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Congressman Jackson drops $100K on legal bills

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* Perhaps we shouldn’t make too much of this, but $100,000 sure seems an awful lot of legal bills for a guy who says he’s really a whistleblower

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) spent $100,000 on legal expenses one week after it became clear that he was listed in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s (D) arrest documents as “Senate Candidate No. 5,” according to Federal Election Commission documents.

Jackson paid Chicago attorney James Montgomery $100,000 from his campaign account in one lump-sum payment on Dec. 18. The payment represents a very large amount — nearly one-tenth of what Jackson raised last cycle.

Background

Jackson is widely believed to be “Senate Candidate No. 5,” who is mentioned in Blagojevich’s arrest documents.

Transcripts indicate the former two-term governor said an “emissary” for “Senate Candidate No. 5″ had promised to raise $1 million for Blagojevich if the candidate was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama following his victory in the U.S. presidential election.

“I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer, plead my case or propose a deal about a U.S. Senate seat, period,” Jackson said at the time.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:00 am

Comments

  1. Interesting. I don’t think any of the other mentioned possibilities felt a need to lawyer up.

    Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:07 am

  2. You know, I always wonder how those people who give $ to pols feel when so much of it goes to some defense lawyer. I suppose the cynic in me says “you get what you deserve”. Quit giving them money, fool.

    Comment by You Go Boy Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:12 am

  3. $100,000 sounds like a pretty steep retainer. If he gave 10% of what he has earned in the last year, one must ask:

    Is he (Jackson) concerned that perhaps his funds may be frozen as well?

    Comment by How Ironic Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:15 am

  4. It has been too quiet. Something is being buried.

    Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:46 am

  5. “$100,000 sounds like a pretty steep retainer.”

    Maybe for a cleaning person or a hairdresser, sure. A lawyer though? That probably gets you about a month of defense work these days.

    Comment by BigDog Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:47 am

  6. Anybody think this is going to hurt his shot at/keep him out of a 2010 run for Senate? DailyKos just released a Burris poll - JJJ wasn’t even tested.

    Comment by Bill S. Preston, Esq. Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 11:19 am

  7. lots of money for the retainer! 3J is in trouble. it may or may not be legal, but it sure is perception.

    Comment by Amy Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 12:22 pm

  8. The only person that has exonerated JJJ, is JJJ himself. He is not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination; especially since the latest Blago D-2 dos not show any contributions from the fundraising event reportedly hosted by Mr. Nayak and attended by JJJ’s brother on December 6th, just before Blago was brought in.

    Hinshaw indicated that not all the information was available to them when they filed the report. Until all of the blanks are filled in on that one Blago continues to get an “Incomplete”

    Comment by Quinn T. Sential Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 1:10 pm

  9. I’d like to know what the lawyer did to earn $100,000. If you take JJJ at his word, why did he needed a lawyer, much less one that expensive. Was this a group rate for the entire family?

    Comment by sneaker Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 1:38 pm

  10. Group rate? Possibly; possibly not–you would think if that were the intent they would have paid from something other than 3J’s campaign fund. Agreed, a lot of money, but it depends on how much time the attorney will spend making proffers to Fitz’s team in the not-too-distant future.

    Comment by Lynn S Monday, Feb 2, 09 @ 8:35 pm

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