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Fund-raiser: Jesse Jackson Jr. behind $6M Senate-seat scheme
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | September 21, 2010 | NatashaKorecki, Chris Fusco and Lynn Sweet

Posted on 09/21/2010 8:39:18 AM PDT by Graybeard58

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. directed a major political fund-raiser to offer former Gov. Rod Blagojevich millions of dollars in campaign cash in return for an appointment to the U.S. Senate, sources said the fund-raiser has told federal authorities.

The allegation by Oak Brook businessman Raghuveer Nayak counters public statements made as recently as last week by Jackson that he never authorized any deal to attempt to buy the Senate seat. » Click to enlarge image The allegation that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. directed a major political fund-raiser to offer former Gov. Rod Blagojevich millions of dollars in campaign cash in return for an appointment to the U.S. Senate contradicts public statements he made as recently as last week. (AP File)

» Click to enlarge image Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (left) and Raghuveer Nayak pose in front of the White House on Oct. 8, 2008, the day Nayak says a critical meeting occurred.

» Click to enlarge image Raghuveer Nayak (The India Tribune)

» Click to enlarge image Giovana Huidobro

Nayak also told authorities he paid for two airline trips for a "social acquaintance" of the Democratic congressman at Jackson's request, raising more potential ethical and political problems for Jackson.

The FBI interviewed that acquaintance -- a Washington, D.C., restaurant hostess named Giovana Huidobro -- about a year ago as part of its corruption probe of Blagojevich. Authorities were trying to determine whether Jackson had asked Nayak to offer Blagojevich campaign cash in exchange for the then-governor appointing Jackson to the seat once held by President Obama, according to sources with knowledge of the probe.

Huidobro, Jackson and Nayak all dined together on Oct. 8, 2008 -- the same day that Nayak has told authorities he had a key conversation with Jackson about the Senate appointment, sources said. The three then ended up at Ozio, the restaurant and club where Huidobro works and where Jackson has held fund-raisers.

Huidobro told authorities she knew nothing of Jackson's political dealings regarding the Senate seat, according to sources. She also said she flew to Chicago on several occasions at Jackson's request and that Jackson sometimes reimbursed her for her travels.

Nayak told the FBI that he paid for two airline trips for Huidobro from Washington to Chicago in 2008.

Through a spokesman, Jackson declined to comment for this story.

Jackson does not appear to have reported the flights for Huidobro as a gift on his House financial-disclosure statement, and it's unclear whether he violated any ethics or fund-raising laws by not doing so.

He was once considered a potential presidential candidate and now is discussing a bid to succeed Mayor Daley. His wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th), also has been mentioned as a possible mayoral candidate, though she downplayed her chances of running during a jobs rally she attended Monday.

In a radio interview about the mayor's race last week, Jackson challenged federal prosecutors to "bring it on" if they have evidence he was a conspirator in Blagojevich's corruption case.

The Sun-Times has been investigating the new allegations since the beginning of the year.

Jackson repeatedly has denied any wrongdoing, including making any offers to Blagojevich in exchange for the Senate-seat appointment.

Nayak, however, has told investigators a different story.

Before he dined with Huidobro and Jackson on Oct. 8, 2008, Nayak said he had a critical conversation with the congressman about the seat while the two were alone. Nayak, also a former Blagojevich fund-raiser, said that Jackson asked him to tell Blagojevich that if the then-governor appointed Jackson to the U.S. Senate, Chicago's Indian community would raise $1 million for Blagojevich and -- after Jackson was appointed -- Jackson would raise $5 million for the then-governor.

The Oak Brook businessman had been in Washington for a bill signing regarding U.S.-India relations. Jackson picked up Nayak from the White House, where they posed for a picture together. The photo was entered into evidence during Blagojevich's summer trial.

The FBI's August 2009 interview with Huidobro came after Nayak, who was cooperating with authorities, submitted credit card bills to show he twice purchased airline tickets to fly her from Washington to Chicago, in October and December of 2008, sources said.

In a March 2009 FBI interview, Jackson described Huidobro as a "social acquaintance," sources said. Jackson also acknowledged to authorities he met with Nayak on Oct. 8, 2008, but he told federal agents he never authorized Nayak to make any offer to Blagojevich regarding the Senate seat.

In a brief telephone interview early last week, Huidobro replied "How did you get my name?" when asked about Jackson, Nayak, the Senate seat and trips to Chicago. She told a reporter she would call later on but hasn't returned calls since.

Approached at Ozio Monday night, Huidobro refused to talk to a reporter.

Nayak's lawyer, Thomas McQueen, confirmed that his client discussed with the FBI the Oct. 8 meeting and provided documents to authorities involving his dealings with Jackson.

Jackson has not been charged with any crime. Nor has Nayak, who contributed $12,000 to Jackson's congressional campaign between 2001 and 2006. Nayak faces his own federal scrutiny, including a current IRS inquiry involving his business dealings with state official and fund-raiser Rajinder Bedi.

Nayak is a family friend of the congressman and his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Nayak also has been a business partner with the congressman's brother Jonathan Jackson.

Congressional ethics investigators began an inquiry into Jackson last year but suspended it in mid-September 2009 after authorities told them the inquiry might interfere with "pending criminal proceedings and ongoing investigation." Ethics officials have since declined to comment about the status of the Jackson inquiry, as has the FBI and U.S. attorney's office.

Prosecutors charged the former governor with trying to trade a Senate -seat appointment to Jackson in exchange for what Blagojevich believed to be a $1.5 million offer.

At Blagojevich's trial, Bedi said he, Jackson and Nayak were present at an Oct. 28 meeting at which fund-raising for Blagojevich was discussed in exchange for Jackson's appointment.

But at the previously undisclosed Oct. 8 meeting, Nayak told authorities that Jackson directed him to approach the Blagojevich camp with an offer of $5 million and $1 million.

At trial, Robert Blagojevich, Friends of Blagojevich chair, said he was twice approached by Indian fund-raisers offering money for Jackson. He testified that Nayak had offered the $6 million for Jackson.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: blagojevich; chicagothugmachine; chicagoway; fitzie; illinois; indians; jessejacksonjr; paytoplay; rahm
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To: Velveeta

Bold words that will haunt him to his grave ..

‘BRING IT ON !’

Oh tsk tsk, poor Jesse.

Fitzie and the Chicago and DC Thug Machines don’t like
that.

You JUST don’t have the smarts to get how things work
in the political thug machine in all these years.

Didn’t you ask your Daddy?

Ooops .. he isn’t astute enough either to GET it.
You boldly tempted fate and publicly challenged them,
so cocksure you were.

Sad, isn’t it? The Jackson legacy, named Chicago
buildings and parks .. children and colleagues being
appointed to this commission and that Chicago
initiative .. down in flames. Boo hooo ..


21 posted on 09/21/2010 10:12:49 AM PDT by STARWISE (The overlords are in place .. we are a nation under siege .. pray, go Galt & hunker down)
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: STARWISE

No habla


23 posted on 09/21/2010 10:25:40 AM PDT by Hoodat (.For the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.)
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Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: Hoodat

Had to look it up. Here’s what I found (LOL):

Its spanish for “I don’t speak English” Usually used by fat stupid lazy hispanics who feel they don’t need to learn English although they live in A...

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=no%20habla%20ingles


25 posted on 09/21/2010 10:43:43 AM PDT by hoosiermama (ONLY DEAD FISH GO WITH THE FLOW.......I am swimming with Sarahcudah! Sarah has read the tealeaves.)
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To: hoosiermama

In this case, it’s ‘no habla espanol’. It is being spoken by an American who believes that he doesn’t have to learn Spanish because he lives in America.


26 posted on 09/21/2010 10:53:55 AM PDT by Hoodat (.For the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.)
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To: Hoodat
I had thought that's what it/you meant, but was just checking and found the Internet post entertaining and thought you might enjoy it.....
27 posted on 09/21/2010 11:03:09 AM PDT by hoosiermama (ONLY DEAD FISH GO WITH THE FLOW.......I am swimming with Sarahcudah! Sarah has read the tealeaves.)
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To: STARWISE; AuntB; Tennessee Nana; Condor51; stephenjohnbanker
........Carol Moseley Braun also looks to be joining the herd to be a Chicago mayoral candidate.....

Carol Moseley Braun

Moseley Braun was the subject of a 1993 Federal Elections Commission investigation over $249,000 in unaccounted-for campaign funds. The agency found some small violations, but took no action against Moseley Braun, citing a lack of resources. Moseley Braun only admitted to bookkeeping errors. The Justice Department turned down two requests for investigations from the IRS.

In 1996, Moseley Braun made a private trip to Nigeria, where she met with dictator Sani Abacha. Despite U.S. sanctions against that country, due to Abacha's actions, the Senator did not notify, nor register her trip with, the State Department. She subsequently defended Abacha's human rights records in Congress.

Her former fiancé Kgosie Matthews, who also served on her campaign staff (in violation of U.S. immigration regulations), had been a lobbyist for the Nigerian government; Matthews would later leave the country.

In 1998, after George Will wrote a column reviewing the allegations of corruption against her, Moseley Braun responded to Will's comments, saying that "I think because he couldn't say nigger, he said corrupt." She also compared Will to a Ku Klux Klansman, saying "I mean this very sincerely from the bottom of my heart: He can take his hood and put it back on again, as far as I'm concerned." Later, Moseley Braun apologized for her remarks.

Braun announced her intention to run for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in February 2003. On January 15, 2004, four days before the Iowa caucuses, Moseley Braun dropped out of the race and endorsed Howard Dean.

Nigerian General Sani Abacha

During Sani Abacha's regime, a total of £3 billion was reported siphoned out of the country's coffers by the head of state and members of his family. At that time Abacha was listed as the world's fourth most corrupt leader in recent history. Abacha was married to Maryam Abacha and had seven sons and three daughters.

General Abacha died in June 1998 while at the presidential villa in Abuja in the company of Jeremiah Useni who was Chief of Staff from 1997 to 1998 and one Musa Abdullahi who sources close to the military junta claimed was the unofficial strategist and mastermind of Abacha's plan to transform himself into a democratically elected dictator. He was 54.

He was buried on the same day, according to Muslim religion, without an autopsy, fuelling speculations that he may have been poisoned by political rivals (via prostitutes). There was an allegation that the prostitutes were imported from either India or Egypt

After his death, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria's defence chief of staff, was sworn in as the country's head of state. Abubakar had never before held public office and was quick to announce a transition to democratic civilian rule which led to the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The government of Obasanjo has implicated the deceased general and his family in a wholesale looting of Nigeria's coffers. According to post-Abacha governmental sources, some $3 or $4 billion USD in foreign assets have been traced to Abacha, his family and their representatives, $2.1 billion of which the Nigerian government tentatively came to an agreement with the Abacha family to return, with the quid pro quo being that the Abachas would be allowed to keep the rest of the money.

Although this proposal caused a massive outcry at the time for seeming to reward the theft of public funds, it was subsequently rejected by the late dictator's son, Mohammed Abacha, who continues to maintain that all the assets in question were legitimately acquired. In 2002, Abacha's family agreed to return $1.2 billion that was taken from the central bank.

28 posted on 09/21/2010 11:03:18 AM PDT by Liz
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To: All

.......Carol Moseley Braun also looks to be joining the herd to be a Chicago mayoral candidate.....

SOURCE: LYNNE SWEET/ POLITICS DAILY President Obama's own political career is tied in a way to Moseley Braun. In 1992, she won election to the Senate, becoming the first African-American woman to serve in the chamber. She was defeated for re-election in 1998 by now former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.), who decided to quit after one term.

After considering a try to regain a Senate seat in 2004, Moseley Braun decided instead to run for the White House, decrying the lack of women contenders. As an African-American also from Chicago's South Side, Obama waited for Moseley Braun to stand down from another Senate contest before he launched his own Illinois Senate campaign.

After she lost her Senate race, President Clinton appointed Moseley Braun ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, where she served between 1999 and 2001. A Chicago native and former Cook County recorder of deeds and state representative--Moseley Braun founded "Ambassador Organics" in 2005. The Chicago based company sells coffee, tea and spices.

29 posted on 09/21/2010 11:17:10 AM PDT by Liz
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To: Graybeard58

BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHA! The Sun Times busted Jr. for his “social acquaintance” porn star girlfriend!

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2732904,jackson-responds-to-sun-times-story-092210.article

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Jesse-Jackson-Responds-to-New-Allegations-103457694.html


30 posted on 09/21/2010 1:03:26 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: STARWISE

See where this link takes you. XXX So be warned!

naked pictures of milla jovovich
“FOTOS DE GIOVANNA HUIDOBRO “peru modelos estella warren foto Kylie Bax FOTOS DE GIANNINA PFLUCKER katie price naked Fotos de Monika Sanchez king james onlyism
muqo19im.netfirms.com -


31 posted on 09/21/2010 1:15:56 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra; STARWISE

Okay. The link didn’t come through. You can do a search if ya wanna!


32 posted on 09/21/2010 1:17:49 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

Thanks .. I’ll have it removed.


33 posted on 09/21/2010 1:30:34 PM PDT by STARWISE (The overlords are in place .. we are a nation under siege .. pray, go Galt & hunker down)
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To: Graybeard58

apple - tree


34 posted on 09/21/2010 2:02:41 PM PDT by crosshairs (If I agreed with a liberal, then we would BOTH be wrong.)
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To: STARWISE

Dang. I have to get into politics.


35 posted on 09/21/2010 2:30:36 PM PDT by Gabrial (The Whitehouse Nightmare will continue as long as the Nightmare is in the Whitehouse)
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To: Graybeard58

Rahm strikes:

1. Jackson out
2. Braun in

It is going to be bloody if he becomes mayor.


36 posted on 09/21/2010 3:36:39 PM PDT by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: STARWISE; AdmSmith; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; bigheadfred; blueyon; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks STARWISE. This helps explain the phony story about Christine O’Donnell.

Additional:

Rep. Jackson: I did nothing wrong but ‘deeply sorry’ over ‘social acquaintance’
Sun Times | Sept. 21, 2010 | By NATASHA KORECKI AND ABDON M. PALLASCH
Posted on 09/21/2010 1:03:40 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2593680/posts


37 posted on 09/21/2010 4:17:24 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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Raghuveer Nayak
Google
Giovana Huidobro
Google

38 posted on 09/21/2010 4:27:30 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks, sunk ... ;)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2593680/posts?page=40#40


39 posted on 09/21/2010 4:41:36 PM PDT by STARWISE (The overlords are in place .. we are a nation under siege .. pray, go Galt & hunker down)
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To: Graybeard58; fieldmarshaldj; Clintonfatigued; Impy; All
Je$$e just keeps on digging a deeper hole. Fortunately, 2nd District voters have an alternative...


Isaac Hayes for U.S. Congress


Isaac Hayes & Joel Pollack release joint campaign ad

40 posted on 10/01/2010 8:45:14 PM PDT by BillyBoy (Impeach Obama? Yes We Can!)
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