SouthtownStar Endorses Rep. Jackson's GOP Opponent
CHICAGO (CBS) - The SouthtownStar has endorsed U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s Republican opponent, after 15 years in which the eight-term Congressman has "more often than not" won the paper's endorsement.
The newspaper has endorsed Republican Isaac Hayes in the race.
"Questions surrounding Jackson's involvement in Rod Blagojevich's pay-to-play U.S. Senate appointment fiasco, and more important, Jackson's unwillingness to meet face-to-face to explain it, leave us ill-equipped to endorse him for another term," the Southtown editorialized Tuesday.
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The editorial said while Jackson's role in the Blagojevich Senate seat scandal was unclear, it was troubling that Jackson has been mum on the subject.
"We invited Jackson to sit down with us. He declined," the editorial said.
The paper endorsed Hayes and his platform of "restoring integrity in government, reducing spending, cutting the federal deficit and increasing the number of police officers in high crime areas of the 2nd District through Department of Homeland Security funding."
Hayes is an Illinois State University graduate, and worked in the mortgage and sales industries before becoming a minister, the paper said.
Rep. Jackson has been dogged by corruption allegations in connection with ex-governor Blagojevich since December 2008, shortly after Blagojevich was arrested.
Jackson, who has not been charged with a crime, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in connection with Blagojevich.
But Jackson returned to the headlines last month for more allegations surrounding the Blagojevich scandal. This time, the allegations claimed that Jackson told a businessman to offer Blagojevich $6 million in exchange for an appointment to Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat. The businessman also told the FBI he purchased plane tickets for a woman identified as a "social acquaintance" of Jackson.
Headlines were also generated by Jackson's extramarital affair with the "social acquaintance," Giovana Huidobro.
While Jackson has mulled running against Mayor Richard M. Daley in prior elections, his wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) said despite Mayor Daley's impending retirement, her husband does not plan to run for mayor and is instead focusing on being reelected to Congress.
