* 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.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:07 am:
Interesting. I don’t think any of the other mentioned possibilities felt a need to lawyer up.
- You Go Boy - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:12 am:
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.
- How Ironic - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:15 am:
$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?
- VanillaMan - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:46 am:
It has been too quiet. Something is being buried.
- BigDog - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 10:47 am:
“$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.
- Bill S. Preston, Esq. - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 11:19 am:
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.
- Amy - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 12:22 pm:
lots of money for the retainer! 3J is in trouble. it may or may not be legal, but it sure is perception.
- Quinn T. Sential - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 1:10 pm:
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”
- sneaker - Friday, Jan 30, 09 @ 1:38 pm:
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?
- Lynn S - Monday, Feb 2, 09 @ 8:35 pm:
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.