| These two were joined at the hip for lots of stuff. Expect more fireworks in the near future. |
Mr. Jackson said he is cooperating with the review by the Office of Congressional Ethics. The panel is looking into his communications with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was indicted last week on charges of widespread corruption, including allegations that Mr. Blagojevich tried to sell Mr. Obama's former Senate seat to the highest bidder.
"I was notified last week about the inquiry and am eager to answer any questions and provide any information to the [ethics board] about my actions related to last year's vacant Senate seat," Mr. Jackson said in a statement issued by his chief of staff, Kenneth Edmonds.
Mr. Jackson, son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil-rights activist, has acknowledged he was "Senate Candidate A," one of a group of potential candidates for the Senate seat identified by federal authorities in the corruption case against Mr. Blagojevich.
In the indictment of the former governor unsealed last week, prosecutors said Mr. Blagojevich believed he could gain $1.5 million in campaign funds raised by backers of Mr. Jackson if he picked him for the seat. Around Dec. 4, just days before Mr. Blagojevich was arrested, he told his brother, Robert Blagojevich, who ran his campaign fund, to notify a representative of Mr. Jackson that some of the promised fund raising needed to be provided before he would name Mr. Jackson to the Senate seat, according to the indictment. A meeting between his brother and the associate of Mr. Jackson's was arranged, but later canceled, prosecutors allege. The then-governor later appointed Roland Burris.
Mr. Jackson, whose statements followed a report of the probe by the Chicago Sun-Times in Wednesday's editions, reiterated that he has done nothing wrong and rejects "pay to play" politics. "I'm confident that this new ethics office — which I voted in favor of creating — will be able to conduct a fair and expeditious review and dismiss this matter," he said.