A little corruption goes a long way

The New York Times has an article by Susan Saulny and Christopher Drew about Blagojevich and Jackson (no, not Michael, for once):

Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr. went to see the Illinois governor in December to press for an appointment to the United States Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama. Mr. Jackson took along a black binder filled with letters of support, poll numbers, and lists of his accomplishments over thirteen years in Congress. By dawn the next morning, the governor, Rod Blagojevich, was under arrest and accused of trying to sell his appointment to the seat. And Mr. Jackson landed in his own political hot seat as federal prosecutors revealed wiretap evidence that one of his fund-raisers had promised to raise $1.5 million for Mr. Blagojevich in exchange for the appointment.
Mr. Jackson asserts he has done nothing wrong, and had not known about the fund-raiser’s activities. But with new indications that federal prosecutors and Congressional ethics investigators are stepping up their interest in Mr. Jackson, a nagging question follows him: Was that December meeting with Mr. Blagojevich a good-faith effort to land the Senate job, or a charade to conceal behind-the-scenes maneuvers with Mr. Blagojevich to pay to play?
Federal prosecutors would not comment on the investigation, but lawyers who are familiar with it said Mr. Jackson was pressed earlier this month about his contacts with Mr. Blagojevich, who has since been removed from office and indicted on racketeering and other charges. Prosecutors want to know whether Mr. Jackson had initiated any deals with Mr. Blagojevich or his staff, the lawyers said, and whether he knew that anyone was working on his behalf to secure the seat.
Mr. Jackson, who said in a statement that he had cooperated with the federal authorities, declined to be interviewed for this article. His lawyer, James Montgomery, did not return calls for comment. Rick Bryant, a spokesman for Mr. Jackson, said the congressman had been focused lately on finding more jobs for his South Side constituents and pushing for economic-development projects, like construction of another airport in Chicago.
Even some of Mr. Jackson’s allies say that his political star has been tarnished by the continuing scrutiny— and uncertainty— and that Mr. Jackson has emerged as the politician outside of Mr. Blagojevich’s inner circle with the most to lose from the former governor’s troubles. “He wasn’t indicted, but he still needs to be cleared,” said Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman who is the head of the political science department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “He needs to be able to say, ‘I was investigated, and not only did I not do anything illegal, I did not do anything unethical.’ He needs those certificates.”
Buoyed by the celebrity and resources of his father, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, Mr. Jackson shot to power in winning his Congressional seat on Chicago’s South Side in 1995, when he was thirty. He long ago set his sights on higher office, but since December has dropped off the state’s political radar and is not among the contenders vying for Mr. Obama’s Senate seat, now occupied by Roland Burris, when the term ends in 2010.
Mr. Jackson, a Democrat, served as a national co-chairman of President Obama’s campaign last year. But it is Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic state treasurer, who is being assisted in his fund-raising by the former head of Mr. Obama’s presidential fund-raising staff, Jordan Kaplan. Mr. Giannoulias raised $1.1 million in 28 days after announcing his exploratory committee for the Senate race.
The transcripts of wiretap conversations released in the Blagojevich criminal case in December revealed evidence that one of Mr. Jackson’s fund-raisers, Raghuveer Nayak, had promised to raise money for Mr. Blagojevich in exchange for Mr. Jackson’s appointment.
Also according to the transcripts in the criminal complaint, Mr. Blagojevich had been putting pressure on one of his fund-raisers to strike a deal with a person close to Mr. Jackson— assumed to be Mr. Nayak— for a contribution he described as “tangible” and “up front” just days before his arrest. Mr. Blagojevich pulled back on that plan on the morning of 5 December, when The Chicago Tribune published an article saying that he was being secretly recorded as part of the federal investigation.
Mr. Nayak, a wealthy businessman, was a host of a fund-raiser for Mr. Blagojevich in October to start raising the money, and Mr. Jackson’s brother, Jonathan, attended. Mr. Nayak, who owns a chain of surgical centers, is trying to obtain immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony, his friends say. And the key for Mr. Jackson will be whether Mr. Nayak supports his assertion that he did not know anything about the fund-raiser’s dealings with Mr. Blagojevich. Mr. Nayak’s friends say he has long been a supporter of the elder Mr. Jackson’s civil rights organizations, and has also been involved in efforts to put together a land deal with one of Representative Jackson’s brothers. Mr. Nayak, an Indian-American, has also been a sponsor of the congressman’s annual “birthday bash” fund-raiser here, and he has taken credit for urging the Mr. Jackson to become a member of the House Caucus on India.
The Chicago Tribune reported Friday that the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, who is known for the energy and sweep of his investigations, had subpoenaed several people who had helped Mr. Nayak set up the fund-raiser to benefit Mr. Blagojevich. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Monday that Mr. Blagojevich’s people had been told that Mr. Jackson would raise up to five million dollars in campaign cash for Mr. Blagojevich.
With the federal investigation apparently stepping up, legal experts said a preliminary inquiry into Mr. Jackson’s dealing with Mr. Blagojevich by the new Office of Congressional Ethics is likely to take a back seat to Mr. Fitzgerald’s investigation. Stefan C. Passantino, a Washington lawyer and ethics specialist, said the new office, which cannot compel testimony, was not given enough tools to compete with the federal prosecutors in a case like Mr. Jackson’s.