"Ya think Daddy has a hand in this". MC
Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned over the holiday weekend, thus ending my
fun and triggering a February primary for his seat which might feature
an honest-to-Axelrod child predator, among other lunatics. Not that
Jesse Jackson Jr. wasn’t a lunatic. And that has nothing to do with the
alleged bipolar disorder he claims he has that conveniently allowed him
to sit out the campaign. He did naked karate. In a Turkish bathhouse. In
front of people.
But whatever. The assumption is that Jackson Jr. resigned because of
an impending indictment, and only when Congress agreed to pay him
long-term disability, which means we’d pay him for doing less work than
we were already paying him to do. The catch was that he would probably
lose his pension because, obviously, if you’re a felon and in Congress
you probably shouldn’t also get your pension.
But see, that last part was an assumption. And when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.
Jesse Jackson Jr., who resigned from Congress last week
and acknowledged he was the subject of a federal investigation, could be
eligible for an annual pension estimated at $45,000, but that benefit
would be lost if he was convicted of one of several public corruption
felonies…
Jackson has not been charged with a crime. He said in his resignation
letter that he was aware of the ongoing federal investigation into his
activities and was doing his best to cooperate with investigators and
accept responsibility for his “mistakes.”
The key here is the plea bargain he’s likely negotiating. Congress
recently expanded the number of crimes that could result in an elected
official losing his or her pension, but the crimes for which this can be
leveled as a punishment are still very specific: things like tax
evasion, soliciting campaign donations illegally, etc. Jackson might
have done something illegal, but that’s not to say that he did any of
these specific things
or that he will admit to them if he did.
He could craft a bargain that would have him pleading to specific
charges that don’t include the kind of felonies he could lose his
pension for, and unless he’s out there money laundering right now, we
could be on the hook to pay him up to $45K per year. Combined with
long-term disability he might have negotiated in the process of
submitting his resignation, and you’re talking about a pretty
comfortable future.
