him undergoing treatment for alcoholism or some sort of drug addiction – if not both?

The man who was diagnosed as suffering from a bipolar disorder may still be the target of a lot of political trash talk. Giving in to such trash winds up degrading us all.

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“Jr.” to take on Isaac Hayes and Rev.

It must be nice to have a name so prominent that one doesn’t even have to use it in order to campaign.

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Or perhaps this is the way for Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., to remind people how prominent his name is, considering that he’s running against a candidate whose name is going to draw attention regardless of what he says or what he thinks.

JACKSON, THE SON of the internationally renowned civil rights leader, has as one of his opponents an independent candidacy by a man named Isaac Hayes. Not the singer who gave us the theme from “Shaft” and “Chocolate Salty Balls” from “South Park.”

Could enough people actually vote for Hayes because they think it’s cute he has the same name as the renowned musician? Does Jackson need to go out of his way to remind people of who his father is to draw attention away?

I couldn’t help but think that as I spent time Sunday in the Hegewisch neighborhood and in the adjacent suburb of Calumet City. For while driving along Sibley Boulevard (that’s 147^th Street, for you people who think solely in terms of the Chicago street grid system), I encountered a two-mile stretch of street where – everywhere I turned – there were signs that read “Faithful for Jr.”

At first, I thought they were litter. Then I realized how thoroughly someone had carpeted the street. “Jr.” was everywhere in huge letters that couldn’t be missed – although one literally had to walk right up to one of these campaign signs to see the tiny typeface that read, “Paid for by Jackson for Congress.”

NOW I REALIZE this tactic is not unusual. All of us no matter where we live or work are going to be burdened with campaign signs all over buildings and front lawns. Those of us looking to get away from the campaigning had better be prepared to lock themselves inside their homes, then turn off the televisions and their Internet connections.

Isaac Hayes



Because the campaign season that has 30 more days to go is upon us.

“Jr.” is far from the only candidate who is going t do whatever he can to ensure that his name gets burned in our brain, in hopes that we will cast a ballot accordingly when we go to an early voting center in coming weeks, or to a polling place on Nov. 2 proper.

Yet I have to admit I was surprised to see so much of “Jr.” Because I haven’t been picking up any sense that Jackson is in trouble in terms of getting re-elected to Congress. The salacious and scandalous details about his life may be what prevents him from making a serious campaign for Chicago mayor in next year’s municipal election.

BUT FOR CONGRESS, he is safe. The district is solid Democrat – largely because it is consists of the kinds of communities that many of these Tea Party people fled so many years ago.



Rev. Anthony Williams

I can’t envision the people of Jackson’s far South Side and surrounding suburbs congressional district getting excited about a candidate such as Hayes, who uses his campaign website to advertise the fact that the Republican Party’s “Fire Pelosi” (as in House Speaker Nancy) will be in suburban Matteson on Oct. 15.

As for Jackson’s other opponent, the Rev. Anthony Williams has become the congressman’s perennial challenger who has never been able to convince voters that Jesse Jr. doesn't do anything positive for the South Side. About the only thing that ever differs with Williams is his political party – at various times in his electoral “career,” he has run unsuccessfully for office as a Democrat, a Libertarian, an independent, a Republican, and now, a Green.

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