All posts tagged "Jesse Jackson Jr"

Wire fraud. Tax evasion. Money laundering. Sexual abuse. Child pornography. Since 1980, more than two dozen members of Congress have been indicted for such crimes, some spending years in prison.

But because of a series of legal loopholes, not a single former federal lawmaker who has applied for retirement benefits has ever lost their taxpayer-funded congressional pension, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management told Raw Story.

Pensions for congressional felons have cost taxpayers about $3.7 million between 2007 and 2022, according to research from the nonpartisan taxpayer research organization, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. ...

Jesse Jackson Jr. -- former congressman and son of civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson -- was sentenced to 30 months behind bars on Wednesday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his own campaign fund and using that money to fund a lavish, high-flying lifestyle. According to the Washington Post, the "once-promising" Illinois politician said in court that he "could not have been more wrong" in his decision to put campaign funds to personal use.

House Republicans voted Thursday to set aside a resolution calling on Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry to apologize for leasing a hunting ranch called "Niggerhead."